Opioids, Stimulants, and Trauma Summit

May 6-8, 2025

The Opioids, Stimulants, and Trauma Summit is an annual event that highlights prevention, harm reduction, treatment, and recovery strategies related to opioids, stimulants, and trauma. All people with an interest in building healthy communities are invited to attend.

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Registration

Registration is required for this event. The registration deadline is May 6 at 12 p.m.

The UW-Milwaukee School of Continuing Education is supporting the registration process for this event.

Register now

If you have questions about the registration process, contact Wisconsin Connect at wi-connect-conferences@uwm.edu. Wisconsin Connect is providing planning and logistics support for this event.

Single day passes for May 6, 7, and 8 are not available. Three-day registration is the only option to attend the conference. All registrants will have access to recordings of sessions on May 6, 7, and 8 they were unable to attend.

No scholarships are available for this event.

Cancellation policy: Cancellation requests for this event were due April 4, 2025. No refunds will be issued once the event has started, regardless of whether the participant joined the event.

Refund policy: Refunds will only be issued to registered participants if this event is canceled for any reason. No exceptions. All registered participants have access to session recordings and materials for three months after this event.

Special meal requests: Requests for special meals were due April 11, 2025.

Videography/photography: Organizers and attending news media may be videotaping or photographing portions of this event. By attending this event, registrants acknowledge these activities and agree to allow their image to be used by the organizers and news media in any way. Registrants may not videotape or broadcast any potion of this event without written permission from organizers.

Event materials: This will be a paperless event. The WHOVA app will be used to share event materials with all in-person and virtual participants. Information on how to access the WHOVA app will be emailed to all registered participants several weeks before the event. This information will be sent to the email registrants provided during the registration process.

Agenda

The preconference activities scheduled for May 5 have been canceled. 

The full agenda for each day of the conference will be released no later than April 17. The information listed below is tentative and subject to change.

The topics covered at this event relate to the work of doctors, nurses, pharmacists, mental health and substance use professionals, social workers, educators, elected officials, and community leaders.

The presenters include doctors; pharmacists; master's level mental health and substance use prevention professionals, treatment providers, and recovery support professionals; and people with lived experience of mental health and substance use concerns.

May 6: 8:15 a.m. to 4:15 p.m.

Breakfast, lunch, and snacks offered with registration for in-person participants.

• 8:15 a.m.: Opening remarks
• 8:45 a.m.: Morning keynote - Christian Conte, Ph.D. ("Finding Peace in Chaos")
• 10:00 a.m.: Break
• 10:15 a.m.: Breakout session 1 (pick one workshop session)
  • Applying yield theory in your everyday life (Speaker: Christian Conte)
  • The fourth wave of the overdose crisis: the role of psychomotor stimulants (Speaker: Richard Rawson)
  • Partnerships expanding the impact of overdose prevention efforts (Speakers: Adrienne Hurst and Giavana Margo)
  • Challenges, considerations, and counseling approaches for older adults and substance use (Speakers: Mita Johnson and James Johnson)
  • Holistic management of perinatal opioid disorder: a case-based learning session (Speakers: Elizabeth Hovis and Emily Smith)
• 11:15 a.m.: Lunch
• 12:30 p.m.: Afternoon keynote - TO BE ANNOUNCED
• 1:45 p.m.: Break
• 2:00 p.m.: Breakout session 2 (pick one workshop session)
  • Individual Placement Support supported employment and the recovery team (Speakers: Theresa Iacullo, Stacey Teegardin, and Andrzej Walz-Chojnacki)
  • Engaging vulnerable populations using motivational interviewing in substance use services (Speakers: Laura Saunders and Albert Hasson)
  • Compassionate overdose response (Speakers: Mat Hazelberg and Patrick Kemp)
  • Opioids, stimulants, and veterans (Speaker: To be announced)
  • How can non-fitness professionals confidently prescribe exercise for substance use disorders (Speakers: Maria Kelly and Geoff Brown)
• 3:00 p.m.: Break
• 3:15 p.m.: Breakout session 3 (pick one workshop session)
  • Recovery housing in Wisconsin's substance use disorder continuum of care (Speaker: Tom Vonck-Baudraz)
  • Saturating Wisconsin with naloxone (Speaker: Caitlin Murphy)
  • Behind the wheel: understanding impaired driving and Wisconsin's Intoxicated Driver Program (Speaker: Katie Behl)
  • Update on how state government is investing Wisconsin's share of opioid settlement funds (Speaker: Michelle Haese)
  • Facilitating cognitive behavioral therapy groups (Speakers: Richard Rawson and Albert Hasson)
• 4:15 p.m.: End of day

May 7: 8:15 a.m. to 4:15 p.m.

Breakfast, lunch, and snacks offered with registration for in-person participants.

