2014

Conference

Held on November 7, 2014 at Honolulu Community College

Cosponsored with the CHOW Project

The morning plenary keynote address was given by Patt Denning.  Patt is the Director of Clinical Services and Training for the Harm Reduction Therapy Center of Oakland, California.  Her talk was entitled Harm Reduction: The Journey that Comes in Waves, and explored the journey from harm reduction philosophy to implementation with a focus on lessons learned and the next steps for Hawaii.  

This was followed by a panel discussion called Harm Reduction Saved My Life with Jean Mooney from the CHOW Project, Keivalei K Cadena from the Life Foundation, and D. Michael Chung from United Self Help. They shared their stories about how harm reduction has impacted their lives.  

Morning Break-out Sessions

1. Overview of Harm Reduction and Beyond. Peter Silva, Epidemiological Specialist at the Hawaii Department of Health, and Heather Lusk, Executive Director of the CHOW Project, provided participants with an improved understanding of what harm reduction entails.  
2. The Power of Connection. National guest speaker Dr. Patt Denning presented a session aimed at helping attendees learn how to make a plan to talk to their loved ones, set up rules and limits for loved ones, and make a plan for self-care.  
3. Youth, Drug Use and Harm Reduction. This was a panel discussion including Deborah Smith from Hale Kipa and the Youth Outreach Program (YO), and Carla Houser also of YO.  They and Stacy Lenze from the CHOW Project talked about youth who access their services.  
4. Street Sex work and Addictive Drugs. Cathy Kapua, HIV Prevention Specialist at the Life Foundation, .moderated a participatory presentation from Eileen Corcoran of Seattle.  Ms. Corcoran is the Screening and Outreach Coordinator for Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion.  She shared her first hand perspective on street sex work and addiction. 

11:20 – 12:30

1. Homelessness and Housing First. Homelessness advocate Joy Rucker moderated a panel including Roddy Marengo Waikiki Health Housing Navigator and Adrian Contreras of the Catholic Charities Housing First Program.  Ms. Rucker provided an overview of the housing first/harm reduction model. Roddy Moddy discussed how housing navigation works.  Adrian Contreras talked about the process for housing first/pathways.  
2. Let’s Talk About Trauma Informed Care & Emotional Intelligence. Kat Brady of the Community Alliance for Prisons moderated this panel discussion.  Panelist Lorraine Robinson, the Director of Ka Hale Ho’ala Hou No Na Wahine, discussed trauma informed care in women.  Tia Roberts, the director of Project Ke Ala Hou discussed trauma informed care in girls.  Restorative attorney Lorenn Walker talked on the topic of emotional intelligence.  
3. Why Should Harm Reduction Workers Care About Drug Policy. Moderated by Rafael Kennedy and Pam Lichty of the Drug Policy Forum this was a roundtable with audience encouraged to participate. 
4. Self-Care at Work: Establishing Boundaries and Getting Effective Supervision.  Jeanne Little, LCSW the Executive Director of the Harm Reduction Therapy Center, presented this session to help participants establish and maintain emotional and physical boundaries.

1:15 – 2:15

The afternoon plenary was entitled The State of Harm Reduction. This consisted of three presentations from Hawaii State Government perspectives moderated by Pam Lichty from the Drug Policy Forum of Hawaii.  Dan Galanis of the Injury Prevention and Control Section of the Hawaii Department of Health went first.  He was followed by Peter Whiticar and Thaddeus Pham both from the State Department of Health STD/AIDS Prevention branch. 

2:30 – 3:30

1. A Harm Reduction Approach to Marijuana. Rafael Kennedy of the Drug Policy Forum moderated this panel discussion including Peter Whiticar, of the Hawaii State Department of Health, and Jari Sugano a mother and caregiver.  Ms. Sugano discussed treating Dravet’s syndrome with medical cannabis, Mr. Whiticar the medical use of our marijuana program, and Mr. Kennedy reducing the harm of enforcing marijuana laws. 
2. Recovery and Harm Reduction . This was an interactive session moderated by Alan Johnson, CEO of Hina Mauka  to discuss changes brought about from the Affordable Care Act  Kunane Dreier, from the Life Foundation, shared his personal experience interacting within the worlds of harm reduction and recovery.
3. Implementing Harm Reduction in Your Agency.  Joy Rucker presented this workshop which addressed creating harm reduction services and policies in agency.   

