Sessions

Session Details and Conference Speakers

— Morning Plenary —

Defining the Disease of Addiction: Disease vs. Choice

Presented By: Jeff Georgi, M.Div., MAH, LCAS, LPC, CGP

For many years the scientific community has been clear that a diagnosis of drug and or alcohol dependency meets the same criteria as asthma, diabetes, and Alzheimer’s in terms of its definition as a disease. All the above are chronic and incurable yet to treatable. All have biological, psychological, social and spiritual variables that conspire to express the disease within the lives of the afflicted. Unfortunately the medical community, the general public and the treatment community has continued to confuse what we loosely term as addiction with poorly placed choices or failures of character. Such a position is not only ill founded but dangerous. Only 50 years ago it was generally believed that asthma was caused in large measure by over protective mothers. As absurd as this position seems today it made the appropriate treatment of asthma difficult and led the to unnecessary guilt and shame. To misunderstand the complexity of substance use dependency as any saying other than the disease leads to an appropriate treatment, misplaced interventions, public stereotyping and unnecessary mortality.

• Presentation: Opioid Dependency is Bigger Than You Are

— Administrative Track —

— Clinical Track —

— Nursing Track —

— Leadership/New Manager Track —