Trauma & Addiction
2022 On-Demand Conference

NYT Best-selling Author, Chief of Stanford’s Addiction Medicine Dual Diagnosis Clinic

"The smartphone is the modern-day hypodermic needle, delivering digital dopamine 24/7 for a wired generation." – Anna Lembke, MD

Anna Lembke is a pioneer in trauma-based addiction treatment. Her books have been hailed as among the top five books to understand the opioid epidemic and published over 100 papers on addiction treatment. She was recently featured in the Netflix documentary The Social Dilemma.

Behavioral Neuroscientist, Professor Bucknell University, NYT Best-selling Author

"I’m trying to determine what is different about people who develop drug addictions before they ever try a drug." – Judy Grisel, PhD

Judy Grisel is a behavioural neuroscientist at Bucknell University, a recovering addict, and NYT Bestselling author of Never Enough: The Neuroscience & Experience of Addiction. Her book became a NYT Bestseller and led to her invitation to the 2020 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

NYT Best-selling author of My Grandmother’s Hands

"Resmaa brings revolutionary insights to the value of connecting with depths of information our bodies hold onto, acquired through life’s experiences. He...provides us with a pathway to building more meaningful relationships and empathy for all people." – Pete Carroll, Head Coach of the Seattle Seahawks

Resmaa Menakem’s work and thinking has revolutionized the concepts around historical and racialized trauma. His runaway bestseller My Grandmother’s Hands is now followed up with his latest book The Quaking of America which surveys America's deteriorating democracy and offers embodied practices to help us protect ourselves and our country.

Psychiatrist, Lead Trainer at the IFS Institute, Author of IFS Skills Training Manual

"With his deeply compassionate attitude, Frank Anderson masterfully combines his years of clinical wisdom with the insights of neuroscience to create a definitive work on the treatment of complex trauma with IFS." – Janina Fisher, PhD

Frank Anderson has become a leading voice and one of the most sought after trainers for the application of Internal Family Systems (IFS) Therapy, which focuses on a person’s “parts” of their self instead of pathologies. He’s on the forefront of applying IFS to addictive behaviours and complex trauma of all kinds.

Senior Fellow at the Meadows Treatment Center, Clinical Architect of the Claudia Black Center for Young Adults

"Claudia Black has been a major force in addiction and adult children of alcoholics work. She’s a true pioneer." – Daniel Amen, MD, NYT Best-selling author

Author of Soulbriety and founder of Recovery Management Agency

"A crucial voice for these unprecedented times." – Jamie Lee Curtis, actress, producer, and in recovery

On her fifth anniversary of sobriety, Elisa Hallerman still awoke with a hurting heart. This is not right. I am not happy. Sobriety was supposed to fix her, right? Isn’t that what sobriety is all about? Hallerman quickly realized that though she had freed her addiction to substances, she had not freed her soul. After years of trauma and substance abuse, she had only covered up the wounds, rather than truly healing them from within. This led to the development of Soulbriety, a recovery plan for overcoming addiction and trauma.

Internationally recognized expert in Harm Reduction Psychotherapy

"Tatarsky’s excellent new paradigm rescues these principles with courage, compassion and intellectual rigour. Harm reduction psychotherapy has come of age." – Ethan Nadelmann, Executive Director, The Drug Policy Alliance

At a time when complete abstinence was a prerequisite for entering treatment, Andrew Tatarsky pioneered an approach that met people exactly where they were at.

Paul has spent his career at the forefront of high risk settings. After spending several years leading a medication-assisted treatment program, Paul now provided Ketamine-assisted therapy in Richmond, VA. He brings a wealth of experience ranging from community mental health settings, hospital settings (inpatient behavioural health and in the emergency department), Juvenile Drug Court, private practice, and foster care and adolescent residential treatment.

Author of Finding Meaning: The Sixth Stage of Grief and founder of Grief.com

“You don't have to experience grief, but you can only avoid it by avoiding love. Love and grief are inextricably intertwined.” ― David Kessler, Finding Meaning: The Sixth Stage of Grief

David Kessler is one of the world’s foremost expert on grief and loss. His experience with thousands of people on the edge of life and death has taught him the secrets to living a happy and fulfilled life, even after life’s tragedies. He is the author of six books and coauthored two books with Elisabeth Kubler Ross, including On Grief and Grieving updating her 5 stages for grief. His first book received praise from Saint (Mother) Teresa. His talk with Brené Brown was the #1 podcast in the world.

