Event Description:  This conference will unite the behavioral health community while highlighting the voices of people with lived experiences to discuss new treatment strategies, connect and engage with national and influential leaders, and take away critical knowledge to address the significant changes in addiction treatment, harm reduction strategies, and build new partnerships.

Agenda
9 am Opening Plenary: Live from Death Row: A Conversation on Mental Health and Substance Use in Prisons - Tessie Castillo, Author, Crimson Letters: Voices from Death Row
10:30 am Break
10:40 am Breakout Sessions
A. Destigmatizing Opioid Use During Pregnancy - Lauren Quick-Graham, MSW, LCSW, LCAS, CCSI, Behavioral Health Writer, Relias
B. Anti-Stigma Approaches in Substance Use Disorder Treatment - Karin Gladney, PhD, CAADC, Lecturer/CADC Program Coordinator, Delaware State University
C. Adolescent Substance Use: A Rural Community Perspective – Kenny Parmenter, MSW, LCSW, LCAS, Therapist, Hights Inc/Vecinos Inc.
D. Drama or Trauma: How Trauma Affects African American Women and Girls’ Mental Health - Natasha Mullen, LPCMH, LMSW, ACS, CEO/Founder, Milestones Consultants LLC
11:40 am Break
11:50 am Breakout Sessions
A. An Introduction to Gender Responsive SUD Treatment – Andrea Winkler, LCSW, LCAS, Clinician and Consultant, Andrea Winkler, LCSW, LCAS, PLLC
B. MOUD: The Medical Evidence is Compelling - Eric Morse, MD, Clinical Assistant Professor, University of Maryland – Baltimore
C. Community Trauma and Criminal Justice – Lorenzo Boyd, PhD, Stewart Professor of Community Policing, University of New Haven
D. "It is Literally Killing Me": Caregiver Coping with Chronic Stress in a COVID Era Crisis - Tamara Hicks, Clinical Assistant Professor, University of Maryland - Baltimore
12:50 pm Lunch
1:20 pm Breakout Sessions
A. The Functionality of Drug Use and The Dichotomy of Recovery - Courtney Lloyd, LCSW-C, LCSW, Therapist/Owner, Masterminds Clinical Counseling & Consulting Firm LLC
B. Ethical Clinical Care in the Age of Social Media: Navigating Our Multiple Identities – Jack Register, LCSW, LISW-CP, LCAS, CCS, SAP, BC-TMH, CEO & Clinical Director, Jack Register & Associates PLLC
C. Navigating The Cultural Identity Journey on the Road to Self-Acceptance - Kim Graham, LMSW, Lecturer II, Trauma Academy Coordinator, Delaware State University
D. Meeting People Where They Are: Harm Reduction and Justice-Involved Population – Miea Walker and Margaret Bordeaux
2:20 pm Break
3:00 pm Closing Plenary: Confronting Ourselves: Building for Inclusive Excellence to Become Better Together – Derek Greenfield, PhD, EdD 3:45 pm Closing Remarks
4 pm Adjourn




Jointly provided by NC State University School of Social Work Opioid Workforce Expansion Program, Behavioral Health Workforce Education and Training; Western Carolina University Social Work Department Opioid Workforce Expansion Program; and Northwest Area Health Education Center (AHEC), a program of Wake Forest School of Medicine and part of the NC AHEC System.