Addiction expert to present at workshop
CARIBOU, Maine — The Center for Advancement of Rural Living, a non-profit organization in Aroostook County, will host a special full-day workshop entitled “Health and Balance in Recovery” on Friday, Sept. 23, 2016 at the Caribou Inn and Convention Center.
The workshop, which will provide contact hours for health care professionals, will be directed by William R. Drinkwater, M.Ed., CADAC-II, LADC-1, an addiction and co-occurring disorder specialist in the greater Boston area who has worked in the field of addiction for over 25 years.
Anyone working in the addiction field is invited to attend the all-day conference. The program will begin with registration from 7:30-8:30 a.m. The formal program will run from 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. The cost for the program is $65, which includes lunch. Reduced rates are available for students at $25.
“There is a tragic crisis in Maine and many parts of the country,” said Drinkwater. “I am pleased to be able to visit Northern Maine to present this important program. The conference will provide a very good understanding of co-occurring disorders in that they are the expectation, not the exception.
“We will also focus on the critical value of treating the whole person, not just the addiction, and to identify resources to support the recovery process,” Drinkwater said.
Maine’s addiction crisis has reached historical levels. Recent state data suggests that 2016 will a record year for deaths from overdose fueled by heroin use and increases in Fentanyl use. in the first six months of 2016, 189 overdose deaths have been reported in Maine, compared to the same number of deaths in all of 2015.
While a member of the Cambridge Health Alliance, Drinkwater was a preceptor for first-year residents in psych/medicine from Harvard Medical School on addiction and co-occurring disorders. He maintains a private practice at the North Shore Medical Center in Salem, Mass., and is a member of the Consumer Advisory Board at the Bureau of Substance Abuse Services, Department of Public Health. In 2007 he was a presenter at the 30th Annual Harvard Medical School/Cambridge Hospital’s Treating the Addictions session. His topic was: Relapse Warning Signs; Past Views, Present Views.
Currently he is an adjunct professor at the University of Massachusetts-Boston in the Addiction Counselor Education Program and Senior Faculty at Cambridge College in their Addiction Studies Program. In addition Drinkwater, in recent years, has started traveling to Universities and Colleges across the United States and Canada to lecture on ‘Substance Abuse & Co-Occurring Disorders.’
Individuals may register at the door or by emailing Lacey Sawyer, MSW, and LCSW at lsawyer@une.edu.
