Vermont Substance Use
Conference 2025
Welcome
The Vermont Department of Health Division of Substance Use Programs, in partnership with the Vermont Cooperative for Practice Improvement & Innovation (VCPI), will host people from across the state who have professional and personal interest in substance use in Vermont. Please join us as we gather on May 20th and 21st, 2025 at the DoubleTree by Hilton in Burlington (and virtually) to support furthering collaboration, coordination, and connection throughout Vermont's substance-use system of care and its many partners. Dozens of panelists from Vermont and beyond will lead over twenty breakout sessions that will provide valuable information on important topics impacting the substance-use services workforce and those who interact with our system. We will also host over thirty vendors to table, allowing for one-on-one opportunities for education and resource sharing. Finally, we are excited to welcome two nationally-recognized plenary speakers: Haner Hernández, Ph.D., CPS, CADCII, LADCI, and educator and New York Times best selling author, Jessica Lahey.
Scholarships are available, as are accommodations - but space is limited - we encourage you to click here & register today!
Day 1: Tuesday
8-9:00am: Registration and Breakfast
9:00am: Welcome Remarks and Plenary Introduction: Kelly Dougherty, MSW, MPH
9:15-10:00am: Plenary: Dr. Haner Hernández, “Eliminating Disparities and Building Health Equity: A Social Justice Framework and Approach”
10:15-11:45am: Morning Sessions
12-1:00pm: Lunch
1:15-2:45pm: Afternoon Sessions I
3-4:30pm: Afternoon Sessions II
Day 2: Wednesday
8-9:00am: Registration and Breakfast
9:00am: Welcome Remarks and Plenary Introduction: Emily Tutor, CPM
9:15-10:00am: Plenary: Jessica Lahey, “Having the Substance Use Prevention Talk for People Who Are Reluctant to Attend Substance Use Prevention Talks”
10:15-11:45am: Morning Sessions
12-1:00pm: Lunch (and Jessica Lahey book signing)
1:15-2:45pm: Afternoon Sessions
Daily Agendas
Registration
If you have any questions, contact the Planning Team at vtdsuconference@gmail.com.
Check-in will start each day at 8am, with opening remarks beginning at 9am. Day one sessions end at 4:30pm, and day two sessions end at 2:45pm. A light breakfast and lunch are included.
Information about Continuing Education Unit certificates (CEUs) for licensed mental health professionals will be provided to all attendees.
Speakers
Tuesday Keynote Speaker: Haner Hernández, Ph.D., CPS, CADCII, LADCI
“Eliminating Disparities and Building Health Equity: A Social Justice Framework and Approach”
Emerald Ballroom III
Introduction by Kelly Dougherty, MSW, MPH
This presentation will explore the development of disparities in the US and their impacts on racialized and marginalized communities. Utilizing a social justice framework, participants will learn about effective strategies and techniques for building health equity and improving outcomes. To this end, this presentation will center solutions grounded in the structural determinants of health, strength-based approaches, cultural humility, and anti-discriminatory practices and policies.
Wednesday Keynote Speaker: Jessica Lahey
“Having The Substance Use Prevention Talk for People Who Are Reluctant to Attend Substance Use Prevention Talks”
Emerald Ballroom III
Introduction by Emily Tutor, CPM
It can be challenging to get people to attend talks on substance use prevention. This may be because of shame and stigma around the topic of substance use disorder, because they are dealing with substance use problems themselves or in their family, or because they erroneously believe all kids drink or use drugs and there’s nothing we can do about it. This popular talk emerges from Lahey’s New York Times bestselling book, The Gift of Failure, and explores how to increase motivation, engagement, competence, self-efficacy, and self-advocacy in kids—while giving audiences evidence-based information on how this also reduces kids’ risk for substance use.
Sessions & Agenda Summary
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Steve DeVoe, Laura Flint, Kameron McConnell, Cheryle Wilcox
Members of the Department of Mental Health (DMH) and Vermont Department of Health (VDH) will share VT’s CCBHC implementation plan and how this health care transformation has led the way with collaboration, coordination, and connection. CCBHCs ensure access to integrated mental health (MH) and substance use disorder (SUD) treatment and health care screening/monitoring with a particular focus on individuals with a significant MH/SUD and/or physical health disorders across the lifespan.
