VitAL Alabama

Resources for Justice-Involved Job Seekers
2026-05-04 10:30 - 12:00 (America/Chicago)
o SME: Sandra Reese (IPS Employment Center / RFMH Inc.)

Resources for Justice-Involved Job Seekers will examine the dynamics and best practices involved in helping job seekers with a history of justice involvement in their search for meaningful, competitive employment. The session will cover strategies, including a four-step approach to disclosure, that will assist attendees who engage with justice-involved job seekers. The session will also explore dynamics related to what a job seeker may expect from employers throughout their employment journey.

Adolescent Crisis Response and Behavioral Health Summit
2026-05-04 08:00 - 2026-05-06 17:00
The Adolescent Crisis Response & Behavioral Health Summit brings together professionals across Alabama to strengthen how we respond to youth in crisis. This one-day training focuses on practical strategies, cross-system collaboration, and improving access to care for adolescents experiencing behavioral health and substance use challenges. Participants will gain tools to better navigate crisis response, intervention, and referral pathways. Join us to build a more coordinated and effective approach to supporting youth.

Huntsville 5/4 | Birmingham 5/5 | Mobile 5/6

Deep Dive: ASAM-Based Placement Assessment Part II: Risk Ranking Considerations and Level of Care- Turning Info into Outcomes
2026-04-30 02:00 - 16:00
Once information has been gathered, it is the responsibility of the clinician to synthesize the information, make connections across dimensions, and provide level of care and treatment recommendations. This presentation provides a practical, ASAM-based framework for translating comprehensive placement assessment data into defensible risk ratings and clinically appropriate levels of care. It reviews the six ASAM dimensions, emphasizing how substance use patterns, biomedical conditions, emotional/behavioral health, readiness to change, continued use potential, and recovery environment interact to inform risk ratings. Through definitions, decision rules, and case examples, the training illustrates how to justify ratings, weigh dimensions, and apply key exceptions. The presentation also outlines residential and outpatient levels of care, principles of least restrictive treatment, and importance of shared decision-making. Overall, it equips clinicians to convert interview information into consistent, client-centered placement decisions that align clinical need, client preference, and system navigation considerations.

At the conclusion of this training, participants will be able to:

Explain the role of Shared Decision Making in placement decisions and client-centered care planning.

Describe how information from each dimension informs risk ratings and supports clinical justification.

Apply collected assessment information to determine risk ratings and identify the most clinically appropriate level of care to meet client needs.

Deep Dive: ASAM-Based Placement Assessment Part I: The Interview- Using the Tool to Obtain Information
2026-04-29 14:00 - 16:00
This presentation seeks to provide an overview of conducting a client-centered placement interview utilizing ASAM- based considerations. The presentation emphasizes ensuring client understanding, minimizing stigma, and applying trauma-informed practices while gathering clinically relevant biopsychosocial information. It reviews key considerations across ASAM Dimensions 1–6, including substance use patterns, withdrawal risk, medical and mental health conditions, readiness to change, continued use potential, and recovery environment. Not only is it important to know what to ask, but to consider the way in which we as clinicians ask and elicit information. Throughout, the training highlights accurate documentation, objective assessment, and the ethical responsibility to balance clinical rigor with empathy to gain relevant information.

At the conclusion of this training, participants will be able to:

Gather comprehensive and clinically relevant information to determine appropriate substance use treatment needs.

Conduct client interviews in a manner that promotes understanding, clarity, and engagement.

Demonstrate client-focused care by recognizing and responding to the impact of assessment questions on the client.

Redeemed: A Recovery Story
2026-04-22 13:00 - 14:00
Join us for two powerful sessions in our Justice Webinar Series, each offering 1 hour of FREE CE credit. On April 22, explore “Redeemed: A Recovery Story” with Jocelynn James, a moving testimony on overcoming addiction and finding purpose through restoration, accountability, and community. Then on May 13, Dr. Karen Johnson presents “Someone on Their Side,” an evidence-based training examining how stigma impacts care and recovery outcomes for individuals under community supervision. Together, these webinars provide both personal insight and research-driven strategies to better support individuals navigating substance use and reentry. Click the link to register and be part of these impactful conversations.

Prattville- Stop Judging Start Healing Stigma Summit
2023-01-25 08:15 - 16:45
Keynote Speaker: Ryan Leaf is a former American football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) for four seasons. He played for the San Diego Chargers and the Dallas Cowboys between 1998 and 2001, and also played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Seattle Seahawks.

After his NFL career ended, Leaf completed his degree at Washington State. He had legal troubles involving drugs beginning in 2010 after a Texas judge sentenced him to 10 years probation. Two years later, Leaf pleaded guilty to felony burglary and drug possession in Montana. After a suspended sentence with a stint in drug rehabilitation, Leaf began serving a seven-year sentence in state prison in December 2012. On September 9, 2014, Leaf was sentenced to five years in prison for violating his Texas probation by breaking into a home in Montana to steal prescription drugs, but he was released from prison on December 3, 2014.
