Shortly after being promoted to the position of HIV Prevention Program Manager at the Kansas Department of Health and Environment in July 2010, my supervisor placed me in charge of the Kansas HIV Prevention Community Planning Group (CPG). At that time, there was a big push at the national level from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to move toward a more integrated approach in how state health departments approached work with all things HIV and AIDS. In addition to the CPG, Kansas also had a care planning group called the Ryan White Planning Body. Shortly after taking over CPG, I started working with fellow KDHE staff and our community partners in both community groups to start the integration process that ultimately led to the formation of the Kansas Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (KACHA).

During the integration process, we worked closely with the National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors (NASTAD) to research what other jurisdictions had accomplished in similar integration processes. Over time, NASTAD and other partners viewed the work we had done in forming KACHA as a good model for other jurisdictions to follow. In February 2013 KACHA hosted a webinar for all their members and asked me and two other members of the KACHA group to present on the work we did to integrate from two separate planning groups into one.

DATE:
2013

WHERE:
KS Department of Health & Environment
NASTAD

SKILLS:

• PowerPoint
• Publisher (graphics)
• Public Speaking
• Project Management
• Interpersonal Communication
• Managing Group Dynamics