New Directions in Treatment, Education, and Outreach for Mental Health and Addiction (Advances in Mental Health and Addiction)

This practice-enhancing volume assembles the latest innovative thinking on working with clients who have both mental health diagnoses and substance use disorders. Diagnosis is a central focus of the coverage, untangling the often-knotty considerations surrounding dual diagnosis and the complex issues surrounding treatment even in frequently seen combinations (e.g., depression/alcohol abuse). The section on practice emphasizes meeting patients where they are and making use of their community, cultural, and spiritual contexts in crafting interventions. And the book’s ambitious chapters on professional development describe training programs with the potential to produce the next generation of responsive, knowledgeable, and flexible therapists.

Among the topics covered:

·         Comprehensive assessment of substance abuse and addiction risk in adolescents.

·         The relationship between attachment and addiction.

·         Addiction in the community: the role of emergency services.

·         Substance use during and after major crisis and disaster: a practitioner’s guide.

·         Teaching the importance of developing the therapeutic relationship.

New Directions in Treatment, Education, and Outreach for Mental Health and Addiction equips health and clinical psychologists, social workers, and addiction counselors and educators with a well-rounded understanding of a growing population, and a wealth of perspectives on effective new interventions.

Thalia MacMillan is an assistant professor and mentor of community and human services in the Center for Distance Learning (CDL) at SUNY Empire State College.  She received her Ph.D. in social work from Fordham University, specializing in policy and research.  Prior to coming to SUNY, Thalia worked simultaneously in the professional and academic sectors.  For the past 18 years she has worked in the fields of evaluation, research, and practice.  Thalia has taught social research methods, program evaluation, social policy, addictions, mental health, disabilities, assessment and diagnosis, and statistical methods. She regularly develops and teaches in multiple modalities, including blended, online, face to face, and immersive cloud learning courses. In addition to volunteering research services to multiple local organizations, Thalia is a volunteer EMT in her community.  All of these experiences in the various sectors have heightened her interests in the addictions field.