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Heather Bedell, Dana Bourne, Desiree Kepper, Clare LaFrance, Mariah Ogden, Katie Ruffe
The Vermont Tobacco-Free Recovery team will provide strategies to improve tobacco-use rates among people living with mental health and/or substance use issues, as well as find ways to connect with more organizations to provide more services.
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Mahat Abdullah, Camille Bakoulis, Kelly Clements, Caitlin Perrier, Jillian Rolla, Emily Zanleoni
In substance use prevention, intervention, and treatment/recovery, financial resources are often viewed as the primary key to success. However, communities across VT have shown the transformative impact of non-financial resources in building capacity, engaging future professionals, and driving systems-level change. This workshop will feature a youth presentation and a panel discussion highlighting innovative workforce strategies that leverage resources beyond funding.
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Lex Arthers, Candace Gale, Anna Lawfer
Recovery from substance use disorder requires more than treatment—it necessitates support, stable housing, and belonging. Vermont Foundation of Recovery operates a statewide network of recovery homes and transitional apartments, offering structured, community-based support. This presentation explores recovery housing as a vital link between treatment and independent living, using real stories and data to show how collaboration improves long-term recovery and builds healthier communities.
Tuesday AM Sessions (10:15-11:45am) - May 20, 2025
Tuesday PM Sessions I (1:15-2:45pm) - May 20, 2025
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Kelley Klein, Tara Miller, Jeremy Therrien, Mark Young
Our Vermont Mobile Crisis Teams are trained to assist with substance use crises using harm reduction strategies. Through this session, we want participants to know the crisis services available in Vermont and how to access them. We believe that connection helps people overcome crises. We aim to build relationships with individuals using substances to create a sense of safety and support in tough times—and provide referral and information for treatment.
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Jessica Eisenhauer, Margaret Martinez, Rachel Petzoldt, Nathan Plocharczyk, Suzy Stanton, Jill Warrington
This session discusses the work of nonfatal overdose biosurveillance at the Vermont Department of Health Laboratory, funded via the CDC's Overdose Data to Action initiative. This is a critical strategy in efforts to inform drug overdose prevention policies and programs. Presenters will introduce our laboratory’s work to the broader substance-use intervention and prevention community, emphasizing the multifaceted collaborations necessary to establish a program of this scale.
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Chadd Viger
This session will introduce the Vermont system of Substance use disorder (SUD) care and review the principles of effective SUD treatment, as defined by the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA). We will discuss how to decide on level of care appropriateness and treatment planning with an American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) lens. Also included is a discussion of the crossroads between treatment, recovery, prevention, and harm reduction.
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Martina Anderson, Ed Baker, Rachel Bolton, Isabella Fearn, David Mickenberg, Theresa Vezina
This session will explore harm reduction as an essential approach to addressing substance use disorders and promoting public health. Participants will engage with the history of this public health movement, learn practical strategies for implementing harm reduction services, and familiarize themselves with non-judgmental care approaches. This session will also highlight the importance of fostering connection to reduce stigma and empower people who use drugs.
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Haner Hernández
This session will describe the disproportionate outcomes experienced by justice-impacted individuals and their families. Participants will learn about the process of institutionalization and what they can do to address trauma and restorative justice within the context of providing Substance Use Disorder and Mental Health services to this population. This session also will cover the multiple pathways of recovery, harm reduction, and additional strategies for participant engagement and retention in care.
Tuesday PM Sessions II (3-4:30pm) - May 20, 2025
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Austin Connolly, Michaela Fascione, Samantha Mariano, Catherine Sanders
This session will explore how technology-enabled learning and a balance between lived experience and formal training can create a more unified behavioral health workforce in rural Vermont. We’ll examine common barriers to entry-level roles and share innovative workforce strategies from our Maine experience. By emphasizing collaboration, coordination, and connection, we invite you to join us in reimagining more accessible career pathways for those with lived experience in rural Vermont.
