The Carl Nowell Leadership Award is presented each year to honor a person who embodies the following characteristics:
We are currently accepting nominations for the 2023 Carl Nowell Award. The deadline for submission is Feb 28, 2023.
Conference Location
Bryant Conference Center
240 Paul W. Bryant Drive
Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35487
Host Hotel
Hotel Capstone
320 Bryant Drive
Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35401
Phone: (205) 752‐3200
Forgot Registrant ID? Tap on Registrant ID at the top of the screen to have it emailed to you.
ASADS, invites you to join the family of supporters by showcasing your agency/product at this prestigious event. Our 2023 ASADS Annual Conference will be taking place from March 21-24, 2023. Our 2023 Annual Conference will feature a broad array of topics where researchers, clinicians, and educators will share their work and progress through keynote addresses, course presentations, panel discussions, numerous networking opportunities, and much more.
ASADS’s mission is to serve the professional’s needs and interests by providing affordable high-quality education so they can practice at the highest level possible. ASADS is the only conference of its size that provides high-quality education/training for substance use disorder counselors, educators, primary care professionals, pharmacists, and other addiction-focused professionals. Over 950 attendees, eager to learn the latest advancements in addiction prevention, treatment, and recovery attend our Annual Conferences each year.
Join addiction-focused professionals for three and half days of presentations, professional development, and networking opportunities by showcasing your agency, product, or organization at this prestigious event. We offer various levels of sponsorship that will fit your budget.
For more information visit email us at asadsalabama@gmail.com or call (256) 620‐3304.
Speaker: Anthony Brooks
Anthony Brooks has dedicated his professional career to uplifting and supporting the young and young at heart. His job titles have consisted of clinical coordinator, family consultant, public relations coordinator, counselor/therapist, administrative assistant, program coordinator and motivational speaker. He has dedicated his professional career to uplifting and supporting his clients, customers, and students. Currently he serves as Principal at the Special Programming for Achievement Network which was ranked the number one program of its kind in his state from 2014-present. Mr. Brooks intends to receive a master’s degree in Social Work so that he may continue to expand his abilities to better serve the community.
Has the past year left you feeling overwhelmed? You are not alone. Join your colleagues for an uplifting and highly energized session that will leave you feeling “full” of inspiration with utensils you need to get your appetite back to tackle a full plate. How To Eat An Elephant is an interactive presentation for all audiences.
Productivity, engagement, and retention of staff have long been seen as the “Bermuda Triangle” of healthcare, especially in the field of addiction treatment. Staff shortages, burnout, and turnover can plague an organization for years and cost a company at least 33% of that staff member’s annual salary to replace them. This presentation will focus on approaches that organizations can use to develop staff productivity, engagement, and retention in STRATEGIC ways. Participants should expect an engaging seminar, along with a re-grounding of the passion for people that led them to this field in the first place. The presentation will be focused specifically on providing deliverables that organizations and individuals can immediately implement into their programs to help develop strategic productivity, engagement, and retention of their staff. These deliverables will be focused on the model of Strategic Productivity (SP3O), including Building a Culture of Engagement; Attentive Supervision; Effective Systems and Operations; and Alignment. Organizational Culture will include a scientific study and definitions of Org. Culture, along with a discussion on effective leadership and listening to our workforce. Attentive Supervision will focus primarily on the important role that supervisors play in the success of their teams and the implementation of SP3O. Effective Systems & Operations will focus on developing systems/ops that work for the workforce and that help solve problems. We will discuss solutions as well as symptoms of systems/ops that work in reverse, thereby taxing the workforce’s abilities to operate with Strategic Productivity. Finally, Alignment will focus on getting your operations and people aligned to one purpose, passion, and presence. We will be utilizing several audience break-out sessions and participation activities throughout the presentation, including utilizing balloons to demonstrate building effective systems, ping pong balls to demonstrate attentive supervision, and an entire audience participation activity that will “make it rain.” The plan is to fully engage the audience, to fully envelop the participants in the theme of the presentation. The presentation will be conducted by Josh Nirella, who has held leadership positions in behavioral healthcare for the last 20 years, including the current President of PAATOD. The presentation will run 3 hours in length, with several opportunities for break-out sessions and question/answer segments to engage the audience. The target audience is behavioral healthcare leadership who have the ability to make organizational changes, along with clinicians and medical personnel, who have the ability to impact an organization’s vision/mission.
After attending the course, a participant will be able to:
With the recent changes in the states’ abortion laws, a new awareness for practitioners is necessary for when their patients are taking psychotropics. This presentation will update behavioral health professionals on the latest FDA guidelines concerning pregnancy and lactation risk categories for psychotropic medications. Discussions of antidepressant, antipsychotic, anxiolytic, and mood stabilizers’ birth defects and the safety of breastfeeding will be the focus of this course.
After attending the course, a participant will be able to:
This presentation offers a description and implementation of Creating Change, a new evidence-based counseling model for trauma and/or addiction. This new model focuses on the processing of past memories and emotions. By the end of the training, participants can conduct Creating Change if they choose to. The training is highly clinically oriented and experiential, addressing key issues such as client readiness and engagement, clinician self-care, complex cases, and the evidence base of the model.
After attending the course, a participant will be able to:
With an increase in substance-related fatalities year over year, more and more family members of all types are experiencing the pain of losing someone they love. This course will walk through the clinical perspective of supporting grieving people and share learnings from hosting weekend-long grief workshops providing hope and healing to families who have experienced a substance-related loss.
After attending the course, a participant will be able to:
This three-hour course will provide an overview of current developments in Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs)/HIV diagnosis & management to the layperson/professional, especially those involved in the counseling & education of individuals living with a dual diagnosis, i.e., alcohol/drug addiction AND an STI, including HIV and/or HBV/HCV. Attendees will receive instruction on the nine most common STIs diagnosed in Alabama. Also, key Alabama laws regarding STIs/HIV will be discussed.
