The Intersection of Substance Misuse and Trauma: Exploring Pathways to Recovery

The Trauma Symposium will be held on June 7, 2024, from 9-3:30 at Springfield Technical Community College (Scibelli Hall, 7^th floor).

Hosted by the Department of Mental Health in Western Mass, the symposium provides a space for community members and local organizations to connect and learn from each other around issues of trauma and resilience. Please join us for a day of exploration around innovations in substance misuse interventions. The goal of this year’s symposium is to increase participants’ knowledge base about harm reduction approaches and to enhance their capacity to mitigate and manage impacts of substance misuse.

Registration is now open. You can register by clicking here. Space is limited. Please register ASAP if you are interested in attending.

Please Note: When registering, you will be asked to select workshop preferences. Please see workshop descriptions:

Morning Workshops

1A. SAFE Coalition SAFE will present their program “Up in Smoke”, an alternative to traditional school suspension policies. This diversion-based program holds three day-long, in-person, small group classes for students who have been caught using substances on school grounds. The curricula is designed to guide students in understanding how daily life informs their opportunities to seek freedom and self-respect, the impacts of substance use on the brain and body, and builds systems for stress management and engendering belonging.

1B. Harm Reduction 101 Tapestry will present a harm reduction workshop that will touch on several topics germane to mitigating impacts of substance misuse, including: Narcan administration, fentanyl test strips access, wound/vein management, needle exchanges, and preventative health care.

1C. Modifying Modalities Dr. Nora Padykula and Dr. Rose Sullivan of Westfield State University present: The Self-Regulation Model (SRM) is introduced to inform the assessment and treatment of attachment trauma and addiction. By integrating attachment theory and behaviors within a dialectical philosophy, substance misuse is seen as an attempt to regulate one’s attachment system in the service of adaptation. Using the SRM, participants will explore the transmission mechanics of intergenerational trauma and its sequelae. Attachment trauma and self-regulatory behaviors will be discussed as it relates to parenting. The use of Parent Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) will be applied to clinical case examples to illustrate the effective use of this modality for building resilience in substance using families.

1D. Specialty Courts Overview of groundbreaking diversionary specialty court practices, including mental health court and drug courts, in MA. These Courts are problem-solving court sessions that provide court-supervised probation and require that individuals commit to treatment.

Afternoon Workshops

2A. My Life, My Choice and Children’s Advocacy Centers My Life, My Choice will provide more general information about trauma and commercial sexual exploitation of children, risk and the intersection with substance misuse; local, county-based children’s advocacy centers will describe their services, and how they can provide support to children and families who have experienced trauma and/or substance misuse.

2B. Harm Reduction 101 Tapestry will present a harm reduction workshop that will touch on several topics germane to mitigating impacts of substance misuse, including: Narcan administration, fentanyl test strips access, wound/vein management, needle exchanges, and preventative health care.

2C. CONNECT The Community Opportunity, Network, Navigation, Exploration, and Connection Team (CONNECT) program will provide an overview of their program. CONNECT is a 24/7 rapid response team that responds to fatal and non-fatal opioid overdoses and those at high risk of overdose, including their children, in the rural 30-town region of Franklin County.