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A Webinar to Identify and Recognize -
1. The most updated list of Synthetic Opiates, to include fentanyl, other analogs and their dangers;
2. Recognition of opiate users and why they overdose on these dangerous drugs;
3. Recognition of Pill Mill labs, fentanyl pills and other type synthetic opiate labs, including all paraphernalia;
4. The proper safety equipment as documented by Federal DEA and Washington D.C., office of ONDCP, protocols needed to safely search, seize and properly submit for evidence of all synthetic opiates.

Through this instruction, participants examine the risks to drug endangered children, how to identify these risks, the benefits and need for early intervention and the need for a collaborative response. During this training, participants learn the steps to establishing a formal drug endangered children alliance, including developing protocols and MOU’s to sustain on-going efforts.

This training provided information on awareness, recognition, and response to major national and tribal gangs. Due to the breadth of knowledge of the presenters, they were able to provide information on both national and local tribal gangs, and how other gangs have associated with the tribal gangs to sell drugs within the tribal community.

In June Vera continued to take part in conference calls with VADOC’s multiple workgroup and committee meetings including another convening of mental health committee meeting. Additionally, the Vera team facilitated the ongoing bi-weekly calls with our site lead, Tori Raiford and other designated staff to provide updates on VADOCs implementation progress. Most notably, this month VADOCs continued expansion of their Shared Allied Management (SAMs) which target intensive services to their population with mental health diagnosis (not rising to the level of SMI).

In June, Vera facilitated conference calls with UDC’s data research lead Julie Christianson to discuss the department’s ongoing development of performance metrics and reports, specifically the recently updated data for fourth quarter of 2017.

In May Vera participated via conference call in VADOCs mental health committee meeting. The meeting focused on our specific findings and recommendations around system wide mental health issues outside the purview of the new Diversion Units (SDTP). Additionally, the Vera team took part in scheduled bi-weekly calls with our site lead, Tori Raiford and other designated staff to provide updates on VADOCs implementation progress.

In May there were ongoing emails and phone calls with Jeremy Sharp (UDC's site lead) in preparation for two upcoming implementation meetings (Part I on May 11th and Part II on May 23rd) with the UDC implementation team via video conference. The meetings were in support of UDCs work-plan and were designed to help the implementation team identify key staff to lead specific reform goals, to assess the feasibility of implementing each of our recommendations, and to prioritize implementation tasks and activities accordingly.

In April, Vera exchanged emails clarifying notes and following up on the recent (March 29-30) implementation plan meeting and ongoing development of VADOCs work-plan. This work included the launch of three new work-groups to address three key areas of our proposed reforms: culture change, mental health, and other system-wide reforms.

In April, Utah's Executive Director Rollin Cook announced he was stepping down after five years in the position. As a result, there were multiple phone calls and email exchanges with Director Cook and UDC leadership to gauge and ensure the department's commitment to continue working with Vera on the implementation of our recommendations for reform.

CSG Justice Center staff conducted a site to obtain a comprehensive understanding of program processes that have not been overtly clear throughout grant program's history. Grantee has experienced turnover in leadership that has resulted in discrepancies around enrollment and definitions throughout transitions period. The site visit helped to assess enrollment and recruitment processes in multiple facilities where grantee currently delivers prerelease services.