After attending the course, a participant will be able to:
This course will provide an overview of the process to identify and address the mental health and law enforcement needs in rural Alabama communities. You will have the opportunity to learn from leaders of the Clay County Law Enforcement Agencies and the Clay County Children’s Policy Council about the collaborative efforts they utilized to create and put in place a Law Enforcement Mental Health Liaison position within their rural community.
After attending the course, a participant will be able to:
As COVID-19 emerged, healthcare workers found themselves in unprecedented situations related to the increase in patients, acuity, risk to themselves, and changing safety requirements. This has been shown to have a large effect on the mental health and wellness of healthcare workers. This presentation examines what is mental health and wellness in TAM05: HIV/STIs: an Overview for the Substance Abuse/Mental Health Professional healthcare workers today. It looks at recent surveys, studies, or articles written by organizations including by Mental Health America about the increase in things such as stress, anxiety, feeling overwhelmed, loneliness and powerlessness in healthcare workers. It also discusses the increase in rates of Pandemic Fatigue, Burnout, Compassion Fatigue, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, and Suicide Rates in healthcare workers. It has approximately 23 references and looks at multiple reports or articles form organizations or experts such as the American Psychological Association, Scientific America, Global Wellness Institute, and more. When doing this review, we learned important statistics, for example in one survey conducted from June-September 2020, 55.14% of the healthcare workers surveyed were questioning their career path and 52.19% reported having Compassion Fatigue. These same healthcare workers reported that only 27.7% felt hopeful and 19.66% felt pride. These are important statistics for regulatory agencies and healthcare associations to hear. Challenges faced included that this is an evolving situation and the studies looking at it are relatively new. Long term mental health effects on healthcare workers may not be completely realized yet. Many healthcare workers express a decline in their mental health and wellness since the pandemic started. These studies, though focused on healthcare in the United states, are issues that are being felt around the world. Healthcare workers are expressing similar effects of stress and concern globally. This can increase concerns for regulatory bodies, employers, and the healthcare workers themselves, related to increase in substance use or mental health concerns that would prevent the healthcare worker’s ability to provide safe care. It also can cause decrease in the number of healthcare workers in the field which can be concerning for the lack of enough workers to cover the number of patients who need care. These are important issues to be aware of and to find ways to assist our healthcare workers with their mental health and wellness.
After attending the course, a participant will be able to:
Individuals who work with vulnerable populations that have experienced trauma experience Secondary Traumatic Stress (STS). Without intervention, STS results in compassion fatigue, which in turn leads to burn out. This didactic and experiential session will increase participants awareness related to why Peer Support Workers are especially vulnerable to compassion fatigue. Participants will explore the causes and contributing factors of compassion fatigue. Additionally, it will allow participants to explore skills and lifestyle changes they can use to reduce the impact of compassion fatigue and promote compassion satisfaction.
After attending the course, a participant will be able to:
Grief is defined as the normal process of reacting to a loss. Though there are a wide variety of losses that can lead to grief, there are also many commonalities in how we experience it and how we begin the healing process. This training is designed to explore various types of loss, aspects of grief, and pathways to healing. Specific attention will be given to the process of grieving as it relates to substance use disorders, and participants will gain practical tools for assisting those struggling with grief and bereavement.
After attending the course, a participant will be able to:
Having the opioid crisis raging forward, new synthetic drugs like fentanyl being pushed to users, and chronic stress being induced by the COVID-19 pandemic, 2023 brings a unique set of challenges for the dedicated drug preventionist, treatment providers, and recovery partners who work with people struggling with addiction. The Mexican Cartel has gone as far as changing the colors and shapes of dangerous drugs to appeal more to the young adult and teen community. Creative strategies have been weaved together by dealers nationwide, getting these substances in the hands of the most vulnerable community members, they’ve mastered their “pitch”. Thus, to successfully reach the same community, coalitions, organizations, and other entities must effectively and creatively market and pitch their work on a dime-size budget. This “Shark Tank” designed session will prepare you to use basic marketing strategies to increase community support, involvement, and engagement. Get ready to make the “BIG PITCH” and win even BIGGER PRIZES from our local Sharks.
After attending the course, a participant will be able to:
Productivity, engagement, and retention of staff have long been seen as the “Bermuda Triangle” of healthcare, especially in the field of addiction treatment. Staff shortages, burnout, and turnover can plague an organization for years and cost a company at least 33% of that staff member’s annual salary to replace them. This presentation will focus on approaches that organizations can use to develop staff productivity, engagement, and retention in STRATEGIC ways. Participants should expect an engaging seminar, along with a re-grounding of the passion for people that led them to this field in the first place. The presentation will be focused specifically on providing deliverables that organizations and individuals can immediately implement into their programs to help develop strategic productivity, engagement, and retention of their staff. These deliverables will be focused on the model of Strategic Productivity (SP3O), including Building a Culture of Engagement; Attentive Supervision; Effective Systems and Operations; and Alignment. Organizational Culture will include a scientific study and definitions of Org. Culture, along with a discussion on effective leadership and listening to our workforce. Attentive Supervision will focus primarily on the important role that supervisors play in the success of their teams and the implementation of SP3O. Effective Systems & Operations will focus on developing systems/ops that work for the workforce and that help solve problems. We will discuss solutions as well as symptoms of systems/ops that work in reverse, thereby taxing the workforce’s abilities to operate with Strategic Productivity. Finally, Alignment will focus on getting your operations and people aligned to one purpose, passion, and presence. We will be utilizing several audience break-out sessions and participation activities throughout the presentation, including utilizing balloons to demonstrate building effective systems, ping pong balls to demonstrate attentive supervision, and an entire audience participation activity that will “make it rain.” The plan is to fully engage the audience, to fully envelop the participants in the theme of the presentation.
