Schedule

The Many Faces of Addiction

For 25 years, Candy Finnigan has been a nationally and internationally recognized interventionist and addiction specialist. With incredible firsthand experiences, Finnigan has become the go-to person for identifying the many faces of addiction.

In this workshop, she covers alcohol abuse, drug addiction, gambling addiction, eating disorders, and other dependencies. She helps audiences understand the mental state and denial people experience with addictive behavior as well as what should be done to support them. Sharing personal stories and examples of selecting the best options, Finnigan provides sound advice for those struggling through the cycle of addiction.

Racism, Mental Health and Strategies for Healing

Racism has a ubiquitous and insidious impact on ALL Americans, including physical AND mental health problems. Through generations, continued institutional biases, whether intentional or unintentional, have maintained disagreement and distrust on both sides of academic and clinical aisles.

Now, as we slowly try to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, the course and management of the virus hold enormous lessons for all of us, particularly front line health workers, to finally, finally address racism as a public health threat. With over 15 yrs in development, Ms. Gregory will share her strategies on bringing care to populations in need and building long-needed trust and community.

Best Self: A New Model for Trauma, Addiction or Both

This presentation will introduce Best Self, a new recovery model for trauma and/or addiction. Best Self 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; Social pain; Why trauma and addiction go together; Forgiving yourself; Body and biology; The culture of silence; How to survive a relapse; The decision to grow; Dark feelings (rage, hatred, revenge, bitterness); Imagination; Create a healing image. Chapters can be done in any order and in as few or many sessions as time allows. It is a flexible model for any client, in any setting. Much like the well-known model Seeking Safety, this one too strives to increase hope through emphasis on ideals; offers exercises, emotionally-evocative language, and quotations to engage patients; and provides concrete strategies to build recovery skills.

Peer-Led Seeking Safety

Peers are increasingly recognized as an important asset in healthcare and have long played a role in substance abuse recovery models such as 12-step groups. However, for trauma and PTSD peer support is more limited. Seeking Safety (SS) offers an excellent option for peer-led services for addiction and/or trauma. It is the most evidence-based model for this comorbidity. It provides psychoeducation and coping skills to help clients attain greater safety in their lives. It was designed for flexible use: males and females; all types of trauma and addiction; and group or individual format. SS lends itself well to peer delivery because it is highly stabilizing, structured, optimistic, and present-focused. It has also evidenced high satisfaction across diverse populations and has been translated into numerous languages. In this workshop we explore how peer-led Seeking Safety is similar and different from professionally-led Seeking Safety; identify the benefits of peer-led Seeking Safety; and examine the evidence on peer-led Seeking Safety. We will also cover implementation strategies for peers; options for co-led peer groups; and how peers can evaluate fidelity.

Behavioral Ethics through Social Norming

Participants will be presented with a variety of behavioral health experiences and asked to respond on a scale of boundaries. Participants will then be able to view the beliefs and values of the majority of the participants regarding ethics and boundaries.

Ethics for Addiction Professionals

In this workshop we will:

• Review ethics cases
• Evaluate case outcomes
• Explore effective parameters of the ethics complaint process