Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday
2026 Tuesday Schedule
8:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Exhibitors – Colony Room
This is the last day to connect with exhibitors. Don’t Miss out!
8:15 AM to 11:45 AM
KEYNOTE:
When Trauma Drives Addiction: Trauma-Informed Strategies to Improve Engagement and Recovery
Lisa Duez, LCSW, EMDR Approved Consultant
CE Credit Hours: 3.0
Format: Keynote
Learning Level: All Levels
Limited: In-Person Only
Room: Virginia Ballroom – ABCD
Description:
Addiction treatment has made significant advances in addressing substance use, yet one of the most powerful drivers of addiction often remains underexamined: trauma. Research consistently demonstrates high rates of trauma exposure among individuals with substance use disorders, yet many treatment environments continue to focus primarily on abstinence, compliance, and relapse prevention without fully addressing the emotional and neurobiological impact of trauma.
When trauma is overlooked, clinicians may interpret emotional shutdown, resistance, or repeated relapse as a lack of motivation or readiness for recovery. In reality, these behaviors often reflect trauma responses and nervous system dysregulation rather than treatment failure.
Learning Objective:
- Identify the relationship between trauma exposure and substance use behaviors.
- Describe how trauma responses can appear as treatment resistance or relapse in addiction settings.
- Apply trauma-informed strategies to improve engagement and emotional regulation in substance use treatment.
- Recognize indicators that trauma-focused interventions may be appropriate during recovery.
Learning Levels:
All Levels
12:00 PM to 1:00 PM
Awards Lunch Buffet – VA Ballroom EF
Registration includes the awards lunch. The Ron Pritchard Visionary Leadership Award (RPVLA) is awarded each year to an individual who has demonstrated extraordinary leadership and contribution to the substance use prevention, treatment and recovery field. Join us to celebrate the winner of the Ron Pritchard Visionary Leadership Award.
1:15 to 4:45
Somatic Yoga Therapy: Nervous System Regulation for Addiction Recovery
Ali Webb, C-IAYT, 500 E-RYT, YACEP
CE Credit Hours: 3.00
Format: Breakout
Learning Level: All Levels
Limited: In-Person Only
Other: 0.5 Ethics included
Room: Virginia Ballroom – ABCD
Brief Description:
Addiction profoundly disconnects individuals from their bodies, locking the nervous system in chronic states of dysregulation that drive craving, reactivity, and relapse. This experiential workshop introduces addiction professionals to the evidence-informed practice of yoga therapy as a somatic, body-based intervention for supporting nervous system regulation, embodied safety, and lasting recovery.
Drawing on neuroplasticity research, and trauma-informed yoga principles, this workshop equips clinicians with practical tools they can integrate into treatment settings, including breathwork, somatic movement, interoceptive awareness exercises, meditation and mindfulness. Participants will explore how these practices help clients identify and tolerate uncomfortable sensations, down-regulate threat responses, and build the self-regulation skills essential to sustained recovery.
Learning Objective:
- Participants will be able to explain the relationship between chronic nervous system dysregulation and addictive behavior, including how states of hyperarousal, hypoarousal, and regulated safety contribute to substance use and relapse.
- Participants will be able to describe the principles of bottom-up processing and distinguish it from top-down approaches, articulating why somatic, body-first interventions are essential for helping clients reconnect to and feel safe in their bodies during addiction recovery.
- Participants will be able to demonstrate a minimum of 4 somatic downregulation techniques, including breathwork, grounding movement, and interoceptive awareness practices, that guide clients from states of dysregulation into a felt sense of safety and stability in the body.
- Participants will be able to select sensory-based somatic practices that introduce new body experiences, explaining how repeated exposure to novel, safe sensory input supports neuroplasticity and the building of new neural pathways essential to sustained recovery.
Learning Levels:
All Levels
Kratom education
John Shinholser ; Erin Berthold, PhD in Pharmaceutics
CE Credit Hours: 3.00
Format: Breakout
Learning Level: All Levels
Limited: In-Person Only
Other: 0.5 Ethics included
Room: Tidewater – AB
Description:
This presentation provides an updated, evidence-informed overview of kratom use, including emerging research, the evolving political and regulatory landscape, and clinical considerations. It will distinguish between scientifically supported findings and anecdotal claims, with a focus on promoting critical evaluation of available data.
Learning Objective:
- What is kratom?
- Differences between natural and synthetic substances
- Legal landscape, state, and nation
- Uses, harm reduction, chronic pain, and misuse
Learning Levels:
All Levels
B.E.D.S. Protocol©: Real Life Tools For Real Life Treatment
Saulo Ortiz, LCSW
CE Credit Hours: 3.00
Format: Breakout
Learning Level: All Levels
Limited: In-Person Only
Other: 0.5 Ethics included
Room: Allegheny – AB
Brief Description:
A systematic process of sorting the information gathered in the biopsychosocial assessment in order to effectively assess, diagnose, and treat issues presented by clients in all treatment settings.
This protocol is proven to be useful for clinicians of all levels of experience working with any of the following:
– Chronic and acute settings
– All mental health diagnoses
– Substance use and cooccurring issues
– All ages, genders, races, and cultures
– All treatment modalities
Learning Objective:
- To establish a more thorough and comprehensive approach to managing client information during the assessment process in order to develop a comprehensive evaluation
- To understand the relationship between each quadrant and better appreciate the most critical elements to address in treatment
- To approach clinical diagnosing and rule outs with a thorough clinical perspective from each quadrant based on DSM diagnostic criteria
- To thoroughly evaluate the clinical interventions based on the clinical information from each quadrant
Learning Levels:
All Levels
Strengthening the Addiction Workforce: Preventing Compassion Fatigue Through Clinical Skills, Prevention, and Ethical Practice
Stephanie Davis, LCADC, LPC
Contact Hours: 3.00
Format: Breakout
Learning Level: All Levels
Limited: In-Person Only
Other: 0.5 Ethics included
Room: Tidewater – CD
Brief Description:
Addiction professionals frequently work in high-intensity environments that involve trauma exposure, relapse cycles, and complex client needs. These demands can contribute to compassion fatigue and burnout, affecting clinicians’ well-being and treatment effectiveness. This workshop explores practical strategies that support clinician resilience while strengthening addiction treatment outcomes. Participants will learn to recognize early indicators of compassion fatigue, develop emotional boundary skills, and implement prevention-focused approaches within addiction care. Ethical considerations and supervision strategies that support sustainable clinical practice will also be discussed.
Learning Objective:
- Learners will be able to identify 3 signs and symptoms of compassion fatigue and secondary traumatic stress among addiction professionals.
- Learners will be able to apply at least 2 clinician resilience skills, including emotional boundaries, self-regulation techniques, and reflective practice.
- Learns will be able to demonstrate 1-2 prevention-focused addiction treatment strategies, including identification of risk and protective factors.
- Learners will be able to explain 1-2 ways how ethical clinical supervision and organizational prevention strategies can reduce clinician burnout and improve treatment outcomes.
Learning Levels:
All Levels