Speakers List

Kat Brady (Let’s Talk About Trauma Informed Care & Emotional Intelligence) is the Coordinator of Community Alliance on Prisons (CAP), a partner in the Huikahi Restorative Circles process, Assistant Executive Director of Life of the Land, Vice President of Citizens for Equal Rights, Vice President of the Drug Policy Forum of Hawai`i, Secretary of Ka Lei Maile Ali`i Hawaiian Civic Club, Chair of the Honolulu County Committee on the Status of Women and Advisory Board member of Films by Youth Inside. She has been working to create a just society, where every person is equal, has enough to eat, a safe place to live, and finds meaningful work, and works daily to advance these goals. Kat served on the Advisory Board for OHA’s Disparate Treatment of Native Hawaiians in the Criminal Justice System report, authored the Smart Justice Research Paper, is a member of the Disproportionate Minority Contact Committee of the Juvenile Detention Alternative to Incarceration project and serves on the UH Institutional Review Board as the only Prisoner Advocate in Hawai`i.

Keiva Lei Ke’alohimaka Cadena (Harm Reduction Saved My Life) is a proud Native Hawaiian Transgender woman. Keiva Lei had lived a bi-coastal lifestyle between Honolulu and the San Francisco Bay area throughout her childhood to adulthood. She made Hawaii her permanent home in 2006 after complications from HIV prompted her to take care of herself and to become closer to her family and cultural roots. In 2006 Keiva Lei became a client of Life Foundation. She had been affiliated with Life Foundation since 2001 serving as an ‘Aha member of UTOPIA Hawaii.  Keiva Lei.  In 2012 became their Linkage to Care Coordinator in the prevention department. She specializes in providing support, referrals, resources and information to people living with HIV and their partners. . She facilitates weekly HIV/AIDS support groups hosted by Life Foundation and is the Partner Services liaison between Life Foundation and The Department of Health STD/AIDS Prevention Branch. She is very passionate about the work she does and has her own personal emotional investment in linking and retaining those living with HIV into quality long term support and care. 

Michael Chung (Harm Reduction Saved My Life) is a board member of the CHOW Project.  He has worked with United Self Help since 2011 in various capacities, including as a local group facilitator for the Depression Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA) and by conducting BRIDGES mental health groups at Oahu Community Correctional Center and the Hawaii State Hospital.  Over the past year, Mike has completed training and a paid internship to receive the title of Hawaii Certified Peer Specialist from the Department of Health, Adult Mental Health Division.  His travels have lead to stints on the east and west coasts, with stops everywhere in between and back home again, earning a BA in psychology along the way.  There is no health without mental health, and recovery includes freedom from addiction

Adrian Contreras (Homelessness and Housing First) is the Project Coordinator with Catholic Charities Hawaii for the Hawaii Pathways Project.  The project is a Housing First program designed to end homelessness and support recovery to those who have a severe and persistent mental illness and co-occurring substance use disorder.  It is based on the belief that housing is a basic right, emphasizes client choice, psychiatric rehabilitation, and harm reduction.  It addresses homeless individuals’ needs from the client's perspective; with them defining their own goals, and it provides immediate housing in the forms of apartments in scattered sites, and no prerequisites for psychiatric treatment or sobriety.  Prior to joining Catholic Charities Hawaii, Adrian worked with Mental Health Kokua's Safe Haven Project where he served as the case management supervisor, overseeing the residential case management treatment and coordination of the programs outreach efforts in the Downtown Honolulu district.

Eileen Corcoran (Street Sex work and Addictive Drugs) MSW is from the  LEAD Program of Seattle, Washington.  Eileen considers herself a survivor of the street based sex work scene, and is also a recovering heroin addict. Eileen currently is the screening and outreach coordinator For  the Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD)  Program in Seattle WA. Eileen brings a unique personal  and educated perspective to the topic of Street based sex work and harm reduction.  

Dr. Patt Denning (Keynote speaker, and workshop “The Power of Connection”)is one of the primary developers of Harm Reduction treatments. She has written numerous articles and several books on this topic and specializes in working with complex clients. She is a Diplomat-Fellow in Psychopharmacology and a certified addiction specialist through the American Psychological Association’s College of Professional Psychology. She worked in Community Mental Health from 1978 through 1993, developing specialties in differential diagnosis, psychopharmacology, and psychotherapy with seriously disturbed patients, HIV, and substance use disorders.

