An Overview on the Opiate Crisis
March 30, 2018 @ 4:30 am - 8:00 am
An Overview on the Opiate Crisis
Presented By: Mark Schenker, Ph.D.
Temple-Ambler Campus 580 Meeting House Rd Ambler, PA, 19002
Time: 8:30am to 12pm
3.0CE
We are now in the midst of a national crisis of epic proportions. The use of opiates has become one of the leading causes of death, primarily by overdose. Although opiate addiction has long been with us, there are specific reasons why this problem has mushroomed in recent years. We will review the origins of this epidemic, parameters, and conventions of opiate addiction, and approaches to treatment. Given the broad reach of this crisis, this is a vital topic for mental health clinicians regardless of area of specialty.
Workshop Objectives:
- Discuss political, legal and institutional factors in the opiate addiction crisis.
- Distinguish between various modes of treatment for opiate addiction.
- Discuss pros and cons of various treatment modalities.
- Describe biological, psychological and social dimensions of addiction.
- Identify at least 3 intervention strategies for addressing the crisis.
Mark Schenker, Ph.D. is a psychologist with over 35 years’ experience working with patients with substance use disorders. He received his degree in Clinical Psychology from Temple University, and has been licensed since 1982. In addition to his clinical work, Dr. Schenker has written A Clinician’s Guide to Twelve-Step Recovery (Norton, 2009), the chapter “Addiction Treatment Settings” for the APA Handbook of Clinical Psychology (APA, 2016) and other chapters and articles. He has presented at conferences nationally and internationally and has taught and supervised clinicians at several local universities and treatment programs. Dr. Schenker maintains a practice in Chestnut Hill focused primarily on addiction psychology and family/couples therapy. He also consults with local treatment centers on program development and staff training. In 2017, Dr. Schenker was honored with the Addiction Professional Award from Caron Treatment Center. Until recently, he played guitar with Stone Age, a local rock band, but decided he was too old for that kind of nonsense.