Hill Health Center News Release

For immediate release 23 September 2003

Information: Robert Kilpatrick

503-3406 (w)

245-4533 (h)

rkilpatrick@hillhealthcenter.com

www.hillhealthcenter.com

African-American Conference

"It Takes a Village," an all-day conference at the Omni Hotel in New Haven sponsored by the Amistad Village Project, will take place Thursday, Sept. 25.

The conference will feature Dr. Charles Morgan, chief of psychiatry at Bridgeport Hospital, as the keynote speaker. His discussion will cover the diversity of African American culture and how providers can utilize the range of traditions that span the culture.

Small panel discussions will seek to understand from the point of view of clients, staff and family members how the Amistad Village Project has effectively used cultural interventions to transform traditional therapy into culturally specific and effective therapy.

Panelists and workshop presenters will include Tom Ficklin, marketing director of Empower New Haven; Clifton Graves, director of the Multi Cultural Department at SCSU; Warren Kimbro, director of Project MORE; Reverend Bonita Grubbs, director of Christian Community Action and Minister Donald Morris, director of the Christian Community Commission.

The daylong conference, billed as a "Cultural Journey of Healing, Transformation and Recovery," will include cultural entertainment, drumming, dance and soul food. It will end with a dramatic story telling rendition of the African-American path to emancipation rendered by Florence Sharpe.

Throughout the day, educational materials will be disseminated designed to enhance provider understanding of the use of culture in treatment.

The Conference runs from 8:30 to 4:30, with the keynote speech at the luncheon

Background

In 2002, the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services in Hartford was awarded a three-year grant by the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment to develop a culturally specific drug and alcohol treatment program for African Americans.

Based upon growing interest in the nation over the need to match cultural interventions to specific populations, the program mission was to pioneer innovative and non-traditional strategies to heal African Americans involved in drugs and alcohol, homelessness and mental illness.

The Hill Health Center and MAAS (Multi Cultural Ambulatory Addiction Services) of New Haven were chosen to develop the program. The program has utilized a mix of non-traditional outreach and engagement as well as motivational strategies to heal this population.

#