Kunane Dreier (Recovery and Harm Reduction, Registration) was born and raised in Hau`ula and has worked at the Life Foundation since 2002 conducting HIV prevention, outreach, counseling and testing for men who have sex with men (MSM).  Mr. Dreier is currently a Team Lead at Life Foundation and oversees the new Rapid HIV Testing Program.  For the past few years, he has served as the community co-chair for Hawai`i's HIV community planning group.  As a member of Hawai`i's MSM community since birth, he believes in and practices harm reduction every day.  

Dan Galanis, Ph.D., (The State of Harm Reduction) has been the Epidemiologist for the Injury Prevention and Control Section of the Hawaii Department of Health since 1997.  His primary tasks are to compile and analyze injury-related data for the state, and provide technical support to various groups working in injury prevention.  His current areas of emphasis include research on suicide prevention, ocean drownings, motor vehicle safety, drug poisonings, and injuries from falls among older adults.  He received his doctorate in Nutrition from Cornell University in 1994, and worked as a nutritional epidemiologist at the National Institute on Aging, and the UH Cancer Research Center, before coming to the IPCS.

Carla Houser (Youth, Drug Use and Harm Reduction) oversees Waikiki Health’s Youth Outreach (YO) Program, providing direct services, encouragement and guidance to runaways and other homeless youth age 22 and under. She oversees the Teen Clinic, GED tutoring program, Family Planning and employment program.  She is a certified HIV/HEP C testing counselor for the Hawaii Department of Health.  Carla is also trained as a youth suicide prevention counselor and has many years of experience in trauma informed care.  Her previous experience includes serving as Program Coordinator for the City of Long Beach, CA. In this position she planned, implemented and managed nutrition and physical fitness programs for children aged 5-13. Earlier, she served as a Socialization Worker for S.R.O. Housing Corp., in Los Angeles, CA, Carla received her A.A. Degree in Kinesiology from Mt. San Antonio College and her B.A. Degree in Sociology from UCLA. 

Alan Johnson (Recovery and Harm Reduction) is the CEO of Hina Mauka. Hina Mauka provides drug and alcohol treatment at twenty five sites in Hawaii.  Alan has been at Hina Mauka for eighteen years. He is also Chair of the Hawaii Substance Abuse Coalition (HSAC). The HSAC is a hui of about twenty five non-profit treatment and prevention agencies in the state.  Its vision is to advocate for prevention and treatment, and to educate the community that addiction is a disease, and to reduce stigma.  Alan envisions a “Recovery Management” approach for Hina Mauka’s programs by providing a more long-term and holistic approach to wellness. This means integrating with the medical model, addressing social and psychological issues as well as helping loved ones reunite with families and community. 

Cathy Kapua (Street Sex work and Addictive Drugs) hails from the leeward side of O`ahu, Hawai`i. She has worked with the transgender community since 2003, first starting off as a Peer Educator and Employment Specialist at Kulia Na Mamo, then moving on to become an HIV Prevention Specialist at the Life Foundation. She has worked on several projects specific for the transgender community and has provided culturally competent trainings to service providers on how to include the trans-community into every program. Being a role model for the young transgender community in Hawai`i drives Cathy’s passion to continue her advocacy within the healthcare and social service fields.

Rafael Kennedy (Why Should Harm Reduction Workers Care About Drug Policy? And A Harm Reduction Approach to Marijuana) is the Executive Director of the Drug Policy Forum of Hawaii. He has an academic background in political economy, and has worked as a grassroots organizer for the Drug Policy Action Group. 

Colin Kippen (The State of Harm Reduction) is the Chair of the Hawaii Interagency Council on Homelessness and the State Coordinator on Homelessness. He is a lawyer and urban planner by education, and has worked as a prosecutor, trial lawyer, judge, policy analyst, planner, advocate, and director of various national organizations serving Native Americans, Native Alaskans, and Native Hawaiians. He is encouraged by Hawaii's progress in retooling its homeless crisis response system and its shift to housing those who are homeless as rapidly as possible. He believes that ending homelessness requires "all hands on deck" and that government alone cannot end homelessness. He may be reached at 

CKippen@dhs.hawaii.gov

Stacy Lenze (Youth, Drug Use and Harm Reduction) is the Research and HIV Linkage to Care Coordinator at the CHOW Project, Hawaii’s statewide harm reduction program. Stacy has over five years of experience in working with people living with HIV and hepatitis C, active drug users and the homeless community. Stacy has interviewed hundreds of active drug users, including young people, to better understand their needs and challenges in accessing services.  Stacy volunteers with the UH School of Medicine Anatomy Department.  She has a Bachelor’s of Arts in Psychology from Hawaii Pacific University.