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Nicole Rau Mitiguy, Lauren Ressue, Sami Stalford
The VDH has a large volume of publicly-available data. But finding and accessing the data can be challenging. We’ll provide an overview of VDH substance-use data, show where it lives on the website, and provide search tips. We’ll share current data about VT substance use and then focus on a VDH major substance use data publication, the Social Autopsy Report, and how we’ve used this report to move data into action. We welcome all conference attendees, but our intended attendees use or want to use substance-use data and want to know more about the Report.
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Gary Miller, Bess O’Brien
In this workshop, Writers for Recovery will engage participants in the steps we take to create a vibrant, powerful, and compassionate space for folks to find their voices and connect with each other through storytelling. Building on ten years of work across VT, the workshop will be a place for participants to experience a safe space that offers healing, laughter, and recovery through the act of writing for seven minutes. It's our trademark, and it works!
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Petra Bajuk, Kate Burkholder, Constance Gavin, Moriah Haggett, Javad Mashkuri, Marissa J. Patrick, Evan Smith
To address the profound impact that alcohol has on morbidity and mortality in Vermont, CVMC and the CVPC developed ROAD, a collaborative hub-and-spoke model of care for Alcohol Use Disorder. The initiative provides low-barrier access to improved and expanded support services. This session will share the ROAD model, lessons learned, barriers to implementation, and strategies to overcome them. Attendees will gain information needed to consider such a model in their own communities.
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Katie Niebuhr
Work in substance use can often lead to stress, burnout, and compassion fatigue. In this session, attendees will learn the signs of these common stressors and how to relieve them. This interactive session will help you better understand why these stressors occur and how we can care for ourselves while continuing to care for others. You’ll gain universal tools to help reduce these stressors so that you can share with your colleagues across the continuum of substance use work.
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Roy Belcher (with introduction by Emily Trutor)
Between September 2023 and December of 2024, the VT Department of Health's Division of Substance Use Programs partnered with Health Resources in Action to conduct a comprehensive, substance use system of care-wide community perspective needs assessment and strategic planning process. This session will review the findings of the assessment and how they’ve informed the division's new strategic plan. Participants will be among the first to access to new strategic plan and hear how the division will operationalize it.
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Tom Fontana
Frequent cannabis use leads to increased tolerance. The community of weed smokers has addressed this by encouraging periodic breaks from cannabis (a “t-break”) to help reduce tolerance. Unfortunately, without guidance, people often find a t-break harder than they thought. The T-Break Guide was written from the wisdom of people who have successfully taken breaks. This workshop is for anyone who might benefit from knowing about a free cannabis-harm-reduction resource.
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Tyler Erath, Julia Harrison, Christine Hayner, Greg Leduc, Kathy Kinirons, Richard Rawson
The session will provide an overview of contingency management for StimUD, a review of Contingency Management (CM), research to support CM, and key ingredients in CM implementation. Presenters will offer a perspective from the Vermont Department of Substance Use on the expected benefits of CM and discuss Vermont’s implementation process and data to date. Finally, three treatment providers in Vermont currently using CM for StimUD will describe their experiences.
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Annie Valentine
Qualitative and quantitative research indicate strong correlations between substance use, disordered eating, and eating disorders. And eating disorders are the second leading cause of death behind substance use disorders. In alignment with this year's theme, the presentation will provide an overview of the overlapping warning signs and risk factors and the need for increased education, identification, and coordination of trauma-informed treatment.
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David Hamlin, Brandon King, Marielle Matthews, Tanya Wells
*Registration Required
This session will explore the critical role of local policy in shaping effective substance-use prevention strategies by focusing on tobacco, alcohol, and cannabis. Participants will gain insight into the policy considerations necessary to build a strong prevention framework, as well as evidence-based recommendations for local implementation. The session will also highlight successful policy implementation in the state.
