CFC Center: At A Glance, December 2019

Florida Higher Education Substance Use Disorder Consortium Spring Symposium March 6, 2020 Flyer

At a Glance Update

The Center for the Study and Promotion of Communities, Families, and Children (CFC Center) was created with the support of the Stoops Family Foundation, Inc. in 2017. The purpose of the CFC Center is to generate and sustain translational knowledge for the development of effective policies, services, and usable research.

CFC Center Establishes Florida Higher Education Substance Use Disorder Consortium

In fall 2019, the CFC Center established the Florida Higher Education Substance Use Disorder Consortium ( the Florida Consortium) comprised of 11 Florida university social work programs. The multi-university initiative aims to develop a new substance use disorder (SUD) curriculum for undergraduate and graduate social work students and to develop a professional certification in SUD for people in the workforce.

The basic requirements for the new SUD curriculum include 15 key content areas ranging from concepts of SUDs, screening, assessment, the application of evidence-based practices in treatment and recovery, cultural competency in SUD services, ethics, prevention, and clinical supervision. FSU and the Florida Consortium universities will be able to integrate content areas from the curriculum into their core courses in addition to developing electives specifically dedicated to SUDs. The curriculum will address population-specific competencies for the elderly, homeless, pregnant women, veterans, and adolescent clients paying special attention to alcohol, marijuana, stimulants, and opioid misuse.

The project will also work with the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) to develop an evidence-based set of examination items on substance use disorders to be recommended for inclusion in licensure exams in social work across the U.S. and Canada. In addition to the universities, Citrus Health Network and the National Association of Social Work, Florida Chapter are partnering with FSU and the Florida Consortium on the project.

To support the work of the consortium, the CFC Center and social work faculty members Dr. Tanya Renn, Dr. Michael Killian, Dr. Craig Stanley, and Jane Dwyer Lee applied for a Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) grant, Expansion of Practitioner Education. If awarded, the grant would provide the CFC Center two years of grant funding for the development of the SUD curriculum.

SIGNUP FOR THE SYMPOSIUM
 

CFC Center Research Infrastructure

The CFC Center continues to pursue external funding from private and public sources. The CFC Center staff in collaboration with FSU social work faculty Dr. Tanya Renn (Principle Investigator) and Dr. Michael Killian, CSW along with Joedrecka Brown-Speights, (FSU College of Medicine) and Dr. Eugenia Millender (FSU College of Nursing) submitted a grant application to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to advance a resilience-based recovery program for women experiencing homelessness in Palm Beach with community partners, A Lord’s Place and Hanley Center.

This proposed five-year project, Resilience Based Personal Recovery for Homeless Mothers with SUD, will use an innovative resilience-based and personal recovery programming approach. Using a substance abuse corollary to the “medical home” concept, the project will provide a “recovery home” by being a single point of entry for treatment, recovery and social services with an emphasis on women’s resilience.

Save the Children

In the summer of 2019, the CFC Center partnered with Save the Children by utilizing FSU College of Social Work field students who offered “Journey of Hope” an 8-week, evidence-based program to fifty-five middle school students in Bay County. The FSU students also facilitated a Save the Children’s “Prep Rally” in Tallahassee at the Jack McClean Community Center giving ninety local children the knowledge and tools to be prepared and to stay safe with their families during a disaster.

Throughout the fall 2019 semester, the CFC Center continued to offer support to the children and communities of the Florida Panhandle impacted by Hurricane Michael. The Journey of Hope program was provided to 155 middle and high school students in Gadsden County at Crossroad Academy Charter School. Participating children developed positive coping strategies to process their emotions, built inner strength to develop positive coping mechanisms, and gained a sense of hope and empowerment.

"Photo: FSU CSW student facilitator, Hannah Kinnon, and CFC Center staff facilitator, Savannah Smith, with one Journey of Hope participant in the 8th grade girl group at Crossroad Academy Charter School."
Photo: FSU CSW student facilitator, Hannah Kinnon, and CFC Center staff facilitator, Savannah Smith, with one Journey of Hope participant in the 8th-grade girl group at Crossroad Academy Charter School.  

The CFC Center, Save the Children and FSU social work faculty also provided Caregiver Journey of Hope to eighty caregivers in Bay, Leon, and Gadsden counties. Participating caregivers included schoolteachers, guardian ad litem individuals, parents, professors, and administrators.  

The CFC Center’s work will continue in Bay County through the spring and summer 2020 semesters through the generous support of Dean Randy Hanna (FSU Panama City Campus) and the United Way of Northwest Florida. FSU Panama City social work students will co-facilitate psychosocial groups in Bay County schools.

The CFC Center’s collaboration with Save the Children also resulted in a webinar, Children’s Mental Health in the Aftermath of Disasters.

 

CFC New Hires

In September 2019, Jonathan Jacob was hired as the center's program associate to assist with CFC Center management and the facilitation of grant submissions. Mr. Jacob received a master's degree in international affairs and received a graduate certificate in emergency management from FSU. 

The CFC Center also hired Savannah Smith as a program assistant, a recent MSW graduate of the College of Social Work. As a student, she was instrumental in the implementation of Save the Children initiatives and continues to assist with the implementation of mental health services to Panhandle children through the spring and summer 2020 semesters.

Upcoming CFC Center Events

  • Identifying, Assessing, and Treating Opioid Misuse
    Friday, January 10, 12 Noon -1:30 pm
    University Center Building C, Room 1703
  • Engage, Invest, Respond – the CFC Lecture with Dr. Carrie Pettus-Davis
    Executive Director, FSU Institute for Justice Research and Development
    Friday, February 7, 3 p.m. – 4 p.m. (with a reception immediately following)
    University Center Building C, Room 5301
Tuesday, February 2, 2021 - 04:42 PM
Last updated: Tue, 03/26/2024 - 04:12 PM