Pam Lichty, MPH  (The State of Harm Reduction moderator and Why Should Harm Reduction Workers Care About Drug Policy?) is President and Co-Founder of the Drug Policy Forum of Hawai`i (DPFH). The Drug Policy Forum of Hawaii is a non-profit organization established in 1993 to encourage discussion and promote public education about current and alternative drug policies and related issues. Ms. Licthy is also President of the Drug Policy Action Group, a sister organization to DPFH, which focuses on governmental affairs. She serves as a board member of the Drug Policy Alliance, the nation's leading organization promoting alternatives to current drug policy. She’s been on the Board of Directors of the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawai`i since 1987 and also chairs Hawaii’s Sterile Syringe Exchange Oversight Committee.

Jeannie Little (Self-Care at Work: Establishing Boundaries and Getting Effective Supervision) is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and the Executive Director of the Harm Reduction Therapy Center in San Francisco. Since 1990 she has been at the forefront of developing harm reduction treatment for people with co-occurring substance abuse and mental illness, especially in homeless services. She has developed a low-threshold community treatment model that has reached thousands of people who have little access to mental health care.  She provides ongoing training in outpatient clinics, drop-in centers, case management programs, and supportive housing.  She is co-author of Over the Influence: The Harm Reduction Guide for Managing Drugs and Alcohol and Practicing Harm Reduction Psychotherapy, 2nd Edition.

Heather Lusk (Moderator-Morning Plenary, Overview of Harm Reduction and Beyond) is the Executive Director at the CHOW Project, Hawai`i’s statewide syringe exchange and harm reduction agency.  Ms. Lusk has over 20 years of experience working in the areas of HIV/STDs/viral hepatitis, sexual health and harm reduction.   She has extensive experience in creating and facilitating trainings for health and social service providers and in developing and monitoring effective sexual health and harm reduction-based programs.  Ms. Lusk is currently on the Board of Directors of the Drug Policy Forum of Hawai`i, Harm Reduction Hawai`i, and the National Viral Hepatitis Roundtable. She was appointed by Gov. Abercrombie to the Hawai`i Advisory Council on Drug Abuse and Controlled Substances where she serves as Chair.

Roddy Marengo. (Homelessness and Housing First)  Recently appointed as Waikiki Health's first Housing Navigator for the national Housing First homeless initiative. Roddy Marengo has eight successful years of experience as a Homeless Outreach worker with Waikiki Health Center.
He was born and raised in the Seychelles islands, a remote island located in the Indian Ocean, directly north of Madagascar. 

Jean L. Mooney (Harm Reduction Saved My Life) is a former Participant of the CHOW Project’s services who now has over eight and a half years clean and sober. She also works in the Harm Reduction field as a Housing Specialist for CHOW and  a Resident Manager of a women’s clean and sober house. She is one whom can truly say, “been there, done that!”

Thaddeus Pham (The State of Harm Reduction) is the Viral Hepatitis Coordinator for the Hawaii State Department of Health.  He is also the Co-Director of the Hep Free Hawaii coalition (www.hepfreehawaii.org).  He has worked in public health for seven years.  He remains committed to working towards equity and social justice in the realm of public health.  He believes the principles of harm reduction ensure that communities and individuals can address real health and social issues in meaningful ways.  

Tia L. Roberts, MSW, MSCJA, (Let’s Talk About Trauma Informed Care & Emotional Intelligence) is the Project for  Ke Ala Hou Director and has over ten years’ experience in juvenile justice and adolescent mental health in Hawaii.  She graduated with a masters in criminal justice administration from Chaminade University and a masters in social work from the University of Hawaii, where she focused on minority rights and mental health, respectively. She was involved in the Hawaiian charter school movement from 2001-2007, and active in civil rights issues, including reproductive and indigenous rights throughout her career. .

