Learning Opportunities

The Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Use Program (COSSUP) team at the Institute for Intergovernmental Research (IIR) invites you to this no-cost webinar that will detail the fundamentals of establishing a successful overdose fatality review (OFR).

About the Webinar

Communities are using overdose fatality reviews (OFRs) to improve and strengthen responses to the overdose epidemic through public safety and public health approaches. In practice, OFRs involve the analysis and review of aggregate data and a series of individual death reviews by a multidisciplinary team to effectively identify missed opportunities for prevention and intervention resulting in community specific overdose prevention and intervention recommendations.

This webinar will detail roles and expectations of OFR staff and members, review an OFR meeting agenda, provide guidance on OFR data collections and plans for implementing identified recommendations. By the end of this session, participants should be able to:

• Summarize the value of an OFR.
• Identify essential OFR team members.
• Describe the meeting structure and expectations.
• Make use of resources and tools needed for a successful OFR.

Meet Your Presenters

• Lauren Savitskas is a senior research associate for IIR. With more than 8 years of experience with prevention and programming at the local, state, and national level. Her focus includes coordination of support to OFR teams, rural OFR initiatives, next-of-kin interviews, the OFR peer mentor program, and training new OFR sites.
• Morgan Kramer is a senior research associate for IIR with 8 years of public health experience within overdose, child, and fetal and infant fatality reviews. Her focus includes coordination of support to OFR teams, prevention and intervention strategies, and the delivery of resources for states building infrastructure to support local OFR program efforts.  

The Overdose Fatality Review (OFR) National Forum will take place on February 11–12, 2025 in Portland, Oregon. Join your peers as we highlight the advances that overdose fatality reviews (OFRs) and communities have made in collaborating to prevent substance misuse and future overdose deaths. This 1½-day convening offers the unique opportunity for multidisciplinary OFR members who participate in, lead, support, or are interested in OFRs to connect directly with colleagues from different backgrounds to discuss relevant issues, share ideas, exchange resources, and gain new skills to improve programs.

No-cost Registration

There is no registration fee to attend! For more information and to register, visit our website.

Discover the Agenda

To underscore this year’s theme, Turning the Tide: Saving Lives, Supporting Recovery, and Honoring Those We Have Lost, participants will learn from national experts and practitioners of OFR in a mix of general-interest plenary sessions, workshops for those new to OFR, and skills trainings to strengthen existing OFRs. Check out the agenda to help plan your forum experience.

Need Justification? Find help here.

Maximize your opportunity to attend by downloading our 2025 National Forum justification letter template. Tailored to highlight the unique value of this event, this tool assists with outlining the benefits of attending to help advance your OFR, strengthen your team, and drive future success.

Questions are welcome anytime at www.ofrtools.org/ContactUs.

Fidelity is a crucial measure of how well programs deliver treatment models in the way that they are intended. However, many programs provide treatments in a way that skews away from how those models should be delivered. This may happen for many reasons, including having staff too busy to conduct fidelity checks, not understanding how to ensure fidelity to a particular treatment model, or not collecting the data needed to assess fidelity. 

This webinar, presented by SAMHSA's GAINS Center, will provide an overview of what it means to ensure fidelity to a treatment model, why it is important, and steps generally involved in assessing fidelity. Participants will also be provided with a deeper dive into steps for monitoring fidelity to the model when using Motivational Interviewing to deliver program services and treatment.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of this webinar, participants should be able to:

• Understand the term “fidelity to the model” and its importance in providing quality treatment services and programming.
• List important aspects of regular, ongoing practices to ensure fidelity to the treatment models used in your program or organization.
• Discuss steps for monitoring fidelity to the model when incorporating Motivational Interviewing in a program’s services.

*** Please Note: This webinar is not registered for CEU credit. A certificate of attendance will be provided for personal portfolio use only.

The 6th Annual National Law Enforcement Summit presented by the Police Assisted Addiction and Recovery Initiative (PAARI) will be held in Tampa, Florida, on February 25-26, 2025. The specific location will be announced soon.

This two-day gathering will unite law enforcement, public safety, and public health leaders from across the nation. Whether you are in the early stages of establishing non-arrest deflection programs or actively participating in them, this summit will offer valuable insights into pathways to treatment and recovery.