Integrity House To Hold Harm Reduction Seminar For Health Care Workers

NEWARK, NJ — The following news release comes courtesy of Integrity House. Find out how to post announcements or events to your local Patch site.

Integrity House, one of the largest nonprofit providers of substance use disorder and mental health treatment in the state of New Jersey – with programs in Kearny, Newark, Secaucus, Toms River, Morris Plains and Paramus – will host "Integrating Harm Reduction Principles Into Substance Use Treatment Settings: Challenges and Opportunities," the latest in its virtual professional education "lunch and learn" series, on Wednesday, Sept. 29 at noon.

The program qualifies for 1.5 social work continue education units (CEU) for all for all attendees.

The lunch and learn series is intended to bring together members of the health care industry and community leaders to learn and discuss new developments and best practices in behavioral health. In observance of Recovery Month, a national observance held every September to promote and support new evidence-based treatment and recovery practices, the recovery community, and the providers and communities working to make recovery possible, the next session will provide social workers, nurses, and addiction counselors, practical strategies for incorporating harm reduction into work with substance use disorder treatment clients and discuss the challenges and opportunities of harm reduction-oriented interventions. The majority of substance use treatment programs in the U.S. view abstinence as the only desired goal. However, clients are often unable or unwilling to commit to abstinence, which creates a barrier to seeking treatment. Harm reduction offers an alternative to abstinence as a singular treatment goal and focuses on reducing the negative consequences of problematic or dangerous drug use.

The session will be presented by Associate Professor in the Department of Social Work and Child Advocacy at Montclair State University, Svetlana Shpiegel, MSW, Ph.D., along with the Owner and Managing Partner of the Shonta D. Collins Medical Group and Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner at Rutgers University, Shonta D. Collins, and Senior Program Coordinator at Mainstream Recovery, Kelly LaBar, CPRS. The program will be moderated by Integrity House’s Chief Clinical Officer, Eman Gibson, MBA, LCSW, LCADC.

Svetlana Shpiegel is an Associate Professor in the Department of Social Work and Child Advocacy at Montclair State University, New Jersey. Her research focuses primarily on children, youth, and families involved with the child welfare system and other systems of care. Dr. Shpiegel teaches graduate-level social work classes and serves as the coordinator of harm reduction education initiatives in her department.

Shonta D. Collins is the Owner and Managing Partner of a medical group and is a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner at Rutgers University in the CARE Center focused on addiction medicine. Her background includes success in academic, private practice, and philanthropic arenas. Collins is passionate about being a part of the greater good because she believes that the art and science of kindness, humility, gratitude, and respect is part of her DNA. Collins has traveled to over 25 countries committed to humanitarian and disaster relief work, most notably in Haiti (over 100 humanitarian medical missions) and work in the city of Philadelphia. Collins believes in the cause to support addiction medicine in order to engage others and include people from all walks of life.

LaBar has over 20 years of experience in chaotic substance use and a return to balance. She started in the substance use field in 2015 after working in the medical field for ten years, becoming involved in local recovery advocacy groups and volunteering as a peer. From there, she found her passion in harm reduction, primarily focusing on the unhoused, those actively using substances, LGBTQIA+ members, and sex workers. LaBar has worked for non-profits providing peer support, mobile street outreach, naloxone training, harm reduction kit distribution, case management, and CPRS class facilitation. LaBar has worked tirelessly to gain trust in the community and has also founded a peer led street outreach non-profit, providing wound care, harm reduction supplies, peer support and case management with a team of volunteers focused on autonomy, empathy, trust and dismantling the racist war on drugs while empowering people to access services. She has established numerous professional relationships with prevention organizations, medication assisted treatment providers, mental health organizations, non-profits, grassroots organizations, and colleges. She has rallied for peer led harm reduction services at budget hearings, testified at the State House against bills fueling the racist war on drugs, spoke up at town halls in favor of opening a methadone clinic in her hometown, presented on structural stigma against people who use drugs (PWUD) and is a member of Montclair State University’s Harm Reduction Advisory Council. LaBar’s greatest professional accomplishment was being accepted as a trusted, reliable, non-judgmental ally to PWUD.

Gibson is Chief Clinical Officer at Integrity House. She also serves on the Professional Advisory Committee for the New Jersey Department of Human Services, Division of Mental Health and Addiction Services, as a surveyor for the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF) and was recently appointed as Board Treasurer of the New Jersey branch of the American Society of Addiction Medicine (NJSAM). Gibson is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Licensed Clinical Alcohol and Drug Counselor and earned her Masters of Business Administration from Fitchburg State University.

This event will take place via Zoom on Friday, Sept. 29 from noon to 1:30 p.m.

For more information about this event or to register, visit https://integrityhouse.org/2023/09/virtual-lunch-and-learn-series-september-29/ or contact Development Manager Saranya Thana at saranya_thana@integrityhouse.org.

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