UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Consortium on Substance Use and Addiction (CSUA)’s will host the 2022 Summit on Substance Use Disorder Stigma Reduction at Penn State University on Sept. 22. The event will take place in-person from 9 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. at the HUB-Robeson Center located at the University Park Campus. Registration is currently open for interested attendees.
Registration for students is free. Students must use the SUMMIT22 discount code when they register for the event, and email the event organizer, Erin Bergner, at elb5472@psu.edu that they plan to attend. Students are encouraged to attend sessions that fit into their schedules. All other attendees are required to pay a registration fee.
The 2022 Summit on Substance Use Disorder Stigma Reduction is an interdisciplinary event that brings together practitioners, scholars and students from a range of fields (e.g., public health, government and public policy, psychology, criminal justice) to consider research, policy, and practice around the issue of stigma reduction in the field. The summit is supported by generous contributions from the Social Science Research Institute's Consortium on Substance Use and Addiction and The Douglas W. Pollock Center for Addiction Outreach and Research.
The summit’s keynote speaker will be Alex Elswick, assistant professor and extension specialist for substance use prevention and recovery at the University of Kentucky. Elswick is a trained researcher, recovery coach, and mental health therapist, as well as the co-founder of Voices of Hope, a peer-driven recovery community organization. Notably, Elswick is himself a person in long-term recovery from the chronic disease of addiction.
More information about the summit’s agenda is available here. The event includes multiple breakout sessions featuring faculty from across Penn State as well as practitioners and scholars from around the country.
Established in 2018 and housed in the Social Science Research Institute, the CSUA is a multidisciplinary network of researchers, educators, and practitioners that work together to address the systemic problems of the opioid epidemic, substance use and addiction. Initially motivated by the opioid epidemic that continues to deeply impact communications across Pennsylvania and the nation, CSUA connects and cultivates a diverse group of stakeholders to develop and implement effective programs, policies, and practices aimed at preventing and treating addiction, and its spillover effects on children, families, and communities.
The Substance Use Stigma Reduction Collaborative is a working group established by Penn State University’s Consortium on Substance Use and Addiction consisting of academic scholars, professionals, and practitioners throughout Penn State University. The mission of the collaborative is to examine and understand stigma toward substance use to identify ways to reduce its impacts. Collaborative members work together to conduct research on the impact stigma has on substance use, examine ways to address stigma toward substance use in practice, and identify opportunities to connect with community members to implement initiatives to address stigma toward substance use.
To register for the event, click here.