SEOW Winter 2022 Newsletter

DID YOU KNOW...

The Colorado SEOW has connected with 14 other SEOWs recently?! We are excited to share with you the impact of our work across the country.

During our needs assessment efforts we connected with the SEOWs from all other SAMHSA Region 8 states, including North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, and Utah to learn about their efforts, and share our own.
Members of the New England and Northeast & Carribean PTTCs (Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York and New Jersey) invited us to share lessons learned and successes from our early retail marijuana days.
The New Mexico SEOW has outreached to learn more about our structure and efforts as they revamp their own.

Our successes are nothing without the effort and contributions from our members, and partners. Thank you for everything you have done over the years. It is truly so fulfilling to see (y)our work being noticed!

NEEDS ASSESSMENT- The Steering Committee has concluded the 2021 Needs Assessment. Thank you to all who provided input thorugh our survey, interviews, and roundtable discussions. An overview of our findings can be downloaded here. The final report is being send to the Office of Behavioral Health.
The SEOW is excited to have direction in advancing our work over the coming years. We hope our new and continue efforts will be fruitful for our members, partners, and friends.

Please reach out to Sydney Chaves with any questions or comments regarding the assessment.

PREVIOUS MEETINGS: In November we hosted Summer Gathercole, Senior Advisor for Behavioral Health Transformation at the Colorado Department of Human Services as she shared an overview of the incoming Behavioral Health Administration. Since then, Governor Polis has announced the Commisioner of the Behavioral Health Administration will be Dr. Morgan Medlock.

In January we returned to our more regular data presentations with an impaired driving five-speaker panel including:

Allison Rosenthal, Colorado Department of Public Safety
Sarah Barkley & Ginna Jones, Colorado Department of Health and Environment
Bonnie Holladay, Office of Behavioral Health
Mikayla Curtis, Mountain Youth

Recordings of both meetings can be found under the meetings tab on the SEOW website. If you'd like to access the slides from either meeting, please contact Sydney Chaves.

During the time period 2010-2020, the number and rate of drug overdose deaths in Colorado more than doubled.
Fully-synthetic opioids (mostly fentanyl) and methamphetamine and other psychostimulants drove these increases, especially during 2018-2020.
The overdose death rate involving fully-synthetic opioids increased ten-fold during the 11-year period, and fentanyl represented the majority of fully synthetic opioids involved (88% in 2019 and 93% in 2020).

To learn more about other substances involved in overdose deaths, who was affected, and rural/urban rates, see the full Health Watch report.

2022 Colorado Culture of Data Virtual Conference

Consider sponsoring our conference on behalf of your organization. Supporting the conference through sponsorship ensures that CPHA can maintain this valued gathering for the public health community. Please see our sponsorship page for more information about our sponsor packages and benefits.
Register! Registration for the conference is now open. To register, visit the CPHA Culture of Data website.

Shared Risk and Protective Factors Conference

CDPHE and Rocky Mountain Public Health Training Center are hosting the sixth annual conference in Frisco, Colorado June 1-3, 2022. To register, click here.
Call for submissions is now open. Submission will be accepted until 5:00 pm MST on February 28, 2022. Intereseted in presenting? Submit here.

PTTC Ethics in Prevention Foundation: A Guide for Substance Use Practitioners

The training course is free of cost, and requires a six hour asynchornous committment. A certificate for six training hours is provided upon completion.
Regsiter for the course by visiting the PTTC website.

Public Health Day at the Capitol (Virtual)

Colorado Public Health Association is hosting a virtual Public Health Day at the Capitol on February 18, 2022
Register here for this educational event focusing on public health advocacy, policy, and legislative processes.

Price & Place Strategies: Approaches to Local Public Health Policy - Access to Substances

Date and Time: Friday, February 25, 11am-Noon.

This webinar will discuss meaningful ways to address access to substances through price and place local policy strategies. Individualized technical assistance and guidance is available through the Policy + System Change Network for Colorado COFP/CTC grantees to pursue these strategies.
Whether your community or coalition is currently discussing price and place strategies in your local policy work or if these conversations have not yet taken place locally, please join us to learn more so you can be informed and prepared to engage, as needed, in the future.

Register HERE!

Does your organization have an upcoming event you would like us to promote? Contact Sydney Chaves to coordinate promotion at our next meeting, or in our next newsletter!