• 8:15 a.m.: Opening remarks  (Governor Evers invited)
• 8:45 a.m.: Morning keynote - Mark Denning ("Reconnecting to Spirit, Land, and Story: Finding Peace and Healing from Trauma, Addiction, and Mental Health")
• 10:00 a.m.: Break
• 10:15 a.m.: Breakout session 4 (pick one workshop session)
  • Programs to enhance general health care engagement in substance use disorder management (Speaker: Randall Brown)
  • Transforming systems: strategies for supporting trauma in real life (Speaker: Brenda Combs)
  • Voices of parents in recovery: barriers to connection and belonging in the community (Speaker: Maddie Breager, Danielle Florence, and Marissa Meagher)
  • Ritualized, compulsive comfort seeking: addiction and early attachment trauma (Speaker: Nikki Lorenz)
  • Wisconsin's new recovery coach administrative rule (Speaker: Kenya Bright)
• 11:15 a.m.: Lunch
• 12:30 p.m.: Afternoon keynote - Brenda Combs, Ed.D. ("From Pain to Purpose: The Power of Resilience, Recovery, and Redemption")
• 1:45 p.m.: Break
• 2:00 p.m.: Breakout session 5 (pick one workshop session)
  • Supervising peer specialists and recovery coaches (Speaker: Kenya Bright)
  • Drug trends in Wisconsin (Speaker: Jeremiah Winscher)
  • Treating opioid addiction in jails and prisons: a focus on pregnancy and postpartum care (Speaker: Jonathan Stoltman)
  • Building a multidisciplinary, low barrier medication for opioid use disorder program: lessons learned and future directions (Speakers: Elizabeth Salisbury-Afshar, Maggie Williams, Madison Simpson, and Lizzie LeMere)
  • Primary prevention for opioid use disorder (Speakers: Tracy Johnson and Carl Alves)
• 3:00 p.m.: Break
• 3:15 p.m.: Breakout session 6 (pick one workshop session)
  • Nothing about us without us: woodland art as medicine (Speaker: Mark Denning)
  • Impact of prenatal substance exposure on pediatric feeding, language, and speech (Speaker: Abby Wyant)
  • Prevention and intervention strategies: adolescents and youth substance use (Speakers: Earl Suttle and Marcus Amos)
  • Developing strategies for urban and rural partnerships (Speakers: Erin Howell, Joe Galley, Tahira Malik, and Laura Runchey)
  • Dose of hope: expanding the use of medications for opioid use disorder in Wisconsin's prisons (Speakers: Bonnie MacRitchie, Sylvia Longrie-Pleester, Alison Miller, and Kaitlyn Cole)
• 4:15 p.m.: End of day

May 8: 8:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.

Breakfast offered with registration for in-person participants.

• 8:30 a.m.: Closing remarks
• 8:45 a.m.: Interagency Council on Mental Health listening session

The Interagency Council on Mental Health is a group of representatives from state agencies called together by Governor Evers to identify strategies to address the root causes of mental health issues, gaps in mental health services statewide, and barriers to care. DHS staff will facilitate a discussion about what is working with mental health services, where there are opportunities to do better, and ideas for ways state agencies can work together to improve and support the mental health of Wisconsinites. The Interagency Council on Mental Health is using the term mental health to refer to efforts to prevent and treat mental health and substance use disorders.

• 9:45 a.m.: Break
• 10:00 a.m.: Breakout session 7 (pick one workshop session)
  • How community pharmacies can respond to the opioid epidemic (Speakers: Cody Wenthur and Brielle Wenthur)
  • Creating strong coalitions: approaches for collective impact (Speaker: Carl Alves)
  • Opioids, stimulants, and the LGBTQ+ community (Speakers: Paris Mullen and Keith Green)
  • Addressing tobacco use: a critical but overlooked component of substance use treatment (Speaker: Allison Gorrilla)
• 11:00 a.m.: End of day

Lodging

A block of rooms has been reserved at the Kalahari Resort for $98 per night.

Book a room now

Continuing education units and credits

This event has been designed to meet the educational needs of many professionals.

Continuing education units or credits are available to all people who participate in the live event in person or virtually. No continuing education units or credits are available for watching session recordings when they are available.

It may take up to 30 days after this event to receive verification of continuing education units or credits.

For continuing education hours (CEH):

• UW-Milwaukee's Helen Bader School of Social Welfare is approved as a provider of continuing education hours.
• Each hour of content is equal to 1 CEH. There are 12 hours of creditable content.
• 12 CEHs are available for this event if all creditable sessions are attended.

For continuing education units (CEU):

• UW-Milwaukee's School of Continuing Education is the provider of continuing education units.
• Each hour of content is equal to 0.1 CEU. There are 12 hours of creditable content.
• 1.2 CEUs are available for this event if all creditable sessions are attended.

The calculation for continuing education units is 10 hours of study in one program is equal to 1.0 CEU.

For continuing medical education (CME):

Continuing medical education hours are expected to be available. The agenda is being reviewed to determine which sessions will count toward continuing medical education hours and how many hours are available for each session.

The UW-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health is the provider of continuing medical education for physicians.

This event is organized by the Division of Care and Treatment Services and Wisconsin Connect, a service of the Center for Urban Population Health. The Center of Urban Population Health is made up of faculty and staff from the UW-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health, UW-Milwaukee, and Advocate Aurora Research Institute.

Send questions about this event to dhsdcts@dhs.wisconsin.gov.