David’s personal experience as a child witnessing a mass shooting while his mother was dying in a hospital helped him begin his journey. For most of his life, David has taught physicians, nurses, counsellors, police, and first responders about the end of life, trauma, and grief. However, despite his vast knowledge on grief, his life was turned upside down by the sudden death of his twenty-one-year-old son.

Anna Lembke, MD and Kevin McCauley, MD

Dr. Lembke, Chief of the Stanford Addiction Medicine Dual Diagnosis Clinic, has long been one of the clearest voices regarding problems that come with over-prescribed medications and the unprecedented access to high-reward, high-dopamine stimuli in general. In this question-and-answer session, Meadows Senior Fellow Dr. Kevin McCauley and Dr. Anna Lembke will discuss how technology, including smartphones and social media, can become “drug-ified,” as well as the difficult but effective strategies that restore the brain’s balance of pleasure and pain and allow us to rediscover passion and find new ways to be free.

Resmaa Menakem, MSW, LICSW, SEP

In this presentation, we'll look at the interaction of racialized trauma and addiction, on both the individual and collective levels. Then we'll explore a set of somatic healing practices that can support the healing of both trauma and addiction. Lastly, we'll use the lens of Somatic Abolitionism to examine how we can help our clients create positive feedback loops of growth, emergence, and healing.

Judy Grisel, PhD

Most chemicals that people use to medicate or enhance reality have both risks and benefits, at different times and for different people. Nonetheless, regular use of any mind-altering substance causes the exact opposite states to a drug’s original effects. Chronic stimulants result in lethargy, sedatives lead to anxiety and insomnia, and euphoriants guarantee misery.

This session will explain how the brain adapts to addictive drugs by creating the states of craving, tolerance, and dependence that characterize addiction. We’ll address the synergistic influences of genetic predispositions, childhood trauma, and drug use during development that make some people more vulnerable than others.

Judy Grisel, PhD

More than 10,000 people die each day from excessive use of mind-altering chemicals. This session will discuss how advances in neuroscience might account for, and help to reduce, suffering from addiction through better treatments. General principles will be applied to illustrate specific risk factors and neural changes associated with addiction to cannabis and opiates, and we’ll brainstorm about how brain science can help inform more effective prevention and intervention efforts.

Claudia Black, PhD and Whitney Howzell, PhD, LCSW

Although most therapists understand how depression, anxiety, and other clinical issues fuel the addictive cycle, they’re often not aware of how effective treatment for young people differs from approaches targeted toward adults.

In this workshop, Drs. Black and Howzell will explore common experiences negatively impacting this age group as well as practical interventions that elicit and work with young people’s core beliefs to direct treatment. You’ll discover how to:

• Uncover critical experiences, such as cyberbullying, sexual assault, emotional abandonment, and loss, that often underlie co-occurring disorders
• Effectively address clients’ deep-rooted views about themselves and the world
• Use practical tools, such as the Addiction Interaction template and Behavioral Acting Out framework, to offer direction for healing and an understanding of the function of addictive patterns related to behaviour
• Explore the interplay of trauma and technology

Frank Anderson, MD

Beneath addiction and traumatic stress lies important neurobiological processes that are altered. In this session, we’ll discuss, through the lens of Internal Family Systems Therapy and neurobiology, how to address behaviours and biological conditions commonly associated with many addictive behaviours and to help clients ultimately heal from the wounds beneath their addictions.

Frank Anderson, MD

Therapists regularly treat clients who struggle with some form of addiction, whether it be from substances, food, gambling, or sex. Unfortunately, the treatment itself can sometimes induce guilt and shame, especially when discussing the negative impact commonly associated with most addictive substances. IFS, a non-pathologizing treatment modality helps clients “befriend” their addictive parts in a way that allows them to learn about their positive protective intention. In this session, we’ll discuss how to address the associated beliefs, behaviours and biological conditions commonly associated with many addictive behaviours and to help clients ultimately heal from the wounds beneath their addictions.

Elisa Hallerman, PhD, JD, author of Soulbriety and founder of Recovery Management Agency

Soulbriety is not just about being sober; it’s about true, soul-centred wellness. It starts when you slow down and grow down in a way you have been yearning for - but probably didn't know how to before. Together we will explore the unconscious root system, plumb the depths of soul, and travel through my own individual hero’s journey through addiction and trauma.