After attending the course, a participant will be able to:
Overview of the history of ethics, development of professional ethics, impact on society, implications for treatment providers, and discussion of real-life scenarios.
After attending the course, a participant will be able to:
This workshop focuses on women’s addiction. The goal is to deepen understanding of how gender impacts both the addiction process and its treatment. Topics include rates; the telescoped course of women’s addiction; barriers to treatment; subgroups of women who appear to be prone to higher rates of addiction; staff reactions toward women with addiction, and current assessment tools. The workshop will focus on supportive and specific tools to aid recovery, including experiential exercises, clinical role-plays, video clips, self-tests, workbook materials, and questions and discussions.
After attending the course, a participant will be able to:
The illicit and licit drug markets are constantly evolving based on the demand for substances in the United States and driven by the constant eluding of law enforcement, legislation, and drug screening procedures. The question we all should be asking ourselves is, “How do we curb that demand?”. Cultural change takes time, effort, and evolving strategies as the markets and technology are constantly changing right before our eyes. For those of us in the battle against addiction, keeping up to date on current trends, the cartels, and dark net operations, and discussing problems in prevention are key in hopes of future successes.
After attending the course, a participant will be able to:
This workshop will define the role and value of peer support services in the substance use disorder system of care. When utilized appropriately, a peer’s lived experience of the impact of a substance use disorder and their experience in recovery is valuable to an individual’s success in their recovery. Acute care substance use treatment without other recovery supports has often not been sufficient in helping individuals to maintain long-term recovery. Substance use disorders are currently understood to be chronic conditions that require long-term management, like diabetes. Peer-based recovery support provides a range of person-centered and strength-based supports for long-term recovery management. These supports help people in recovery build recovery capital-the internal and external resources necessary to begin and maintain recovery. Peers can assist with retention in recovery and/or treatment services by helping individuals break down barriers of experience and understanding, as well as power dynamics that may get in the way of working with other members in the substance use disorder system of care. The peer can keep an individual engaged in the recovery process by allowing individuals to find and follow their own recovery path, without judgment, expectation, rules, or requirements.
After attending the course, a participant will be able to:
This course is designed to help participants understand what entrepreneurship is and how they can make changes in their life to either become successful entrepreneurs, business owners, or better employees. Becoming successful as an entrepreneur, business owner or employee is a valuable tool to use in a treatment plan for felons, drug addicts, or others that need to make changes in their lives.
After attending the course, a participant will be able to:
This will be an interactive session that trains attendees on how to use prevention data in their work and how to share it with community partners and stakeholders. First, attendees will learn how to present data for a specific audience and purpose. They will practice answering the Who, What, Why, and How of sharing a data set to decide how to best engage a particular audience and learn how to make customized decisions based on an engagement strategy they develop. In addition, they will participate in a discussion on how to center equity in data when sharing a data story. With this knowledge, attendees will then work together to build a data story that clearly explains data and key points to a chosen audience. Next, attendees will learn about a specific strategy for engaging individuals in reviewing and reflecting on data: data galleries. Attendees will participate in an interactive data gallery featuring Alabama prevention data so they can directly experience this data-sharing strategy. They will receive materials and tips that will provide step-by-step instructions, so they are prepared to facilitate an interactive data gallery in their community in the future. At the end of this training, attendees will have tools and resources to prepare engaging data summaries and will know how to conduct an interactive data gallery to share information with and gather input from community partner
After attending the course, a participant will be able to:
Many of us encourage our clients to participate in effective stress management and self-care, and with good reason. Unfortunately, we often have limited suggestions for our clients as to practical ways to participate in self-care. Even more concerning, we often fail to practice it ourselves. This session explores the importance of and practical means of participating in healthy self-care.
After attending the course, a participant will be able to:
This course will look at ethical issues that are faced in the counseling and substance use field. We will look at ways to identify ethical issues and navigate them to give the best outcome for the client and the counselor. Issues that contribute to ethical issues will be examined. Multiple frameworks for ethical decision-making will be evaluated.
After attending the course, a participant will be able to:
If it isn’t documented, it didn’t happen! The basis for CPRS work with patients should be recovery planning. Service Notes should incorporate the recovery planning for continuity of patient care and billing. It is important to learn how to write a service note that incorporates recovery planning. Through the use of case studies, this experiential session will review recovery planning and different formats for creating recovery-focused session notes and provide participants the opportunity to practice writing service notes.
After attending the course, a participant will be able to:
Speaker: John McAndrew
John McAndrew’s music has been heard around the world, and at many National Events. While touring, he has performed for and worked with Recovery audiences for over 30 years. His CD, “Forgiven” released in 2016, was in Grammy Consideration three times in the Roots Gospel Category. His newest CD project “Walking Back” has received critical acclaim. He co-hosted along with WestBridge CEO Mary Woods the “One Hour at a Time” Radio Show on “Voice of America” for several years. He is a contributor to the US Journal of Science, writing articles on the benefits of Music in Recovery. He currently is a Recovery Music Specialist / Therapist and Music Services Co-Ordinator at Cumberland Heights, Nashville, TN, providing individual and group therapy. He also helped develop and launch the “Music Professionals Program” at Cumberland Heights.
Singer/songwriter and piano player John McAndrew takes us on a musical and spiritual journey from self-centeredness to humility, using stories and songs. This journey is a long and difficult one in recovery. Recent studies show us that music can reach the parts of the brain that are linked to addiction and can function as an integral part of recovery. This experiential session demonstrates how music and music therapy can be applied in a variety of treatment settings to bring about therapeutic change. We will discuss the brain in simple terms and how it is affected by music. New research and new evidence about the power of music. The scientific evidence.
