Riverside Trauma Center’s 8th Annual Conference September 21

We are very excited about our upcoming annual conference, “Integrating Treatment: Exploring the Links Between Trauma, Substance Use, and Other Co-Occurring Conditions,” taking place in Natick, MA, on September 21.

The conference will focus on the current increase in opioid overdoses and enhanced understanding of the neurophysiology of addictions that have led to both the need and the capacity for more in-depth and complex understanding of substance use, addictions, and their treatment. This conference will examine the various ways in which trauma, addictions, and co-occurring disorders intersect. Our speakers and panelists will address how trauma often increases engagement in health-risk behaviors; how these behaviors and the ways in which society traditionally responds to them, may in turn cause increased toxic stress; and what can be done to address these complicated interactions.

We have an incredible lineup of speakers, including:

• Lisa M. Najavits, PhD, is a professor of psychiatry at Boston University School of Medicine, adjunct professor at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, and a clinical research psychologist in the Veterans Affairs Healthcare System. Her presentation will provide an overview of “Finding Your Best Self,” a new recovery model for trauma and/or addiction.
• Sonny Provetto, MSW, LICSW, is a licensed therapist, an EMDR clinician, a former police officer, and a trauma consultant for police departments and emergency responders in northern Vermont. He will discuss how a trauma-informed criminal justice system is fighting addiction.
• Our very own Joanna Bridger, LICSW, Clinical Service Director, and Sarah Gaer, MA, Suicide Prevention Specialist, will be presenting “This is Your Brain on Adversity.”

The conference will also have a panel presentation of people impacted by trauma, substance use disorders, and suicide who are working to change the ways in which those conditions interact.

More information and online registration are available at www.exploringlinks.eventbrite.com. We look forward to a powerful and engaging conference, and hope you will join us.

~Larry Berkowitz, EdD, Director, Riverside Trauma Center