Overview

Close to half of adult individuals diagnosed with a severe mental illness will also have a substance abuse disorder. Drugs of abuse affect a disproportionate amount of people receiving community mental health services, yet many services for mental health and substance use problems remain separated. Best practice guidelines indicate that these services are integrated for best outcomes.

Goals

• Increase knowledge of the connection between mental health and substance use, and their collective impact from a biopsychosocial perspective.
• Learn how to formulate presenting concerns from an integrative perspective and choose from a menu of treatment strategies as appropriate.
• Understand how to apply principles of social justice by learning about how substance use is related to structural factors.
• Provide 60 hours of training to meet the educational requirement of the Co-Occurring Disorders Specialist Enhancement Credential
  • 30 hours in understanding the disease pattern of addiction and the pharmacology of alcohol and other drugs.
  • 30 hours in understanding addiction placement, continuing care, and discharge criteria including the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) criteria; treatment planning specific to substance abuse; relapse prevention; and confidentiality issues specific to substance use disorder treatment.

Continuing Education Credits 

Contact hours will be available on a per-session basis; participants must attend the entire session. The University of Washington is an approved provider of continuing education for DOH licensed social workers, licensed mental health counselors, licensed marriage and family therapists, psychologists, chemical dependency professionals, nurses and physicians under the provisions of: WAC 246-809-610, WAC 246-809-620,WAC 246-811-200, WAC 246-840-210, WAC 246-919-460 and WAC 246-924-240.

* A short knowledge quiz is required

Co-Occurring Disorder Specialist Enhancement Credential Opportunity

Completion of the University of Washington SPIRIT Center’s Co-Occurring Disorder track will meet the 60-hour educational requirement of the Co-Occurring Disorders Specialist Enhancement Credential granted by Washington State Department of Health.

The Co-Occurring Disorder Specialist is an enhancement available to be added to the license of specific counselors under RCW 18.205.105 (1) which allows them to provide substance use disorder treatment with some limitations. It is not available as a stand-alone credential, applicants must already possess one of the qualified license types to be eligible to apply. 

*Please note that the SPIRIT Center does not have the capability to grant, revoke, or manage the Special Enhancement credential. The Co-Occurring Disorders Specialist Enhancement Credential is granted by the Washington State Department of Health. 

Requirements for the Co-Occurring Disorders (COD) Specialist Enhancement Credential:

• • Possess a qualified license type under RCW 18.205.105
  • Work in a federally qualified health center, hospital, or licensed Behavioral Health Agency (BHA)  
  • Attend all Co-Occurring Disorder training sessions (see below to register)
  • Obtain Supervised experience under a licensed Substance Use Disorder Professional or someone who meets the requirements to be an SUDP and can pass required exam
    • 80 hours of supervised experience for an applicant with fewer than 5 years of experience under their primary license; or
    • 40 hours of supervised experience for an applicant with more than 5 years of experience under their primary license
  • Submit a COD Specialist Enhancement application to the Washington State Department of Health
  • Upon receiving department approval of your application, take and pass the National Association of Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Counselors (NAADAC) Level 1 or higher
    • Applicants will be notified via email on exam registration instructions upon application approval

To learn more about the COD specialist enhancement credential and how to apply, please click HERE.  

For further questions, please contact the DOH Program Manger Claire Wilson at claire.wilson@doh.wa.gov

Sessions

All times in Pacific Time (PT)

Facilitators

Jeff Roskelley, LICSW

Jeffery Roskelley is a licensed independent clinical social worker training and consulting for the SPIRIT (which stands for Supporting Psychosis Innovation through Research, Implementation and Training) Lab at the University of Washington. Jeff graduated from the University of Utah with a Master of Social Work degree in 2008, and has worked in several different settings including hospice, as a co-occurring assessment specialist at the University of Utah and as a co-occurring specialist for the Lake Whatcom PACT team in Bellingham WA, where he currently resides. Jeff’s area of specialty is in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Psychosis and for Substance Use Disorder. Since 2013 he has been training Assertive Community Treatment Teams in WA state in co-occurring disorders treatment and cognitive behavioral techniques for severe mental illness. Jeff was trained and received consultation in CBTp with the original Washington state cohort in 2015, trained by Jennifer Gottlieb, PhD from the Harvard Medical School and provided direct clinical CBTp counseling to clients at Sunrise Mental Health from 2015 to 2018, receiving supervision from Sarah Kopelovich, PhD, from the University of Washington. Currently, Jeff provides individual private counseling in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, addressing a wide range of clinical issues, ranging from anxiety and depression to obsessive compulsive disorder and psychosis. In addition, Jeff is a clinical supervisor for social workers. Finally, last but not least, Jeff is an ardent dog lover and a dabbler in chi gong.