The primary purpose of this workshop is to bring to the participants the latest pharmaceutical applications to the diagnostics of the DSM 5. Many of our patients take medications to function at their highest level of success, but psychotropics do present adverse drug effects and monitoring is required. An overview of counselor monitoring for medication efficacy will be discussed. The workshop will also highlight the body of knowledge of psychotropic medications including the latest anti-depressants, anti-psychotics, anti-anxiety, mood stabilizers, psycho-stimulants, and herbal psychotropics. A recent review of the latest research in the neurobiology of anxiety, ADHD, and depression will be presented.
After attending the course, a participant will be able to:
This presentation will describe Finding Your Best Self, a new recovery model for trauma and/or addiction. It can be used as self-help, by family members, peers, as well as by counselors in group or individual format. It offers 36 short chapters, each addressing a specific facet of trauma and/or addiction. Examples include: How do people change; The world is your school; Listen to your behavior; Wish versus reality; Possible selves; The language of trauma and addiction. Each chapter can be done at a session, and in any order and in as few or many sessions as time allows. We will cover practical recovery skills from the model, with role plays of exercises and discussion of implementation strategies across any clinical setting, by any provider, for any client.
After attending the course, a participant will be able to:
This course will provide an overview of the different types of equine experiences presently in place in mental health and substance use treatment programs throughout the United States- to include programs utilizing Wild Mustangs. You will have an opportunity to learn from David J Flounders Sr- Co-Founder and President of Samson’s Strength Sustainable Veterans Project, Mustang TIP Trainer Trainee and Kathleen Saucier- Co-Founder and Case Manager of Samson’s Strength Sustainable Veterans Project about the benefits of utilizing Wild Mustangs working with Veterans and their families. In addition, you will learn about the recent research being done to provide data of the benefits of alternative therapies such as Equine Experiential Learning for Veterans with PTS, depression, and anxiety.
After attending the course, a participant will be able to:
Stimulant Use Disorder (StimUD) is referred as the fourth wave of the opioid crisis. Nationally, stimulant use is on the rise and for some communities has been a problem for quite some time. This training will review the basic science of addiction related to stimulants. The session will explore how stimulants impact the people who use them and how providers can adapt and utilize evidenced based approaches to meet the specific needs associated with recovery planning and treatment from stimulants. This session will talk about practical implementation of evidenced based treatment such as contingency management, incentives, and cognitive behavioral therapy specifically for people who use stimulants.
After attending the course, a participant will be able to:
This course will provide fundamental knowledge in human trafficking and its intersection with substance use. This knowledge will enable learners understand how to provide tailored support to people experiencing substance use disorders and human trafficking.
After attending the course, a participant will be able to:
“What can I do?” is a question we often ask family members and allies in the community. Well, there is a lot one can do to help support families in your community. Learn more about how peers and professionals can support families, resources to offer, and Alabama-specific resources near you!
After attending the course, a participant will be able to:
The objective of the course is to identify prevention providers’ tools to develop and sustain coalitions and community committees using the Strategic Prevention Framework.
After attending the course, a participant will be able to:
Overview of the history of ethics, development of professional ethics, impact on society, implications for treatment providers, and discussion of real-life scenarios.
After attending the course, a participant will be able to:
Being an adolescent comes with some unique challenges. Having an adolescent in a family system does as well. The adolescent stage of development is also full of opportunities both for the individuals as well as the systems they are a part of! There has been a wealth of recent discoveries about adolescent development, learning, and family dynamics. Unfortunately, there is frequently a disconnect between what we know works best with adolescents and the treatment modalities we use when working with them. This session reviews recent research and explores how to best apply that knowledge to effectively treat adolescents. It also considers adolescents within the context of a family system and how to engage families in treatment and recovery.
After attending the course, a participant will be able to:
The Gas Station Drugs, such as tianeptine, phenibut, kratom, delta 8, and other street drugs, have profound effects on the unborn. This presentation will discuss the current list of various herbal and pharmaceutical products, including phenibut, tianeptine, kratom, ketamine, and delta 8, known as “gas station drugs” and their pharmacological profiles to include their dangerous adverse drug effects on the pregnant woman and her unborn child.
After attending the course, a participant will be able to:
This workshop explores how Seeking Safety is implemented in clinical settings. Seeking Safety is an evidence-based integrated model for addiction and/or trauma. It is present-focused, offering coping skills to help clients attain safety in their lives. It is highly flexible and designed for a wide variety of clients, clinicians, and settings. The workshop addresses frequently asked questions when implementing Seeking Safety; offers the opportunity to try out parts of the model; and explores topics such as adaptation and ways to make it as effective as possible. The workshop will be highly clinically-oriented, interactive, and allow ample time for questions.
After attending the course, a participant will be able to:
This course will focus on breathing life and energy back into the treatment planning process. Participants will explore new ways and approaches to developing treatment plans that are client centered and motivate and support client change and retention in treatment. We will review implementing and utilizing treatment plan goals in counseling sessions and ways to document and support the integration of strength-based problem statements, goals and action steps. Participants will learn how to take a developed treatment plan and discuss the skills and approaches to support the plan with evidenced based interventions and approaches in counseling session. Participants will learn how to integrate the treatment planning process into counseling sessions and then finally into the client chart by way of accurate and effective documentation.