Andrew Tatarsky, PhD

The widely accepted view of addiction as a disease has contributed an “abstinence-only” treatment system that has failed to be helpful to the large majority of people who struggle with substance use when trauma is a part of the picture. These patients must be welcomed into treatment while they continue to use substances so trauma can be identified and processed as a precondition for addressing the addictive response.

This workshop offers an “re-humanized” psychobiosocial process model for understanding the intersection of these issues that explains why many people who struggle with addiction do not want to stop using despite negative consequences and risks of substance use. This workshop will introduce an integrative harm reduction psychotherapy that engages people in therapy while they are actively using substances and addresses trauma and addiction simultaneously. A real clinical case of trauma and addiction that was successfully treated by Tatarsky will be presented to illustrate the approach.

Andrew Tatarsky, PhD

A harm reduction stance invites people into therapy without requiring abstinence or imposing values or agendas. Its emphasis on creating safety and alliance is particularly appealing to people with histories of trauma because it does not impose preconceived expectations. The integrative focus addresses how trauma and addiction intersect and how to treat both in therapy. This workshop will focus on implementing IHRP’s seven therapeutic tasks. We’ll demonstrate and practice practical skills and strategies associated with each task that you can bring to the therapy room.

Paul Brasler, MA, MSW, LCSW

Over 100,000 people died of drug overdoses from April 2021 to March 2022, with over 70% of those deaths due to fentanyl or other powerful synthetic opioids. Medications like methadone, buprenorphine, naltrexone, and naloxone offer the best results in treating opioid use disorder, but many clients lack access to these treatments. Mental health clinicians need to be knowledgeable about medications for opioid use disorders (MOUD), and how to engage clients who are considering MOUD, or who receive MOUD. Effective behavioural health treatments that can be integrated with MOUD will be discussed, including case studies from the field. We will also examine how stigma continues to keep MOUD, and SUD treatment in general, from making a greater impact in our communities.

David Kessler, MA, RN, FACHE

All grief does not have trauma, but all trauma has grief. Addiction work often needs to include both. In this session, David will cover the intersections of grief, trauma, and addiction as a professional who has worked in the field of grief for decades as well as a bereaved father.

Jamie Marich, PhD, LPCC-S, LICDC-CS, REAT

The interplay between unhealed trauma, dissociation, and addiction can stump even the most seasoned clinicians and leave clients who struggle feeling frustrated and hopeless.

In this workshop, you'll learn how to blend traditional knowledge about the disease of addiction and 12-step approaches to recovery with the latest research and practice knowledge on trauma and dissociation. As a result, you’ll be able to better connect with addicted clients who struggle with trauma and deliver the help that they so desperately need in a way that honours their lived experience. This workshop is sure to be a learning experience unlike any you have had before!

Eboni Webb, PsyD, HSP, owner of The Village of Kairos which offers diverse DBT specializations

Studies indicate that approximately 2/3 of all addicts report experiencing some form of physical or sexual trauma during childhood. These studies suggest the primacy of utilizing a trauma-focused lens in addressing both addiction and the inherent attachment disturbances and trauma in the treatment space.

In this session, you’ll learn the key features for successful work with clients dually-diagnosed with PTSD or Borderline Personality Disorder and substance abuse disorders. These clients are impacted by early and ongoing developmental trauma. Dr. Webb integrates top-down and bottom-up strategies for addressing the traumatized minds and bodies of clients who have been failed so many times that they have sought “externalized caregivers” in the form of drugs and alcohol. This approach promotes adherence to treatment and strengthens the therapeutic alliance through “authoritative therapy” which promotes a new lens to understand the attachment trauma inherent in PTSD and BPD and to validate the need for a means to regulate an overreactive body and invalidating environment.

Erica Sarr, PsyD, MEd, CSAT-S

Each day we move deeper into a modern era where technology blends into every aspect of our lives, including sexual identities, expressions, courtship behaviours, and relationship formation. However, it can sometimes be hard for therapists to help when things go awry, because of an ever-shifting digital landscape which asks a never-ending question of what is right and what is right now? Change brings needed growth, but also unexpected consequences that we are grappling with in real time.

This session provides some of the sexual technology currently out in the world, what may be on the horizon, and the joys and challenges new technology brings to an already complex part of our lives.