Educational Activities Archives

This webinar will outline the clinical reasoning, team-based strategies and patient-centered approaches that support engagement across the perinatal continuum, with an emphasis on MOUD management, mental health treatment, trauma-informed care and child welfare planning.

Substance Use Disorders in Older Adults is a growing problem not only in the United States but throughout the developed world. The Baby Boomer generation, born between 1946 and 1964, is turning 62-80 years old this year. This group is presenting with more Substance Use Disorders and need for substance use treatment now. The use of an artificial cut off age of 65 years as the definition of elderly or old is arbitrary, and this will be discussed. The course will look at the prevalence, screening and treatment of non-medical use of prescription drugs and illicit opioids, as well as use of tobacco, alcohol, stimulants and cocaine, marijuana, and non-opioid sedative hypnotic agents. There are interactive questions throughout the course to help digest and discuss the information presented.

Understanding addiction is essential to successfully addressing it. In this overview of substance use disorders, we discuss the spectrum of use, neurobiological responses to substances, theories that explain the disorders, public health impact and epidemiology, comorbidity, and integrated care for this chronic condition.

Unhealthy substance use and substance use disorders may often go unrecognized in primary care settings, either due to insufficient screening or provider discomfort with how to manage a positive screening. There are brief, simple, validated screening tools and strategies that can provide information to indicate unhealthy substance use or the possible presence of a substance use disorder. This information can inform providers whether a simple brief intervention or a referral to treatment is warranted. This course will: introduce screening tools for alcohol and other drug use; review more detailed substance use, medical, and psychiatric assessment considerations; demonstrate effective strategies for brief interventions; and discuss considerations for treatment referrals.

Stimulant use, including cocaine, methamphetamine and prescription stimulants, continues to be a growing and urgent public health concern. According to the 2024 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 9 million people in the U.S. had used stimulants not as prescribed in the past year. Though opioids are often the focus of overdose conversations, stimulant-related overdose deaths reached an estimated 51,630 in 2024, while 59% of all overdoses from January 2021 through June 2024 involved a stimulant (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2025). These trends underscore the critical need for effective treatment and engagement strategies. Several evidence-based behavioral therapies exist to help providers treat stimulant use disorder. This webinar will outline the clinical and administrative approaches to assess, treat and support people experiencing stimulant use disorder.

Explore how to effectively address the association SUD and OUD to improve care for individuals at risk for and/or experiencing co-occurring SUD and suicidality. Attendees will hear from two leading experts in suicide prevention and behavioral health.