After attending the course, a participant will be able to:
According to Substance Abuse Mental Health Service Administration (SAMSHA), individual trauma results from an event, series of events, or set of circumstances experienced by an individual as physically or emotionally harmful or life-threatening with lasting adverse effects on the individual’s functioning and mental, physical, social, emotional, or spiritual well-being. The term vicarious trauma (Perlman & Saakvitne, 1995), sometimes also called compassion fatigue, is the latest term that describes the phenomenon generally associated with the “cost of caring” for others. It is believed that counselors working with trauma survivors experience vicarious trauma because of the work they do. Vicarious trauma is the emotional residue of exposure that counselors have from working with people as they are hearing their traumatic stories and become witnesses to the pain, fear, and terror that trauma survivors have endured.
After attending the course, a participant will be able to:
The purpose of this session is to review and discuss the evolving use of technology in clinical practice and behavioral health settings. Information will be shared on risk management considerations when planning for the delivery of substance abuse and mental health treatment and prevention services. This session will offer a multi-disciplined perspective on the legal and ethical guidelines, patient/client/provider assessment for technical fit, service delivery and responding to technical emergencies.
After attending the course, a participant will be able to:
This course will provide an overview and define key concepts of health literacy. It will review social determinants of health and their impact on health outcomes. Effective health communication strategies will also be discussed.
After attending the course, a participant will be able to:
This course will provide fundamental knowledge in human trafficking and its intersection with substance use. This knowledge will enable learners understand how to provide tailored support to people experiencing substance use disorders and human trafficking.
After attending the course, a participant will be able to:
The use of marijuana and cannabis products for both medical and recreational purposes have gained increased popularity throughout the United States. As 2022, 37 States permit the use of marijuana for medical purposes and 19 States allow use for recreational purposes. Marijuana users do not die from overdoses and majority of users report minimal deleterious effects of cannabis use. However, a growing body of research indicates that between 5-10% of long-term cannabis users report significant clinical symptoms related to chronic use, along with debilitating symptoms associated with attempts to discontinue use. This course will present the most current research findings regarding marijuana and cannabis use, and specific intervention strategies and cessation techniques for assisting clients in reducing or discontinuing cannabis use.
After attending the course, a participant will be able to:
Families are our first teachers for how to interact with the world, but not all teachers are equally equipped to instruct us. This session explores the continuum between dysfunctional and functional families, roles within those families, and how we carry those family roles from childhood into adult relationships. Codependency and its impact, both on the person with an active substance use disorder as well as those who love them, is specifically examined. Participants will also gain practical interventions to use in aiding families in their recovery.
After attending the course, a participant will be able to:
A stigma is a negative attitude or idea about a mental, physical, or social feature of a person or group of people. This implies that there is social disapproval. Stigmas are a major concern because they can lead to negative effects such as discrimination. This course will focus on stigma associated with drug use (specifically opioid use), addiction, and the treatment associated with opioid use disorder (OUD). The course will also provide an overview of the FDA-approved medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD), and the successful evidenced-based outcomes associated with their appropriate use.
After attending the course, a participant will be able to:
Speaker: Dr. Merrill Norton and Maddie Marsh
Dr. Merrill Norton is an EMMY winning Clinical Associate Professor Emeritus of the University of Georgia College of Pharmacy with his specialty areas to include psychopharmacology and addiction pharmacy. He was most recently honored by the Georgia Addiction Counselors Association’s Board of Directors and Certification Board with being bestowed the first Certified Master Addiction Counselor (CMAC) credential in the state. His book, Understanding Substance Use Disorders Pharmacology, has been used to train thousands of mental health professionals nationally and his latest book, and The Pharmacist’s Guide to Opioid Use Disorders was released in December 2018. Dr. Norton completed his undergraduate and graduate work at the University of Georgia College of Pharmacy. He accomplished a three-year addiction medicine fellowship under the direction of Douglas Talbott MD at Ridgeview Institute and has state, national, and international credentials in the treatment of mentally ill/addicted/chronic pain individuals. He has also been a faculty member of the Fairleigh-Dickinson University Postdoctoral Training Program in the Masters of Psychopharmacology, Alliant International University of San Francisco College of Psychology, University of Georgia School of Continuing Education, and Berry College in the areas of Psychopharmacology and Addiction Pharmacy. His areas of specialty in addiction pharmacy are the management of chronic pain in the substance use disordered patient and the neuroscience of substance use disorders. Since his recent retirement from UGA, Dr. Norton’s primary focus is to provide the latest scientific information to communities, educators, healthcare professionals, prevention specialists, treatment providers, and especially families, on the diseases of substance use disorders.
Maddie Marsh is completing the third year of her doctor in pharmacy program at the University of Georgia College of Pharmacy and plans to graduate in May 2023. She received her Bachelor of Science in Psychology from the University of Georgia in 2017. She has a passion for substance use disorders, particularly the role of education in empowering people in their recovery. Maddie currently works as a pharmacy intern at Alliance Recovery Center where she works with counselors, nurses, and physicians to provide patient-centered care in Medication Assisted Treatment. During her time in pharmacy school, she has been a student of, worked alongside, and presented with her mentor Dr. Merrill Norton. She plans to continue the work in substance use disorders and pharmacy started by Dr. Norton in her pharmacy career.
In the Treatment of alcohol use disorder, there are medications that have been approved by the FDA to ease the transition into abstinence. Medications can be used for detoxification, withdrawal, and cravings associated with AUD. When it comes to treating alcohol cravings and deterring individuals from drinking alcohol, medications are an efficacious resource. Currently, less than 10% of patients with AUD receive medications as part of their treatment plan, even though it is an evidence-based treatment recommended by SAMHSA in combination with behavioral interventions. When individuals show an inadequate response to counseling alone, adding medication may be the next step. Anti-craving medications include Naltrexone, Acamprosate, Disulfiram, anticonvulsants (off-label), and herbal preparations.
