Continuing Professional Education & Training
The Evolution Group, Inc. has developed and delivered presentations and provided training and technical assistance for best practice and promising best practice approaches at international, national, regional, state and local professional educational conferences and seminars on topics related to:

• Integrity Recovery™ Approach
• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
• The Mind, Body, Spirit Approach in Wellness
• Employee Health Education Topics
• Handling Difficult Customers
• Mindfulness Stress Reduction
• Communication Enhancement Skills
• Reading Body Language
• Conflict Resolution Strategies
• Co-Occurring Disorders
• Motivational Interventions:  S.P.A.R.K.
• Substance Dependence Treatment Strategies
• Treatment Component of Therapeutic jurisprudence
• Pathological Gambling Interventions
• Domestic violence and aggression
• Anger and Aggressive Behavior
• Innovation with the treatment of mood disorders
• Use of Group Therapy Modalities
• Ethical Considerations in the Practice of Counseling

Our staff, comprised of veteran licensed providers from all cultures found in New Mexico, who are master's level clinicians for 20+years, hold certifications in Reiki, EMDR, Seeking Safety, S.T.O.P., from the National Forensic Counseling Board, The American Counseling Association, The National Council on Problem Gambling, The American Board of Certified Compulsive Gambling Counselors, and The New Mexico Forensic Counseling Association, among others.

Professional Education/Training (Seminars and Conferences)

• As an organization the clinical staff of The Evolution Group, Inc. often presents at national conferences listed below as well as statewide conferences also listed below.
• Quarterly and annual statewide continuing education seminars are also organized and presented by The Evolution Group, Inc.

National Conferences:

• National Association of Drug Court Professionals - Held Annually in June
• National Council on Problem Gambling - Held Annually in June
• National Center for Responsible Gaming – Held Annually in November

State Conferences:

• Responsible Gaming Association of New Mexico – Annually held in August
• New Mexico Association of Drug Court Professionals – Annually Held in late fall
• Inn of the Mountain Gods Compulsive Gambling Treatment Seminar – Held in the fall

Quarterly Local Conferences:

• Domestic Violence Treatment Interventions
• Integrity Recovery™ Approach
• Compulsive Gambling treatment Interventions

Feedback from conference attendees is very positive:

“The Evolution Group, Inc. always makes it interesting and in-depth”
“I like how they incorporate demonstrations into the trainings”
“The client panel discussion was moving for me”
“Integrity Recovery gives the client so much more focus between sessions”

 

Seminars designed by the organization often involve the input of committees that include those who take an interest in the social issues being addressed. These committees discuss and vote on seminar topics, focus emphasis, speaker selection, and logistical planning.

Many if not all of the committee members volunteer at the time of the seminar, and some participate.

Whenever possible, wrap around approaches are utilized in seminar design in order that attendees (primarily treatment professionals but also other professionals and community members) may reap the benefit of multiple perspectives in any one continuing educational element or focus.

Menu of Statewide or Local Conferences that We Offer:

• Cognitive Behavioral Interventions with Mood Disorders
• Untangling the Ties that Bind: The Whole Family in Addiction Treatment Approaches
• Therapeutic Jurisprudence: A Gathering of the Judiciary, Counselors and Social Workers
• Working with the Antisocial-Dually Diagnosed Population
• The Hammer Meets the Couch: Therapeutic Jurisprudence

• Co-Occurring Disorders in Addiction treatment
• Integrity Recovery™ Group Approach
• The Mind, Body, Spirit Approach in Wellness:  Three Clinics
• Employee Health Education:

1. The Way of The Moment:  Stress Reduction
2. Reading Body Language:  Non Verbal Communication
3. Effective Communication w/ Co-Workers, Supervisors and Employees
4. Remain and Back to Work Interventions
5. Remain and Back to Work Interventions Agreements
6. Effective and Simple Ways of Boosting Morale
7. Trauma Debriefing

• Blending Treatment to-Occurring Disorders
• Adult mental heath Interventions
• Substance Dependence Treatment Approaches
• Treatment Component of Therapeutic jurisprudence
• Pathological Gambling
• Domestic violence and aggression
• Anger and Aggressive Behavior
• Innovation with the treatment of mood disorders
• Use of Group Therapy Modalities
• Ethical Considerations in the Practice of Counseling

• Sanidad: Promising Practices in working with the Latino Population
• Innovations: Combining Financial Planning, Harm Reduction
  and Treatment of Pathological Gamblers
• Harm Reduction: an Emerging Promising Practice with Pathological Gamblers
• Co-Occurring Disorders
• The Integrity Recovery Approach
• Women's Issues in Substance Abuse Treatment
• The Mood Disorders Clinic: An Affordable Group Intervention
  for the Mood Disorders
• Indigenous: A Native American Track for Recovery

Statewide Conference Collaborations
(Annual, Quarterly, Monthly)

• Evidence-Based Practices: Pathological Gambling Treatment Conference
• Emerging Research in Batterer Treatment with Donald Dutton, PhD, Author of "The Batterer," The Domestic Violence Educational Summit hosted and coordinated by The Evolution Group, Inc. Albuquerque, NM.
• Community Seminar Series: Best Practices in Working with Compulsive Gamblers and their Families, hosted and
  coordinated by The Evolution Group, Inc.
• Utilizing Integrity Recovery: A Cognitive Behavioral Treatment Approach hosted and coordinated by The Evolution Group, Inc. (Quarterly) Albuquerque, NM.
• CBT with the Dually Diagnosed Population: Addiction and Antisocial Traits, Monthly Seminar Series, hosted and coordinated by The Evolution Group, Inc., Albuquerque, NM.

Feedback questionnaires given to all conference attendees over the years have consistently yielded high marks averaging 4.75 out of a possible 5 points.

The Evolution Group, Inc. Executive Director, Daniel Blackwood, LPCC is a New Mexico State Licensing Board approved provider of continuing education credits for Counselors and Social Workers since 2002.

Over the years the Evolution Group, Inc. Staff has provided trainings, consultations, mediation, and workshops for the following organizations in the state-wide community:

• Children, Youth, and Families Department Provider
• Presbyterian Healthcare System
• The Responsible Gaming Association of New Mexico
• Albuquerque Metropolitan DWI/Drug Court
• Metropolitan Domestic Violence Repeat Offender Program
• United States Federal District Court

Organizations Our Principles Have Served

Organizations with Whom Our Principles Have Consulted

Educational Film Collaborations
The Evolution Group, Inc. and Christopher Productions (christopherproductions.org) have been working together on various mental health and video projects for the past 5 years including:

2002 Knowing When to Stop (gambling addiction documentary)
2003 DWI first offenders video training (DWI 1st Offender Video)
2006 Dr. Donald Dutton video presentation for web development
2007 Gambling Addiction affects on family Video
2007 Gambling Addiction affects on co-workers Video