Lorraine Robinson, LSW, (Let’s Talk About Trauma Informed Care & Emotional Intelligence) has served since 1995 as the Executive Director of Ka Hale Ho`āla Hou No Nā Wāhine, a residential reentry program for women offenders, in Honolulu. She  has extensive expertise with women in the criminal justice system. Lorraine was a master trainer for the federally sponsored Serious and Violent Offender Re-entry Initiative (SVORI) and has received numerous accolades and awards for her distinguished service to female offenders. She serves on various community boards and is known throughout Hawaii for her advocacy and expertise on women with criminal justice involvement.

Joy Rucker (Homelessness and Housing First and Implementing Harm Reduction in Your Agency) has worked in the human services/social justice field for the last twenty five. Her work has included time in Boston where she developed trainings and educated various treatment programs and social service agencies in the African-American community about substance abusers living with HIV/AID and later in San Francisco where she developed Rafiki House a transitional housing program which serves homeless, African-Americans living HIV and substance use issues  Joy worked for the Corporation for Supportive Housing as Deputy Director of the Health, Housing and Integrated Services Network. This program is now a national model for services for formally homeless people with multi-disabilities. Joy has served on the San Francisco Mayor’s HIV Health Service Planning Council, the Alameda County HIV Planning Council, the Federal Emergency Food and Shelter Program, and the San Francisco Homeless Coordinating Board.

Peter Tuiolosega Silva (Overview of Harm Reduction and Beyond)  is the STD, HIV and hepatitis Epidemiological Specialist for the Department of Health in Hawai'i County.  He began his career in Harm Reduction as an HIV outreach worker with Life Foundation.  He helped to create the first HIV prevention community level intervention for Pacific Islanders in the United States.  In 2004, Peter became the Director of Prevention Services for Life Foundation, implementing a harm reduction based approach to supervision.  He then spent three years helping to build the capacity of government and community agencies in the U.S.-affiliated Pacific Island jurisdictions, including Guam, Palau, and American Samoa.  

Deborah Smith (Youth, Drug Use and Harm Reduction) has been the Outreach Supervisor for Hale Kipa's YO! (Youth Outreach) program since 2009.  She has a B.A. in Anthropology from The University of Texas at Austin. She started her work in Hawaii in 1992 as a case manager for the Life Foundation before moving to Kaiser Permanente.  There she worked on for the homeless as the first of two outreach workers hired to engage SMI homeless in the Downtown/Chinatown area and bring them to Safe Haven. Deborah created the job of Crisis Outreach/Case Management worker while at KPHCH so that she could work with anyone that was homeless. 

Jari Sugano (A Harm Reduction Approach to Marijuana) is the mother of a five year old girl name Maile Jen (MJ) Kaneshiro, who has been living daily with Dravet Syndrome. Dravet syndrome is a rare and catastrophic form of epilepsy. MJ suffers from 5 seizure types. She has taken over a dozen pharmaceuticals, the ketogenic-high fat diet, as well as a few non-FDA approved drugs prescribed by some of the best pediatric neurologists in the nation without much success and endured many harmful side effects. MJ is utilizing medical marijuana as a new treatment option to manage her seizures as all traditional epilepsy management options have failed her.

Lorenn Walker, JD, MPH, (Let’s Talk About Trauma Informed Care & Emotional Intelligence) www.lorennwalker.com, is a public health educator and restorative lawyer who develops, implements, researches and publishes the results of social learning processes using restorative justice and solution-focused approaches. She is on the Fulbright Specialist roster until 2018 for international peacemaking training, administers Hawai’i Friends of Justice & Civic Education, and teaches communication courses for the University of Hawai’i.

Peter Whiticar M.A. (The State of Harm Reduction and A Harm Reduction Approach to Marijuana) Mr. Whiticar is Chief of the STD/AIDS Prevention Branch in the Hawaii Department of Health.  The Branch is responsible for the surveillance, prevention and care of HIV, STD and adult viral hepatitis in Hawaii.  Harm reduction is at the core of the Branch’s service delivery philosophy.  The Branch has been designated by the Department of Health to administer Hawaii’s Medical Marijuana Registry Program commencing January 1, 2015.  Since June 2014 Mr. Whiticar has served as a member of the Hawaii legislature’s HCR 48 Medical Marijuana Dispensary Task Force.  This task force will be making recommendations on establishing dispensaries to the legislature for the coming 2015 session.