This presentation is for professionals who work with adolescents challenged with vaping nicotine and marijuana. An explanation of the effects of vaping of tobacco and marijuana products on the developing adolescent brain from recent neuroscientific research and the serious aspects of e-cigarette and vaping use associated lung injury (EVALI) will also be a part of our discussions.
After attending the course, a participant will be able to:
The role of prevention is critical in addressing addiction, which is directly and indirectly, impacting all Americans from coast to coast. The cost of marijuana use is high, but it’s not that simple. Communities are still in the midst of an opioid epidemic, while addressing emerging challenges like rising vaping injuries and a meth resurgence, during a global pandemic. This session will discuss poly-drug misuse, racial disparities, and other social factors. The implications of creating an inequity among those who misuse, seek recovery, and are exposed to the emerging commercialism should be considered. The presenter will reframe perceived “gaps in the national conversation” as opportunities to change the conversation and offer “strategies” as critical skills required to specifically impact population-level reductions in polysubstance misuse and abuse with scale and scope in diverse communities.
After attending the course, a participant will be able to:
PTSD is one of the most common psychological disorders seen in the veteran population and is associated with other negative mental health outcomes (e.g., depression, substance use, suicidal thoughts). This course will review and discuss common forms of trauma experienced among veterans and common military vocabulary that would be helpful to know as a clinician. In addition, the course will review how to assess PTSD symptoms and treat PTSD in veterans using Prolonged Exposure.
After attending the course, a participant will be able to:
As a substance misuse prevention professional, we regularly face situations that require us to make ethical decisions. Often it is clear how to act ethically; sometimes it is not. This brief overview of Prevention Ethics explores the six principles of the Prevention Code of Ethics and possible dilemmas for each principle.
After attending the course, a participant will be able to:
Training senior-level religious leaders closes the gap between the faith-based community and the mental health field. Church, mosque, and parish readiness is imperative for community preparedness and readiness to respond in substance misuse support and advocacy. FBSS training is the provision of tools, skills, and resources to aid them in better counseling and caring for those with substance use disorder. Pastors are further prepared to act in this area of ministry by having the certified treatment resources at their disposal.
After attending the course, a participant will be able to:
A stigma is a negative attitude or idea about a mental, physical, or social feature of a person or group of people. This implies that there is social disapproval. Stigmas are a major concern because they can lead to negative effects such as discrimination. This course will focus on the stigma associated with drug use (specifically opioid use), addiction, and the treatment associated with opioid use disorder (OUD). The course will also provide an overview of the FDA-approved medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD), and the successful evidence-based outcomes associated with their appropriate use.
After attending the course, a participant will be able to:
The first part of the presentation will include an Opioid Simulation which is a tabletop simulation intended to provide health profession students and practicing healthcare professionals the opportunity to understand opioid use disorder as a chronic, relapsing disease for which there is treatment and recovery. The objective of this experiential learning tool is to give current and future healthcare professionals an opportunity to experience opioid use disorder and to increase empathy and decrease stigma associated with opioid use disorder. The second part of the presentation will define stigma and further explore how stigma affects people with a substance use disorder.
After attending the course, a participant will be able to:
The opioid epidemic continues to be a serious national public health issue causing addiction (opioid use disorder), overdoses and overdose-related deaths. We will cover the emerging history of the opioid epidemic which started roughly around 1999 and has been described as occurring in three waves since then. The State of Alabama was declared in 2015 as #1 nationwide concerning the opioid epidemic and it was then that a collaborative effort began to address the epidemic in Alabama. The current prescribed opioids of abuse shall be discussed as well as other prescribed medication that is not being abused by those with OUD with a specific interest on fentanyl. We will address law enforcement efforts to help combat the epidemic and more importantly, we shall discuss collaborative efforts between medical personnel, first responders, mental health and substance use treatment providers along with community-based programs to address the ever-changing dynamics of this epidemic to prevent future OUD’s, overdoses, and deaths.
After attending the course, a participant will be able to:
A recent study conducted by the Alabama Department of Rehabilitation Services and the Alabama Department of Mental Health indicated that as many as 33% of people who seek mental health services in Alabama may have a history of head injury. This course is designed to educate clinicians about working with clients who have survived traumatic brain injuries (TBI). The course will cover general information about TBI, treatment implications for working with those who have TBIs, and the overlap between TBI diagnosis and mental health diagnoses.
After attending the course, a participant will be able to:
While high employee turnover, staffing shortages, budget and funding issues, and other challenges can place considerable strain and great demand on supervisors, administrators, and employees, good organizational leadership is never negotiable! Researchers suggest that organizational leaders require well-rounded skills, a foundational knowledge of business and strategy, and good interpersonal skills (Harvard Business School, 2022). This three-hour skills-development course will explore some of the more common challenges in organizational leadership, with an emphasis on behavioral healthcare settings, while discussing effective tools and techniques in organizational leadership, personnel management, team building, and strategic planning. Through didactic lecture, interactive discussion, and other experiential learning methods, participants will establish an applicable framework towards the execution of organizational leadership.
After attending the course, a participant will be able to:
Medication drug-drug interactions is the leading cause of accidental poisoning deaths in the US according to the CDC. Opioid and other substance overdose deaths are responsible for over 50,000 deaths a year and the numbers are increasing without any sign of slowing down. This presentation will discuss the major drug-drug interactions with psychoactive drugs that may cause bodily injury or death and appropriate information that patients taking these medications can use to prevent the drug interactions.
After attending the course, a participant will be able to:
Substance Use Disorder (SUD) treatment is unique in that treatment outcomes are often predicated on individualized assessment experiences. Experienced addiction treatment professionals understand that you never know what you’re going to get. A thorough assessment of the patient’s identifying problems can lead to a more accurate diagnosis and prognosis for treatment, which allows the helping professional to tailor fit the treatment experience to the patient’s primary needs. In this presentation, participants will explore how to aggregate data collected during the assessment to provide individualized treatment and improve treatment outcomes.
