NASHVILLE, Tenn. – A statewide half-day conference on improving
services for people with a dual diagnosis of developmental disability
and mental illness will be held Wednesday, June 30, at the Vanderbilt
Kennedy Center for Research on Human Development. The conference is
designed for residential service providers, psychiatrists, physicians
and behavior analysts who work with or plan to work with individuals
with these dual diagnoses.
The discussion will focus on practical treatment approaches and on
the Community Inclusion Project (CIP), which provides comprehensive
health, educational and behavioral assessments to identify causes of
behavioral challenges among patients with a dual diagnosis of
developmental disability and mental illness. CIP also provides
long-term training and follow-up in home, work and community settings.
The Vanderbilt Kennedy Center, the Vanderbilt School of Medicine
Department of Psychiatry and the Vanderbilt School of Nursing are
participating in the project.
Conference presenters are Dr. Jeri Fitzpatrick, a private
practitioner, psychiatric consultant and assistant clinical professor
of psychiatry at Vanderbilt; and Craig Kennedy, director of the
Vanderbilt Kennedy Behavior Analysis Clinic, professor of special
education and pediatrics and Vanderbilt Kennedy Center investigator.
The conference is free and a continental breakfast and lunch will be
provided. Advance registration is required; contact 615-322-8185 or
e-mail bac@vanderbilt.edu by Friday, June 25, to register.
The Dual Diagnosis Conference is sponsored by the Vanderbilt Kennedy
Behavior Analysis Clinic in collaboration with the Tennessee Council on
Developmental Disabilities, the Tennessee Department of Mental Health
and Developmental Disabilities and the Tennessee Division of Mental
Retardation Services. For more information, visit http://kc.vanderbilt.edu/kennedy/pdfs/DualDiagnosisConf.pdf