Design Thinking Training for Maui County Substance Abuse Prevention & Treatment Providers 

Join the Coalition for a Drug-Free Hawaii in an innovative workshop that includes an introduction to Design Thinking* and opportunity to provide input into ADAD’s strategic plan for substance abuse prevention and treatment workforce development. 

The workshop will be presented in an active learning environment facilitated by Dr. Karen Umemoto and Antonia Alvarez.  Participants will be guided through the Design Thinking process to experience each step first hand: Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, and Test.  The outcome will focus on designing an ideal training and support system for substance abuse prevention and treatment service providers.  Participants will receive resource materials on Design Thinking to use for program planning, with clients/program participants, community planning processes, staff development, and to address problems and seek solutions.

*Design Thinking is a methodology used by designers to solve complex problems, and find desirable solutions for clients. Design Thinking draws upon logic, imagination, intuition, and systemic reasoning, to explore possibilities of what could be, and to create desired outcomes that benefit the end user, which in this training will be the substance abuse prevention and treatment workforce.

Dr. Karen Umemoto is Professor and Chair at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, Department of Urban & Regional Planning. Antonia Alvarez, former Program Director of Mental Health America of Hawaii, is currently pursuing her doctoral degree.

Limited travel scholarships are available for Molokai and Lanai substance abuse prevention and treatment providers.  Please email Susan Oka for details at: soka@drugfreehawaii.org.