Wednesday AM Sessions (10:15-11:45am) - May 21, 2025
Wednesday PM Sessions (1:15-2:45pm) - May 21, 2025
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Sunny Noelle Naughton
We explore how mental health literacy can strengthen the substance-use continuum of care. This session focuses on collaboration across systems to build shared language, reduce stigma, and promote early intervention. Attendees will learn how to connect with communities through storytelling, education, and advocacy and leave with practical tools to enhance communication, coordination, and care around mental health and substance use challenges.
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Mindy Gagnon, C.F. Lord, Adrienne Sass
This session presents the science behind Medication-Assisted Treatment specific to Methadone Maintenance Treatment Programs (MMTP) in Opioid Treatment Programs (OTP). The session also describes a day in the life and the lifecycle of a patient in an OTP. Presenters will also cover innovative ways that they have seen success in patient retention and outcomes. Finally, attendees will be given the opportunity to pose medical questions about MMTP to an Addiction Certified Specialist.
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Halima Ahmadi-Montecalvo
Considerable progress has been made at the federal, state, and local levels in deploying evidence-based strategies to address the opioid epidemic. Provisional CDC data showed a decline in opioid-overdose deaths in 2023. This session will highlight the importance of addressing co-occurring drivers of health and how a closed-loop referral system can drive meaningful change. It will also emphasize timely, equitable approaches to needs and how community-driven referrals can aid recovery.
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Kim Dacek, Katy Leffel, Natasha Payton, Elena Robles, Rosemary Rosa
This session is an opportunity to learn about the Maternal Mortality Review Panel and how its data is used to inform programming. Utilizing Overdose Data to Action funding, the Vermont Department of Health’s Family and Child Health supports collaborative projects enhancing perinatal substance use care, coordination, and connection. The session includes a Turning Point Center perinatal referral system, a Lund therapeutic storytelling project, and an initiative to support organizations through tailored SU education.
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Jessica Lahey
Join author Jessica Lahey for a Q&A on her book, The Addiction Inoculation, as well as a discussion of her work with youth and substance misuse. The session will explore why humans use and abuse substances and how the adolescent brain is uniquely wired for novelty and the risk of substance use, while being particularly vulnerable in very specific ways. Lahey will identify the major risk factors for substance abuse and explain what adults can do to overcome the weight of a given child's risk factors.
Acutis
Adcare Educational Institute of New England
Braeburn
Champlain Toxicology Lab
HireAbility Vermont
Invidior
Meetinghouse Solutions
Pacific Institute for Research & Evaluation
Prevent Child Abuse VT
Prevention Works! VT
SafeSpot Overdose Hotline
Sana at Stowe
Exhibitors
SMART Recovery
Steps to End Domestic Violence
The Turning Point Center
UVM Medical Center
Valley Vista
Vermont Addiction Professionals Association
Vermont Foundation of Recovery
Vermont Helplink
Vermont Prevention Certification Board
VT Gambling Help
VTSU Graduate Programs in Counseling
Thank you to our Sponsors!
Sponsors
Nonprofit Sponsors
Special Offer Sponsored by the New England Addiction Technology Transfer Center Network
We are partnering with Blooming Photo Company, a full-service engagement, wedding, portrait, and family photographer based in northern Vermont, to offer professional portrait sessions on both days of our conference!
To sign up, go to the online sign-up and select the time that works with your schedule. Sessions are scheduled for five minutes.
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Please join the Vermont Department of Health, Division of Substance Use Programs, in partnership with the Vermont Cooperative for Practice Improvement & Innovation, on May 20th and 21st, 2025 at the DoubleTree by Hilton in Burlington for the 2025 Vermont Substance Use Conference.
DoubleTree by Hilton, 870 Williston Rd, South Burlington, VT 05403
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Free parking is available adjacent to the conference center provided by DoubleTree.
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Wifi for conference:
Network: Hilton Honors Meeting
Password: DSU2025
Wifi for main lobby and elsewhere:
Network: Hilton honors lobby network
Password: cookie1
Wifi for overnight hotel guests (in rooms):
Network: hiltonhonors
Password: Last name registered to room +
room number
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Questions: vtdsuconference@gmail.com