* * * THERE IS NO PARTIAL CREDIT * * *
You MUST attend sessions in their entirety. Certificates will be emailed AFTER March 17.
Monday | July 26 | 8:30-10:00 a.m.
Presenter: Cynthia Moreno Tuohy, BSW, NCAC II, CDC III, SAP, Executive Director of NAADAC
Description: With funding from NIDA, Cynthia Moreno Tuohy worked with Danya International to conceptualize, develop, and evaluate a multi-component, multi-media tool for use by addiction and other helping professionals to assist adults and youth improve their life traumas and conflict through knowledge, attitudes and skills developed in the frontal cortex of the brain. Rein in Your Brain are an intensive set of psycho-emotional-social-spiritual Cogitative Behavioral Therapy (CBT) treatments that, if followed, will result in brain pathway and lifestyle changes. This program affects behavioral learning with emotional development and maturity that results in long-term changes in the brain and behavior. This training will be a short introduction into the foundational pieces of the curriculum focusing on the brain and its development in addiction and conflict, methods to change the neuropathways in the brain and reduce conflict with self and others.
(Sponsored by: NAADAC)
Monday | July 26 | 12:30-1:30 p.m.
Presenter: Barden Culbreath, BA
Description: What is the North Carolina Addiction Specialist Professional Practice Board? This session will discuss all the aspects of the Practice Board, including the application requirements and process. Ethical complaints and the investigation process will also be reviewed. Updates and changes to various requirements will additionally be described, so that participants will have the most current information for the state of NC.
Tuesday | July 27 | 8:30-10:00 a.m.
Presenter: Victor Armstrong, MSW
Description: This opening plenary session will discuss the current status of substance use and behavioral health services and initiatives in North Carolina. The plans for federal and state funding to continue providing prevention and treatment services to those with substance use disorder will also be explored. Current and upcoming changes to the North Carolina healthcare system, the MH/DD/SAS system and the impact that they will have on services provided to those with SUD will be examined as well.
Tuesday | July 27 | 12:30-1:30 p.m.
Presenter: Heidi Zeppelin, LCSW, LCAS, CSI
Description: The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged much of what substance use disorder professionals have used to assist clients in creating stability and initiating progress in early recovery. The community support services, mutual aid groups, academic and employment opportunities, and even therapeutic support systems upon which we have depended to help our clients create success in early recovery have been altered, limited, or in some cases entirely absent.
In many ways, the past year has been an exercise in learning new approaches. This presentation is intended to provide clinicians with practical ways of staying connected to clients during trying times, where connection is so difficult, yet increasingly necessary; an attempt to convey what we have learned from the COVID-19 pandemic and how we will use it in our practice going forward. This presentation is intended to explore the positive things that have come from the COVID-19 pandemic that will allow us to be more creative so that we may able to reach people in new ways.
(Sponsored by Momentum Recovery)
Wednesday | July 28 | 12:30-1:30 p.m.
Presenter: Lisa Marzilli, PharmD, CDOE
Description: A significant concern and national public health threat are the emergence of “new/novel psychoactive substances” (NPS), previously referred to as “designer drugs”. This trend began in 2008 with synthetic cannabinoids (commonly known as K2, Spice, and Skunk), synthetic stimulants, and hallucinogens. But with the emergence of illicit fentanyl and other synthetic opioids, overdose death rates have soared nationally at alarming rates. And for the first time since World War II, the nation has witnessed a decline in life expectancy. Illicit fentanyl and synthetic opioid analogues are now considered the most lethal substances of abuse in the United States.
As these trends continue, scientists, the DEA, local law enforcement, and educators have been challenged to learn and educate others about this ever-changing situation. This session will review these current trends: illicit fentanyl/synthetic opioids and the intermingling with the heroin supply; synthetic cannabinoids, stimulants, benzodiazepines and hallucinogens; and plant substances of abuse such as kratom, khat, and poppy seed teas. In most instances, geography dictates the “flavor-of-the-week” so prevalence rates will be reviewed. Ample time for an open discussion and information sharing will be provided. As new products are emerging daily, efforts to stay current remain a challenge both scientifically and legally.
(Sponsored by: Lisa Marzilli, PharmD, Inc.)
Thursday | July 29 | 2:15-3:45 p.m.
Presenter: Sylvia Parsons, MS, LCAS, MAC, CIP, CCTP, CSI
Description: Let’s talk Interventions. There are multitudes of interventions that are performed by the addictions professional. Some involve family and friends; others involve our clients that we currently serve. As seen on the video, I am trained in the Johnson model of addiction which results in the loved one being carefully supported in entering a residential treatment program. We will also discuss the daily interventions that we find in the 12 Core Functions: part of our ‘everyday’ life as an addiction professional. Our interventions as professionals work!!! Interventions create stability in the lives of those we serve. Interventions are the lifesaving introduction to that person, that somebody, who needs and asks for help. We, the addiction professionals, provide the hope, empathy, and knowledge to provide the best possible outcome through our interventions.