Substance Abuse Prevention Skills 

Training of Trainers

Refresh your current knowledge of the SAPST with the updated version of the Substance Abuse Prevention Skills Training curriculum in this Training of Trainers!

Audience: New or Experienced prevention trainers who are interested in learning and utilizing the updated Substance Abuse Prevention Skills Training (SAPST) curriculum.

  * Completion of a SAPST training is required to register for this training. *

Three-day training: Tuesday,  April 30- Thursday, May 2

Combine your current knowledge of the SAPST with the updated version of the Substance Abuse Prevention Skills Training curriculum in this Training of Trainers.

The SAPST curriculum was recently updated to streamline the trainer notes, address areas that needed corrections or revisions, fix the flow of the last two days so the content is more coherent and include information on important areas not addressed in the older version including more emerging issues. 

The updated SAPST curriculum includes:

• Updated data, the addition of information on protective factors, behavioral health disparities and non-medical use of prescription drugs
• Enhanced Epidemiology and revised Cultural Competence (with enhanced CLAS Standards) sections
• An improved flow between sections and days; streamlined trainer notes, refreshed interactive activities and group facilitation strategies

SAPST Training of Trainer Learning Objectives:

• Examine the overall structure and key content areas of the SAPST
• Practice facilitating key components of the SAPST curriculum

*** If you have taken the SAPST ToT or taught a SAPST within the past 1-2 years, it is not necessary to take this course. The PTTC will provide a virtual update of all revisions at a later date.

Instructor: Dodi Swope, MEd, LMFT  

Dodi Swope recently joined the Southwest Prevention Center as a Training and Technical Assistant for the Region 6 Prevention Training and Technology Transfer Center.  In this role Dodi provides training and technical assistance to clients throughout Region 6 to assist them in achieving their substance misuse prevention outcomes.  Dodi brings over 35 years of experience to this role, with a career that spans education, counseling psychology and public health.  Most recently Dodi served as a training and technical assistance specialist at SAMHSA’s Center for the Application of Prevention Technologies (CAPT), working with states and tribes on their efforts to prevent substance misuse and substance use disorders. Dodi provided expertise on interventions across the lifespan and throughout the continuum of care to address the consequences of opioid misuse for the individual and their family and community.   Dodi provided research and implementation expertise that included evidence based programs for infants and toddlers in homes where opioid misuse is present, programs for affected children of elementary and middle school ages as well as more traditional high school prevention programs.  Dodi also provided consultation on opioid overdose prevention, including harm reduction strategies and post overdose interventions to community leaders working on the ground to stem the tide of fatal opioid overdoses.  Dodi’s passion is teaching others about the wonders of human development and assisting individuals, families and communities in developing systems, programs and interventions that support healthy people in healthy communities. 

Dodi holds a Bachelors in Education from Wheelock College with major in Early Childhood Education, with a concentration in Special Needs. She also earned a Masters in Education; Major in Counseling Psychology, Family Therapy Program, from the University of Massachusetts,  Amherst. She is licensed as a Marriage and Family Therapist in the state of Massachusetts. Dodi’s background includes teaching in regular and special education settings and a clinical practice serving children and families impacted by substance use disorders in the Boston area for over ten years.