A Resource for Healthcare and Social Services Professionals
August 15, 2023
12:00 pm–1:30 pm ET
This training will review strategies to reduce harm from inhaled and intranasal use of illicit substances. Strategies to reduce communicable infections and to prevent damage to lung and skin and soft tissue infections will be discussed. Additionally, the risks associated with open flame and adulterated substances will be explored.
Via Zoom
This training will review strategies to reduce harm from inhaled and intranasal use of illicit substances. Strategies to reduce communicable infections and to prevent damage to lung and skin and soft tissue infections will be discussed. Additionally, the risks associated with open flame and adulterated substances will be explored.
The harm reduction series is a 10-part education series for healthcare providers and SUD treatment programs to better understand Harm Reduction principles and harm reduction strategies as best practice in SUD treatment. The series will provide participants with an hour long didactic with a 30 minute Q+A. Each session is taught by an educator from the Grayken TTA team and an expert community member with boots on the ground experience in the specific topic area. Participants may attend all sessions or select specific courses. Continuing education credits are NOT offered for this session, but are offered for other sessions of this series.
Medical providers, nurses, social workers, Licensed Alcohol and Drug Counselors (LADC), Certified Alcohol/Drug Counselors (CADC), Community Health Workers (CHW), recovery coaches, counselors, Licensed Mental health Counselors (LMHC), and members of the community.
A national advocate for harm reduction, Duffy's work focuses on safer smoking and availability of alternative modes of administration. Jim’s experience began in Boston where he focused on the intersection of HIV prevention and stimulant use. Successfully piloting pipe distribution for safer smoking locally led to the development of Smoke Works, which now provides injection alternatives for programs across the country. Smoke Works is changing the harm reduction landscape by providing safer-use supplies for all people who use drugs, in a service arena traditionally focused on opioid injection. Jim’s lived experience and development of a mutual-aid business model have benefited harm reduction, recovery, medical, and outreach programs in over 35 states.
Vanessa Loukas, MSN, FNP-C, CARN-AP (she/her)Vanessa is a clinical nurse educator for Boston Medical Center's Grayken Center for Addiction Training and Technical Assistance, an assistant professor of medicine at Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, and a nurse practitioner at Boston Medical Center. She has expertise in managing substance use disorders, co-occurring psychiatric conditions, and infectious diseases in primary care settings. Her clinical interests include harm reduction, low-barrier treatment, medical addiction groups, and improving care for persons involved in the criminal-legal system. Through her primary role on the Grayken TTA team, Vanessa contributes to peer-reviewed publications, evidence-based clinical guidelines, development and delivery of continuing education programs, and other resources for providers supporting patients with substance use disorders. Prior to joining the Grayken TTA team, Vanessa practiced as a nurse practitioner and was the program director for the addiction treatment program at the South End Community Health Center, caring for high-risk patients with substance use disorders and psychiatric diagnoses. Her work integrated harm reduction, on-demand treatment, infectious disease treatment, and medical addiction groups including within the male/female re-entry/recovery units at the Suffolk County House of Corrections. Vanessa received her Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) from Simmons University and is a Certified Addiction Registered Nurse – Advanced Practice (CARN-AP) through the Addictions Nursing Certification Board (ANCB).
Following this training, participants will have the knowledge necessary to:
Boston Medical Center Grayken Center for Addiction TTA, Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Bureau of Substance Addiction Services (DPH/BSAS)
Funding for out of state attendees is provided by the Opioid Response Network (ORN).
Funding for this initiative was made possible (in part) by grant no. 1H79TI083343 from SAMHSA. The views expressed in written conference materials or publications and by speakers and moderators do not necessarily reflect the official policies of the Department of Health and Human Services; nor does mention of trade names, commercial practices, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.
This training does not offer CEU's for completion.
Grayken Center for Addiction TTA is a program of Boston Medical Center (BMC), a 514-bed academic medical center located in Boston's historic South End and the largest safety-net hospital in New England.
The content on this site and the content presented by Grayken Center for Addiction TTA is intended solely to inform and educate healthcare and social service professionals, and shall not be used for medical advice and is not a substitute for the advice or treatment of a qualified medical professional. The hospital, the program, and the contributors are not acting as health care providers or professional consultants on behalf of any specific patient and disclaim establishing a provider-patient relationship with any specific patient.