San Luis Obispo Unit Report

By L. Jeannette Davis, DSW, Secretary, SLO Unit

On Thursday, May 28, the NASW-CA San Luis Obispo unit will hold its monthly meeting from 5:30pm to 7:30pm. Now that the Affordable Healthcare Act has been implemented for over a year, this month’s 1.5 CEU presentation and discussion is a most timely one. Titled, “Affordable Care Act: Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders,” the program will be led by Dr. Star Graber, PhD, LMFT.

Dr. Graber’s talk will identify the newly expanded services covered for substance use disorders, the changes evident in the beneficiaries for both mental health/drug and alcohol services, and current access to resources for mental health/substance use disorders.

Dr. Graber has been a part of the SLO community since the mid1980s when she attended CalPoly and obtained her M.S. Counseling degree in 1987. She attained her PhD in psychology from California Coast University in 2005. Dr. Graber has worked at the SLO County Behavioral Department since 1999 and is currently division manager. She is in charge of a constellation of treatment and criminal justice programming in drug and alcohol services as well as co-occurring mental health/substance use disorders. The many hats that she wears include program design, data gathering, community collaboration (including presenting information and outcomes to the SLO County Board of Supervisors) evaluating state and federal funded projects and grants, supervising staff, and chief of operations of an $80-million budge for substance use disorder treatment programs with 65 staff. As a part-time Instructor at Cuesta College, Dr. Graber has been conducting college courses, Introduction to Addiction Studies and Treatment and Case Management, since 2009.  

The meeting begins at 5:30pm with networking and snacks; the program begins at 6:00pm.

For directions to the meeting, please contact the Unit at NASWSLO@gmail.com

The final monthly meeting before the July/August break for the SLO Unit will be held on Thursday, June 25th, with a presentation by Catherine Manning, LCSW, on People’s Self-Help Housing. 1 CEU

Save the dates for the fall:

Thursdays: September 24, October 22, and December TBA.