Educational Activities Archives

Despite significant advancements in addiction treatment, stigma remains one of the greatest barriers to care for individuals struggling with substance use disorder (SUD). Among healthcare professionals, stigma can manifest in ways that impact patient outcomes, access to care, and overall recovery success. This episode will explore how leveraging peers—those with lived experience in recovery—can be a powerful tool in combating stigma in medical settings. The episode will discuss real-world applications of peer support, the latest statistics on stigma in healthcare, and actionable strategies for fostering a more compassionate approach to SUD treatment.

This episode explores the unique challenges faced by individuals with substance use disorder (SUD) in Appalachia, focusing on the ways stigma and healthcare access impact SUD outcomes in these communities. Starting with an examination of the historical events and media portrayals that have shaped perceptions of Appalachia, the episode highlights the key social, economic, and political drivers behind the SUD crisis in this region. Drawing from recent research and personal experience caring for this population, Kate Roberts, MA, MSW, LCSW in conversation with Dr. Devin Oller and Kayla Strother, MSN, AGPCNP-C share strategies for addressing stigma and delivering effective care for people living with SUD in Appalachia.

Many cities, and especially cities with high real estate prices, have clearly defined zones in which public drug use and sales are implicitly tolerated while more stringent enforcement continues everywhere else. Given that addiction services (like methadone clinics or residential programs) are often mobilized to serve these zones and/or deliberately segregated to remain within them–what should our relationship to these zones be as addiction care providers? The podcast will explore the challenges, problems, and opportunities these zones can create for people who use drugs and the providers who care for them.

Sound ethics and boundaries are critical to the provision of Substance Use Disorder treatment. Ethical behaviors and boundaries support a client’s treatment process, foster a positive client recovery environment, and promote service engagement. On the other hand, challenges related to unethical practices and boundaries can impact the professionals’ well-being, resulting in negative job consequences. In this training, participants will reflect on their experiences with ethical dilemmas and explore strategies to deliver effective and professional care to SUD clients.

Participants will be introduced to the vocabulary of addiction and the root causes of addiction especially in the adolescent, as well as the epidemiology of opioid overdoses and deaths in the United States as a public health phenomenon, with particular attention paid to the decreasing rate of illicit opioid use in adolescents over the past decade. The learner will also, with this background, have reinforced the predicates of opioid misuse in adolescents and, through clinical examples, learn how to recognize possible misuse and address misuse in adolescents seen in a medical setting. Finally, safe prescribing principles will be introduced.

Provides a basic introduction of the concepts of the disease of addiction and the role of the reward system. Using neuroscience concepts as a foundation, clinical manifestations of the disease of addiction are then discussed in the form of case-based presentations.