Recent News
Outstanding job to our Director of Education & Training, Dr. John Smith, for being a fill-in host for the Viewpoint with Father John Radio Show! He also came back on the next episode as a guest. You can watch these two episodes in the links below:
Mike Schaub, Senior Director of Community Relations, presented to the residents of Anaheim, the City Council, and the mayor at this week’s Anaheim City Council Meeting. He promoted all of our programs, specifically highlighting Drug Free Anaheim and Touchstones, and discussed our upcoming California Community Opioid Conference. He also invited anyone to reach out to us, if they have challenges with alcohol and substance use or mental health, and we will do the best we can to help them.
Social Model Recovery Systems gratefully participated as an exhibitor at NAMI California’s 2019 Statewide Conference held this year in Newport Beach. NAMI (National Alliance for Mental Illness) is a grassroots organization of families and individuals whose lives have been affected by serious mental illness which has partnered with Social Model Recovery Systems for multiple decades. This year’s plenary sessions and workshop topics focused on early intervention and prevention, advocacy, family wellness, best practices for treatment providers, and criminal justice. Many visitors to the booth remarked at the agency’s variety of offerings, specifically noting interest in referring their loved ones to SMRS’s treatment programs for those with co-occurring disorders. We look forward to continuing to nurture our relationship with NAMI and hopefully participating in next year’s event!
Click here to watch the webinar.
The prevention team showcased their work to more than 200 participants from around the world, who entered the webinar room and took part in an hour-long webinar titled: Understanding Latino Cultural Health Behaviors and the Role of Women, hosted by the National Latino Behavioral Health Association (NLBHA). Staff shared findings from our focus groups that are informing our prevention strategies that focus on the role of women. Staff aimed to help participants understand the importance of how culture and community context influence risk, availability and consumption of prescription (Rx) and over the counter medication (OTC) in Boyle Heights, a predominately Mexican/Mexican-American community. Special attention was given to the vital role Latina women play in ensuring familial health needs are met, as well as the importance of considering the challenges and richness of this population when developing health promoting strategies. Staff stressed the need to identify cultural factors, in this case to better understand why there is a preference for medicines from the United States vs. those from their native country. The webinar also focused on the prominent role of pharmacies and botanicas, as they play a critical role in access to health care. Moreover, they are an essential element of Latino culture, especially for those that are unable to access Western forms of health care due to lack of health insurance, high cost and/or immigration status.
The opportunity to participate in this webinar came as a result from our recent presentation at the 29th Annual Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America, National Leadership Forum. At the conference, staff had the privilege to share findings from our Rx and OTC focus groups and connect with the associate director for NLBHA who invited us to collaborate and participate in this webinar.
