The Pleasant Valley State Prison Integrated Substance Use Disorder Treatment (ISUDT) team held a cross training event over three days in early January.
The Pleasant Valley ISUDT team includes:
- Amity Foundation
- California Correctional Health Care Services
- and the Division of Rehabilitative Programs
Cross training was taught by the University of California, San Diego’s Center for Criminality and Addiction Research, Training and Application.
Record number of staff attend ISUDT training
A record number of 62 staff members participated in the three cross trainings held at the Square 8 Hall in Hanford Jan. 9-11.
According to organizers, the purpose of cross-training is to create a collaborative environment in the custody setting. .
This way the contracted treatment professional and correctional staff understand the rationale for rehabilitation, building strong working relationships to ensure the delivery of treatment is successful.
This is accomplished by providing intense team building, problem solving training and relevant knowledge for treatment providers and CDCR staff to ensure the consistent application of treatment principles in a safe and secure setting.
Guest speakers included:
- Matthew Middleton, Division of Rehabilitative Programs, Headquarters
- Judy Vega, Pleasant Valley State Prison ISUDT Supervising Registered Nurse II
- Jennifer Cota, Division of Rehabilitative Programs, Correctional Counselor III
- and Angelica Nodal, Amity Foundation Program Director
Nick Gonzalez, Pleasant Valley’s acting Associate Warden, also spoke on the California Model and the components of this new initiative for revolutionizing CDCR.
Since 1995, UC San Diego has successfully been providing cross-training to in-custody treatment providers in cooperation with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), Division of Rehabilitative Programs and institutional in-service training departments. The National Commission for Certifying Agencies accredited the course.
Story by Jennifer Cota, ISUDT Correctional Counselor III
Pleasant Valley State Prison
Learn more about the California Model on the CDCR website.
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