Session Description: Kim will provide an update on SAMHSA priorities with regional project highlights.

Learning Objectives:

• Inform participants about the latest priorities at SAMHSA
• Inform participants about the latest products available from SAMHSA
• Inform participants about the latest funding and grants available from SAMHSA

Kim Freese, LAC
Regional VII Director, SAMHSA

Kim is the SAMHSA Regional VII Director serving Kansas, Iowa, Missouri, and Nebraska, and 9 federally recognized tribes since 2015. Ms. Freese has worked in the behavioral health care field since 1992 and is a person thriving in long-term recovery from addiction.

Session Description: Peer Support services are one of the most researched community – based workforces, with proven evidence and effectiveness. In this session we will share national and international research data, outcomes, and tools to guide conversations about peer support services in your organization and community.

Learning Objectives:

• Participants will be able to understand the role of peer services.
• Participants will be able to reference 3 data/research on the cost effectiveness of peer support services.
• Participants will be able to give 3 examples of evidence of peer support services.

Mirna Herrera, MA, MT-BC, CPS
Consultant

Mirna Herrera, MA MT-BC, CPS, born and raised in Nazareth, Israel, came to the US to pursue her MA in music therapy after completing her BA in psychology and in Musicology. During her internship at University Health (UH) in Kansas City she learned about the peer support profession which became her passion. Since then, she received the Missouri Mental Health Champion award for the work she has accomplished as the Director of a consumer run drop-in center. She then restructured peer support services at UH, creating a peer support department. And, through collaboration with the Addiction Technology Transfer Center (ATTC) and SAMHSA she piloted a career ladder option for the peer support team utilizing CHW certifications. She also expanded services into the community by creating peer navigator programs for the Kansas City public libraries. She worked as a consultant with the Mid-America ATTC expanding peer support TA’s across the region, as well as advocating and training various audiences on Naloxone and harm reduction. She is also passionate about trauma informed care, as she herself lives with PTSD, and has trained and consulted for multiple organizations across the region. She works with the Missouri Credentialing Board as a trainer and assisted in developing the current curriculum for peer certifications, and introduced two new certifications; Advanced Peer Supervision, and Recovery Support Services for Pregnant and Parenting families with Substance Use Disorders. In her most recent role, she worked as a regional behavioral health advisor for SAMHSA’s region 7 office and focused her work on peer support and recovery services regionally and nationally.