Participants will learn:

• What Works in Clinical Practice—what is known about change will be translated into practical “take home” skills to immediately improve your effectiveness with
  your clients.
• How To Deliver What Works—the use of reliable and valid measures of outcome and the alliance will be detailed so you may begin to dramatically increase your clinical impact up to an amazing 65% on your first day back at work.
• How To Begin Transformation—how you can start change at your practice, agency, or organization will be highlighted by visionary leaders using outcome management to not only enter full partnerships with consumers, but also to usher the next paradigm shift
  
  Why Should You Attend The Heart and Soul of Change 4?
  • There is a growing worldwide movement, both private and governmental, to involve consumers in mental health and substance abuse care and improve the outcome or value of rendered services. This conference will show you how to proactively partner with consumers to improve the value of the care they receive.
  • The use of evidence based practices (EBP) does not guarantee success. In recognition of the inability of any model to predict success for the individual client, the APA Task Force on EBP suggested that “ongoing monitoring of progress and adjustment of treatment as needed are essential.”  This conference will demonstrate a method to combine EBP with “practice-based evidence” to ensure success at the individual client level.
  • A small percentage (about 10%) of the total number of people treated—unsuccessful clients—accounts for 60-70% of expenditures in mental health and substance abuse; Drop out rates average 47% (higher for youth); Making matters worse is the fact that clinicians often fail to identify people at risk for dropping out or unsuccessful outcome. This conference will provide you with an early warning system to identify failing clients based on the best known predictors of outcome and retention—namely the consumer’s rating of the alliance with the provider of services and the consumer’s rating of early progress in response to the provider, level, and type of treatment offered.
  • Providing clinicians with ongoing consumer feedback regarding the alliance and progress in treatment dramatically increases success rates for at risk client (65% on average) as well as the cost-effectiveness (reduces cancellations, no shows, length of stay, etc) of provided services.

  ISTC Annual Research Award

  The ISTC is pleased to announce the ISTC Research Award for the best study addressing client-directed outcome-informed clinical practice. This award is intended for students, interns, or front line clinicians who demonstrate research excellence on a topic of their choosing or from the following list: The alliance and outcome; Client Theory of Change Early Change Predicting Later Change Data Mining Projects from Data in the Public Domain—for example, looking at Project Match regarding client pre-treatment beliefs about drinking and outcome or looking at the TDCRP and early change, etc The Nuances of Feedback The Research Award recipient will receive $2000 and a free registration to the Heart and Soul of Change 4 Conference in Phoenix in May, 2008. Recipient will also be invited to share his or her results as a Poster Presentation at the Conference.  Requirements include: • Project must be completed within 2 years after the award funds are received. • Recipient must be interested in publishing the study in a peer reviewed journal. Submit your proposals to: info@talkingcure.com Click here to go to: Poster Presentation Contest (ITSC Research Award)

  
  
  Who and What Is the ISTC?
  Institute for the Study of Therapeutic Change (ISTC) was founded by Scott Miller, Barry Duncan, and Mark Hubble after a serendipitous meeting and discussion revealed them to be kindred spirits in their beliefs about the search for the Holy Grail (the perfect model) and the empirical support for the common factors—those factors accounting for change found in all approaches. Building upon the translation of common factors research into a "client directed" perspective described in Changing the Rules, the ISTC (www.talkingcure.com) began as a medium to disseminate information from research about what works in therapy to mental heath and substance abuse professionals all over the world. Barry, Scott, and Mark’s common passions resulted in several books and dozens of articles, and culminated in the APA best selling, The Heart and Soul of Change. As detailed in that book, the things that make therapy work are largely about the client—the true hero of therapeutic change—and the quality of the relationship formed with the therapist, far more important than model or technique. Soon after work on The Heart and Soul was finished, Mark Hubble stepped back from active involvement and a new era of the ISTC began as Scott introduced Barry to what they would later come to see as the most revolutionary idea to hit psychotherapy in decades—namely, the use of client-based feedback to tailor services and improve effectiveness. After a trial and error struggle with existing measures and reaching the conclusion that any method must be feasible as well as reliable and valid, Scott and Barry developed the Outcome Rating Scale (ORS) and Session Rating Scale (SRS) (building on the work of Lynn Johnson) as clinical tools to encourage therapists to openly discuss the benefit and fit of services with clients. During that time, Jacqueline Sparks became involved and ultimately collaborated on Heroic Clients, Heroic Agencies, as well as many other projects including the development and validation of the child measures and The Heroic Client.

  The ISTC, continuing a devotion to empirically-derived clinical practices, evolved as it embraced the paradigm shift represented in client-based feedback to an organization dedicated to the creation of outcome management systems that truly partner with clients while honoring the daily pressures of front-line clinicians. Incorporating the most robust predictors of therapeutic success and after 7 years of development, research, and publication in peer reviewed journals, Scott and Barry launched the Partners for Change Outcome Management System (PCOMS). PCOMS, now in both software and web-based applications, is a reliable, valid, and feasible feedback process that has been shown to significantly improve effectiveness and efficiency in real clinical settings. Unlike other methods of measuring outcome, this system truly gives clients the voice they deserve and assigns consumers key roles in determining how services are both delivered and funded. The ISTC continues to grow and is supported by the efforts of many including Associates, Certified Trainers, the Heroic Agency Network, and the Heroicagencies list.