Above: Toby Mower (center) at the inauguration ceremony for the Toby Mower Presidential Development Chairs in Addiction Prevention and Treatment, with Chair Incumbents Miriyam Farkash and Dr. Orli Grinstein-Cohen.
Miriyam Farkash RN, MA, representing the Toby Mower Curriculum for the Prevention and Treatment of Addiction, initiated a multi-pronged agreement withInternational Nurses Society on Addictions (IntNSA) President, Dana Murphy-Parker, during the recent International Society of Addiction Medicine (ISAM)conference in Dundee, Scotland. Farkash and Murphy-Parker agreed that a new chapter of IntNSA, as well as a certification course for nurses, would be opened at BGU's Faculty of Health Sciences in Beer-Sheva. In addition, Farkash, Murphy-Parker and IntNSA Vice President for International Affairs, Carmel Clancy, agreed that the Toby Mower Curriculum would participate in an international study assessing faculty willingness to include addiction prevention, diagnosis and treatment elements in their courses.
“Addictive disorders including alcohol, drug and other dependencies, as well as dependencies on prescription drugs, nicotine, and gambling, are not only not decreasing, but actually increasing in our times and new kinds of dependencies, such as dependencies on physical activities, smartphones and other technologies, are emerging,” says Farkash.
“Nurses are in a position that enables them to provide comprehensive, high-quality care to addicted patients and their families, regardless of their nursing practice specialization. In Israel there is not enough emphasis on this area. Due to addiction-related health consequences and their prevalence, there is a need to connect clinicians and managers, practicing in different settings, including treatment centers, hospitals, primary care, and other community agencies, with educators and researchers in order to develop strategies and education programs that will enable nurses to promote healthy lifestyles, perform early identification of people at risk for developing problems associated with the abuse of addictive substances and participate in the treatment and rehabilitation of people with addictive disorders,” she argues.
“Establishing an IntNSA chapter in Israel will facilitate this process and positionBen-Gurion University as a leader in the field,” she adds.
The Toby Mower Curriculum recently hosted a day-long workshop for nursing department lecturers, to train them in techniques for diagnosing behavioral changes due to addiction that will then be integrated into their clinical instruction courses. Throughout the year, the lecturers and their students will run simulations on addiction treatment.
Fifty first-year Faculty of Health Sciences students are currently enrolled in a new course taught by experts in addiction treatment approaches such as: the 12-Step Program, cognitive-behavioral therapy, mindfulness and motivational interviewing. An eight session workshop for University faculty (academic, administrative and technical) was also offered to teach coping strategies for work-related stress and tension so as to prevent the descent into addictive behaviors.
The generous support of Dr. Toby and Morton Mower enabled BGU to embark on an ambitious undertaking to develop the Toby Mower Curriculum for the Prevention and Treatment of Addiction, a new multi-disciplinary program in addiction, in 2011. The program set out to train nurses and other community health professionals in addressing addictive disorders including: alcohol and drug dependencies, nicotine dependencies, eating disorders, co-occurring disorders, and impulse-control disorders, by focusing on the prevention, intervention, treatment, and management of substance abuse and misuse.
The program is unique in Israel, where educational resources on topics related to addiction are often limited, piecemeal, and not well-integrated into clinical practice. In contrast, the Toby Mower Curriculum has been far reaching, already directly touching university students (undergraduate and graduate students), professionals in the field (nurses, social workers, and others), educators (faculty and instructors from BGU’s Department of Nursing, as well as others in the Faculty of Health Sciences and other University faculties), and, most importantly, individuals suffering from addiction.
Ms. Miriyam Farkash, RN, MA holds the Toby Mower Presidential Development Chair in Addiction Prevention and Treatment. Miriyam Farkash is a senior lecturer in BGU’s Leon and Mathilde Recanati School for Community Health Professions and coordinator of the community health nursing academic program, where she teaches theoretical and clinical instruction at the undergraduate and graduate levels. She teaches the Toby Mower Curriculum courses Introduction to Drug and Alcohol Abuse: Prevention and Treatment in Israel and The Diagnosis and Treatment of Behavioral Addictions, and supervises students.
Dr. Orli Grinstein-Cohen, RN, Ph.D. holds the second Toby Mower Presidential Development Chair in Addiction Prevention and Treatment. Dr. Grinstein-Cohen is a lecturer in the Department of Nursing at BGU’s Leon and Mathilde Recanati School for Community Health Professions and a registered nurse in Soroka University Medical Center’s Orthopedics Department. Dr. Grinstein-Cohen is an expert in orthopedic and emergency nursing. Dr. Grinstein-Cohen also teaches Introduction to Drug and Alcohol Abuse: Prevention and Treatment in Israel and Introduction to Forensic Nursing, and supervises students.
Prof. Richard Isralowitz advises the Toby Mower Curriculum. He is Director of the Regional Alcohol and Drug Abuse Resources Center/Negev Project Vision (RADAR) at The Charlotte B. & Jack J. Spitzer Department of Social Work. RADAR provides assistance for web site development, training, and research purpose