After attending the course, a participant will be able to:
The opioid epidemic continues to be a serious national public health issue causing addiction (opioid use disorder), overdoses and overdose-related deaths. We will cover the emerging history of the opioid epidemic, which started roughly around 1999 and has been described as occurring in three waves since then. The State of Alabama was declared in 2015 as #1 nationwide concerning the opioid epidemic and it was then that a collaborative effort began to address the epidemic in Alabama. The currently prescribed opioids of abuse shall be discussed as well as other prescribed medication that is not being abused by those with OUD with a specific interest on fentanyl. We will address law enforcement efforts to help combat the epidemic and more importantly, we shall discuss collaborative efforts between medical personnel, first responders, mental health and substance use treatment providers along with community-based programs to address the ever-changing dynamics of this epidemic to prevent future OUD’s, overdoses, and deaths.
After attending the course, a participant will be able to:
This course provides ethics and professional boundary information for providers who treat substance use disorders. In addition to discussions on responding to common ethical and boundary dilemmas, topics include informed consent, mandated reporting laws, HIPAA, and 42 CFR Part 2. This course provides content relevant for the treatment of adult and adolescent clients.
After attending the course, a participant will be able to:
Stimulant use is rising in America and has become a public health crisis like the opioid epidemic. Illicit stimulants have evolved and are now cheaper, purer, and more potent. These factors along with their increasing availability have led to a 50% increase in overdoses. While the harmful effects of stimulants are well understood, little is known about treating addiction to stimulants. Stimulant use disorder is especially challenging because unlike opioids, there is no FDA approved medication currently available for stimulant use disorders. This program aims to examine the current treatment options for stimulant use disorder and review the research on current up and coming pharmacological treatments. Additionally, we plan to support the identification and adoption of evidence-based practices to support the increased provision of SUD treatment. The practical applications of evidenced based practice will be incorporated through case studies and hands on behavioral therapy approaches.
After attending the course, a participant will be able to:
Recovery residences are vital to recovery-oriented systems of care. The social model of recovery is foundational and often blended with behavioral health treatment. This training overviews the National Alliance for Recovery Residences’ (NARR) Standard as implemented by the Alabama Alliance of Recovery Residences (AARR). Come learn best practices for operators and allies.
After attending the course, a participant will be able to:
This course will provide law enforcement, health, education, and professional attendees with information necessary to identify the newest drug threats facing Alabama and our country. 2021 saw a record number of overdose deaths which have doubled in the past five years alone. From 50,000 to 109,783 lost souls in five short years. We are in the middle of an opioid epidemic and our citizens, both young and old, are at risk and we know the answer lies in education, prevention, enforcement, and treatment of those affected.
After attending the course, a participant will be able to:
This course will look at the most successful forms of group facilitation, examine approaches to group therapy, and look at topics and interventions to use to reach clients as effectively as possible. This course would be great for new counselors who have recently entered the field and seasoned counselors as a way to share ideas about what makes successful group therapy.
After attending the course, a participant will be able to:
While the list of individuals and groups receiving mental healthcare in the United States is both broad and diverse, veterans remain amongst the most unique and complex of all special populations. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), serious mental illness (SMI), major depressive episode (MDE), and substance use disorder (SUD), are on the rise in this population, and in 2020 alone, 5.2 million veterans experienced a behavioral health condition in (2022). This three-hour course will examine the prevalence and complexities of substance misuse, PTSD, and other co-occurring conditions among the veteran population, and explore efficient strategies in clinical care, case coordination, and referral. Through didactic lecture and discussion, participants will acquire useful skills for the treatment of veterans with co-occurring conditions.
After attending the course, a participant will be able to:
This course is designed for new and emerging anti-drug coalition leaders, community leaders, drug prevention personnel, education professionals, or those who want to launch a community anti-drug coalition in their environment. Course topic areas include reviewing the history and evolution of the coalition movement, the public health model, assessing risk and protective factors, stages of community readiness, and associated strategies for engaging key stakeholders.
After attending the course, a participant will be able to:
Speaker: Mansfield Key
Mansfield (Pete) Key III is the leading Growth Development Strategist and International Motivational Speaker. He’s a Life Coach, mentor, consultant, speechwriter, certified HIV/AIDS Instructor. He holds multiple certifications in grief counseling and 21st Century Leadership. He’s certified in Relationship Smarts, Fatherhood Initiative, Together We Can, and Basic Training for Relationships from the Human Development Department at Auburn University. He has provided technical assistance to the Federal Government’s Health and Human Service for all 50 states and has worked directly with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. He has consulted for the Departments of Education and Public Health in several states. He has also provided presentations for the Juvenile Justice System, Dream Development Center in Johannesburg, South Africa, and Liverpool, England’s Hope Organization. He is the creator of the Lunch with The Keys Program, teaching Character Education to kindergarten through twelfth-grade students. The youth services program, Lunch with The Keys, won the School of Distinction for Florence High School and went on to be awarded the 2019 CLAS Banner for Alabama School District 7. Pete’s Fatherhood program also won the Community Action Head Start Fatherhood Program of the year. He was named Humanitarian of the Year for the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity. He’s also a member of the 2016-2017 Class of Leadership Alabama and the 2020 President of the Florence Rotary Club. His speaking engagements include the Ryan White National Conference; Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMSA); Alabama Education Association; Alabama Associate of School Boards; and the School Superintendents of Alabama. He has authored three books and released multiple curriculums. Besides his relationship with God, he is most proud of his wife, Sharlene, and two daughters, Erin and Joi. Key believes everyone has something special, but sometimes people need others to help them discover it.