Stetson McElhaney SUDPT, LMHCA, MHP

Stetson McElhaney SUDPT, LMHCA, MHP, has a Masters of Science in Addiction Counseling from Grand Canyon University. He has worked on a PACT Team in Southwest Washington as their Co-Occurring Disorder Specialist and Mental Health Professional since January of 2022. Stetsonutilizes Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Psychosis, to treat severe and persistent mental health disorders, substance use disorders, and co-occurring disorders.

Timothy Burdick, PhD, LMHC, SUDP, NCC

Timothy is a full-time instructor in the Social and Human Service Department at Edmonds College where he teaches courses in Addiction Studies and Human Services. He regularly lectures on topics related to Assessment & Diagnosis, Motivational Interviewing, Group Facilitation, Counseling Skills, Relapse Prevention, Social Justice, and Ethics. He also teaches courses in the Behavioral Healthcare department at Lake Washington Institute of Technology. Additionally, Timothy has provided training for other faculty on Trauma Informed Pedagogy, Relationship Rich Education, and Compassion Fatigue in Higher Education.

His vocational experience includes clinical and supervisory work in a variety of inpatient and outpatient co-occurring Substance Use Disorder (SUD) treatment centers. Much of his industry work has been with adolescents involved in the criminal justice system and community-based intervention programs. He holds a master’s degree from Eastern Washington University in psychology and a Ph.D. from the University of Birmingham in the UK. He is a Washington State Licensed Mental Health Professional and a Substance Use Disorder Professional. He also is a Nationally Certified Counselor through the National Board of Certified Counselors.

When not teaching, Timothy enjoys sailing and recreating outdoors.

Denise Walker, PhD

Denise Walker is a Research Professor at the University of Washington, Director of the Innovative Programs Research Group and is a licensed clinical psychologist. She received her doctorate in clinical psychology from the University of New Mexico, completed her predoctoral internship at Yale University and postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Washington. A main area of her research expertise is on the development and evaluation of interventions for cannabis use disorders for both adults and adolescents, utilizing brief interventions (Motivational Enhancement Therapy, MET), longer courses of treatment (MET+CBT), and aftercare. She has been involved in the development and evaluation of the Teen Marijuana Check-Up (TMCU), a school-based intervention to elicit self-referral by heavy using adolescents. The TMCU has been the focus of five clinical trials and is identified as an “Evidence Based” intervention on the NREPP. For the past four years, Dr. Walker has been applying her work to psychosis populations and was a 2023 Garvey Institute for Brain Health Solutions grant awardee. This work focused on the adaptation of MET to address cannabis use among young adults with psychosis. Another focus of her work is on adapting the Check-Up model (a motivational interviewing intervention) for other high risk populations including active duty military experiencing alcohol use disorder, active duty military living with untreated PTSD, and domestic violence perpetrators.

Tom Robey, MD, PhD

Tom Robey earned his MD/PhD at the University of Washington and completed an emergency medicine residency at Yale-New Haven Hospital.  He has designed and implemented programs for community emergency departments (EDs) that employ urgent and emergent approaches to substance use disorder (SUD).  Buprenorphine induction has been part of his emergency medicine practice to treat opioid use disorder for 15 years, the specifics of which continue to evolve as the pharmacologic properties of use shift from heroin and oxycodone to fentanyl.  His research efforts have included process improvements for the warm handoff between EDs and community SUD clinics, an NIH-funded study testing the effectiveness of peer counselors in the ED, and an FDA Phase 2 trial of a methamphetamine-blocking antibody.  His general emergency medicine clinical practice includes considerable representation by individuals with polysubstance dependence and co-occurring mental health diagnoses.  When not working the overnight shift at Providence Everett, he has served on the Mayor of Everett’s Drug Crisis Task Force, is the medical director of the Snohomish County Diversion Center, and directs a street medicine service for Everett that brings addiction and behavioral health care to underhoused individuals in Everett, WA.