TPAS Collaboratives are unlike any other you’ve experienced! Instead of the usual conference agenda, the Collaborative will engage in the Open Space Technology process to activate your creativity and motivate you when you’re back on the job.
Open Space is a workshop design tool that engages people who deal with complex issues in innovative and productive ways. Attendees will identify their issues, questions, and successful practices about Alumni and Recovery Support Services, self-select into discussion groups, and work with others who are also interested with that topic.
You will have an opportunity to ask questions and hear from your colleagues. Instead of passively listening to others talk, you will be a learner and also a teacher yourself.
Participants of the Collaborative will gain:
- Innovative ideas for your programs.
- New contacts you can reach out to all year for creative ideas and support.
- A fresh perspective about Alumni & Recovery Support Services programs.
- Renewed motivation that will ultimately fuel the recovery success of your clients.
- The opportunity to become part of a community that fosters the new recovery movement and all activities for long-term recovery support.
A note from Ryan Miller, Director of Alumni Services, Futures of Palm Beach:
“The setting of Treatment Professionals in Alumni Services (TPAS) 2014 could not have been more perfect. Serra Retreat, nestled in the cliffs of Malibu provided the perfect atmosphere for a true collaborative. From Sunday September 28th through October 1st, the Franciscan retreat became home to 65 alumni professional pioneers. The TPAS vision of collaboration versus competition was on full display, as the free exchange of emerging best practices and encouragement permeated the four day event.
Over the last several decades, treatment for individuals battling drug and alcohol related issues has become a focus of intense clinical research and subsequent best practice focused care. As a result, today more so than ever, individuals seeking recovery have a multitude of tried and true methods to achieve a life free of substances. But what happens after treatment, when individuals return home or start a new sober life elsewhere? Recovery does not stop after treatment; rather, it is just beginning. TPAS, its members, and collaborative participants realize how alumni services can support the early recovery foundation established while in treatment and help sustain long-term recovery.
Expertise in the area of alumni services is ongoing and with the support of Futures of Palm Beach, I was able to collaborate both as a teacher and a student with some of the smartest and most caring individuals from treatment centers around the country. As a member of TPAS, Futures has the opportunity to be a leader both nationally and in the state of Florida in the areas of alumni services best practice and continued, long-term recovery for those individuals who have entrusted their lives to our care.”