This ed-u-training (educational and entertaining) training session will have its audience participating in lively discussions and engaging activities using music and drama. We want to help them discover sustainable ways to keep the passion for their purpose. Let’s work together to help your team identify what’s draining their emotional, mental battery and determine what is causing their engine to have a slow start and sometimes stall. We will bring the Booster Cables to give them a charge and help create a spark to energize the people around them. Let’s work together to discover ways to relieve their personal and professional stress to their personal and professional best. This session will clearly prepare participants to leave the conference ready to illustrate what it means to make a difference in the lives of others: “Someone’s Destiny is tied to your assignment”.
Assessing community readiness, in particular, helps prevention professionals determine whether the time is right and whether there is social momentum towards addressing the issue or issues they hope to tackle. Community readiness is just as important in addressing community needs as having tangible resources in place. Evaluation is the systematic collection and analysis of information about program activities, characteristics, and outcomes. Providers should ensure the sustainability of prevention outcomes by building stakeholder support for your program, showing, and sharing results, and obtaining steady funding.
After attending the course, a participant will be able to:
Pregnant and postpartum populations with substance use disorder (SUD) experience stigma and bias in the clinical setting and in their personal lives. These lived experiences lead to barriers to accessing necessary treatment. This course will introduce attendees to the different types of stigma and barriers experienced by pregnant and postpartum populations with SUD and those who serve and support them. Attendees will also learn effective interpersonal communication and collaboration skills that will facilitate rapport-building and trust with this population.
After attending the course, a participant will be able to:
The purpose of this session is to provide an overview of the culture of supervision for behavioral health and health care professionals who work in substance abuse and mental health treatment and prevention settings. Information will be shared on the dual roles and responsibilities of different types of clinical supervisors, legal and ethical considerations in supervision, and best practices that can be used to support the needs of supervisees while maintaining compliance with state and federal regulatory agencies.
After attending the course, a participant will be able to:
Each year, there are thousands of preventable tragedies that may be addressed with proper access to care and mental health resources. The Alabama Crisis System of Care was developed to reduce the number of emergency room admissions and jail bookings due to behavioral health crisis. The Alabama Crisis System of Care promotes access to care, integrated services, and crisis stabilization in six (6) regional crisis centers. These crisis services provide an ease of access to care and decrease the rate of expensive referrals while providing a regional approach to crisis services. This training will provide an in-depth look of the Alabama Crisis System of Care, access to care, and best practices utilized within each crisis center. Participant will gain an understanding of each of the six (6) Crisis Centers, referral, assessment, and admission process for a Crisis Center. The course will review in detail current Crisis Center’s treatment, case management, and referral processes.
After attending the course, a participant will be able to:
Achieving health equity for all is a national priority. However, for many individuals with substance use disorders, recovery is not a linear progression and is often complicated by social and structural determinants of recovery. Furthermore, structural, and intersectional stigma are barriers to substance use prevention, treatment, and harm reduction services. In fact, substance abuse is strongly associated with other behavioral and health outcomes, including sexual violence. Although many social determinants of health influence substance use trajectories, employment can be and should be explored as a significant facilitator of recovery and a viable avenue to achieving health equity. This class will examine the complex integrationists among substance use, social, and structural determinants of health, as well as offer comprehensive, multilevel strategies to address these issues. Siloed no more, provides a lens through which we can achieve health equity for individuals with substance use disorders, by addressing social and structural determinates of recovery.
After attending the course, a participant will be able to:
This course will present the state’s substance use data repository as a tool to monitor and report the impact of substance use upon resources across justice, health, and human service stakeholders. This course will examine how this tool was developed as a solution to creating a comprehensive story about the opioid epidemic using previously siloed data from various state agencies and partners.
After attending the course, a participant will be able to:
This course will provide law enforcement, health, education, and professional attendees with information necessary to identify the newest drug threats facing Alabama and our country. 2021 saw a record number of overdose deaths which have doubled in the past five years alone. From 50,000 to 109,783 lost souls in five short years. We are in the middle of an opioid epidemic and our citizens, both young and old, are at risk and we know the answer lies in education, prevention, enforcement, and treatment of those affected.
After attending the course, a participant will be able to:
Sexting, Pornography, and Addiction….Oh My! This course looks at how current sexual trends such as sexting and pornography viewing affect our youth from ages 8-18 years of age. The course will discuss current sexual trends for children and adolescents, will discuss the history of pornography and what is considered pornography, list how pornography effects the brain and emotions of children, and discuss the addictive qualities of pornography. The course will also identify solutions to help our youth with exposure to pornography.
After attending the course, a participant will be able to:
In prevention, environmental strategies like policy implementation can be intimidating and are often under-utilized. This interactive workshop will discuss how policies, systems and environmental strategies expand the reach of prevention services to affect upstream, population-level change. Participants will learn about our guided 10-step policy framework. This session will encourage participants to think more broadly about the benefits of changing the social context and the opportunities that policy and system change can provide to impact alcohol, tobacco, and other drug (ATOD) issues at the community level.
After attending the course, a participant will be able to:
Through a lecture and Socratic reasoning process, participants will be familiarized with the difference between traditional ethics and the positive ethics movement. The following areas will be addressed: Virtue Ethics, Consequentialism or Utilitarian Ethics, Deontology Ethics, Basic Moral Principles to guide decision making, the history of positive ethics, elements of positive ethics and the aim of positive ethics. Additionally, participants will be familiarized with key terms used in ethics decision making and mental health. A positive ethics decision making model will be presented. Participants will then engage in using a model to address hypothetical vignettes and demonstrate their decision process by using a provided template for documentation. Participants will also engage in small group decisions around wellness, positive ethics, and personal blind spots, all of which can lead to assessing persona wellness.
After attending the course, a participant will be able to: