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    • April Smith

      April Smith

      April Wilson Smith, MPH, is a PhD student in Population Health at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. Her research focuses on harm reduction approaches to people who use substances when they enter the healthcare system.

      April's other interest in healthcare is interprofessional education and teamwork. Her work with the Jefferson Center for InterProfessional Education won the 2016 James B. Erdmann PhD award for Excellence in Interprofessional Education. She is currently building a large, multidisciplinary coalition to create an interprofessional education module for healthcare professionals in best practices for the care of people who use drugs when they present in the acute care setting.

      April is a Certified SMART Recovery facilitator and founded the first SMART Recovery meeting in the Philadelphia city limits. She is also co-founder of the only Harm Reduction, Abstinence and Moderation Support meeting in Philadelphia.

      April recently accepted a position as Harm Reduction Epidemiologist with Families for Sensible Drug Policy, which is a non-profit dedicated to helping families advocate for drug policies that save drug users' lives and keep families together and healthy.  Co-founder and President, Barry Lessin, is also a Pro Talk columnist . 

      April graduated from Yale University in 1996. She was a union organizer for healthcare workers for 18 years before going back to school for her Master of Public Health, and spent ten years as Director of Organizing for Pennsylvania's largest nurses' union. She lives in West Philadelphia with her beautiful black cat, Loviefluffy.
    • Olivia Pennelle

      Olivia Pennelle

      Located in Portland, OR, Olivia Pennelle (Liv) is an experienced writer, journalist, and coach. She is the founder of the popular site Liv’s Recovery Kitchen, a site dedicated to helping people flourish in their recovery.

      Liv is passionate about challenging limiting mentalities and empowering others to direct their own lives, health, and recovery. You can find her articles across the web on podcasts and addiction recovery websites, including The Fix, Recovery.org, Workit Health, and Ravishly. Liv was recently featured in VICE.

      If you're interested in connecting with Liv, you can find her on Instagram. She also created a new Facebook group called Life After 12 Steps, where she proudly sees members thriving, rather than forcing themselves to do something that doesn’t work.

      Additionally, Liv offers free resources on her website, including the e-book entitled Nourishing You, which is designed to give you the tools to achieve your health goals in straightforward language.
    • Stanton Peele

      Stanton Peele

      Stanton Peele has been innovating in the addiction field since the publication of his first book, Love and Addiction, in 1975, including addiction to activities and experiences other than substances, harm reduction, skills and coping approaches to recovery, values and purpose as antidotes to addiction, and mindfulness/self-acceptance (loving kindness) precepts shared with Buddhist meditation. He has published 250 articles and 12 books, including The Meaning of Addiction (1985), Diseasing of America (1989), The Truth About Addiction and Recovery (1991), 7 Tools To Beat Addiction (2004), Addiction-Proof Your Child (2007), and Recover! Stop Thinking Like an Addict, in 2014. He was the clinical director and designer of the Life Process Program for a residential rehab that is now an on-line program.
    • Stephen Grinstead

      Stephen Grinstead

      Dr. Stephen Grinstead has a Bachelor’s Degree in Behavioral Science, a Master’s Degree in Counseling Psychology and a Doctorate in Addictive Disorders (Dr. AD). He is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, (LMFT) and an Advanced Relapse Prevention Specialist (ACRPS). He is currently Co-Founder and Chief Clinical Officer for A Healing Place - The Estates in Camarillo California; a chronic pain functional restoration program.

      He served on the faculty of UC Santa Cruz Extension Alcohol and Drug Studies Program and also taught at Santa Clara University, UC Berkeley Extension and Stanford University Medical School and served on the faculty of University of Utah’s School on Alcoholism and Other Drug Dependencies as well as serving as an Adjunct Professor at Alliant University teaching Masters Level and Psy.D. Students the Treating the Addicted Family System course for the Marriage and Family Therapy track.

      Dr. Grinstead is author of the book Freedom from Suffering: A Journey of Hope as well as author of several other pain management books including Managing Pain and Coexisting Disorders, and the Addiction-Free Pain Management® Recovery Guide. He is the Co-Founder and Chief Clinical Officer of a Healing Place - a Residential and Intensive Outpatient Chronic Pain Management Program in Camarillo California.

      Dr. Grinstead is an internationally recognized expert in preventing relapse related to addiction and chronic pain disorders and is the developer of the Addiction-Free Pain Management® System (please visit www.freedomfromsufferingnow.com for more information). He has been working with pain management, chemical addictive disorders, eating addiction and coexisting mental and personality disorders since 1984.

      Since 1996 Dr. Grinstead has conducted Addiction-Free Pain Management®; Managing Pain Medication in Recovery; Managing Pain and Prescription Drug Abuse; as well as Relapse Prevention Therapy, Relapse Prevention Counseling, Relapse Prevention for Eating Addiction and Denial Management Counseling, seminars and certification trainings for over thirty thousand healthcare professionals therapists and counselors at more than 400 training seminars in key cities across the United States and Canada.

      Since 2012 Dr. Grinstead has also functioned as an Expert Witness in hearings regarding professional license status at risk due to alcohol or other drug use. Prior to 2015 he conducted addiction and mental health forensic evaluations for several different California State Licensing Boards and was a Clinical Assessor for the Maximus Diversion Monitoring Program in California where he assessed safety to work with the public, appropriateness for the diversion program and treatment recommendations.

      Dr. Grinstead has authored and/or co-authored books and pamphlets, including the books listed below.

      Dr. Grinstead’s Publications:
      Addiction-Free Pain Management® Workbook Revised 2007
      Addiction-Free Pain Management® Recovery Guide — Second Edition 2008
      Addiction-Free Pain Management® — The Professional Guide (out of press)
      Managing Pain and Coexisting Disorders: Using the APM™ System
      Recovery & Relapse Prevention for Food Addiction Workbook (out of press)
      The Eating Addiction Relapse Prevention Workbook
      APM™ Module One: Understanding and Evaluating Your Chronic Pain Symptoms
      APM™ Module Two: Examining Your Potential Medication Management Problems
      APM™ Module Three: Understanding and Developing Effective Pain Management
      APM™ Module Four: A Guide for Managing Pain Medication in Recovery
      Denial Management Counseling for Effective Pain Management Workbook
      The Denial Management Counseling Workbook for Addictive Disorders
      The Denial Management Counseling Professional Guide
      The Revised Relapse Prevention Therapy Workbook
      Freedom from Suffering: A Journey of Hope

      In addition, Dr. Grinstead has numerous peer-reviewed publications. You can learn more on his website at www.freedomfromsufferingnow.com.
    • Arthur P. Ciaramicoli

      Arthur P. Ciaramicoli

      Arthur P. Ciaramicoli, Ed.D., Ph.D., is a licensed clinical psychologist who has been treating clients for more than 35 years. He is a member of the American Psychological Association and the Massachusetts Psychological Association. Currently in private practice, Dr. Ciaramicoli has been on the faculty of Harvard Medical School for several years, lecturer for the American Cancer Society, Chief Psychologist at Metrowest Medical Center, and Director of the Metrowest Counseling Center and of the Alternative Medicine division of Metrowest Wellness Center in Framingham, Massachusetts.

      Dr. Ciaramicoli is currently in full time private practice and is the Chief Medical Officer for Soundmindz.org. He has produced an Anti-Anxiety App with Soundmindz that has been downloaded by over 25,000 users and rated by Frontline as one of the most effective and usable anxiety apps available. He has also recently released an Anti-Depression and Mental Health app for Soundmindz.

      Dr. Ciaramicoli is the author of The Curse of the Capable: The Hidden Challenges to a Balanced, Healthy, High Achieving Life, Performance Addiction: The Dangerous New Syndrome and How to Stop It from Ruining Your Life and The Power of Empathy: A Practical Guide to Creating Intimacy, Self-Understanding, and Lasting Love, which is now published in 7 languages, and just released in China. His first book, Treatment of Abuse and Addiction, A Holistic Approach was selected as Book of the Month by The Psychotherapy Book News. He is also the coauthor of Beyond the Influence: Understanding and Defeating Alcoholism.

      Dr. Ciaramicoli most recent publications are three workbooks: Transforming Anxiety into Joy: A Practical Workbook to Gain Emotional Freedom (2012), Changing Your Inner Voice: A Journey through Depression to Truth and Love (2012) and Managing the Stress of Success (2013).
    • Ian McLoone

      Ian McLoone

      Ian McLoone, MPS, LPC, LADC holds a master’s degree from the University of Minnesota’s Integrated Behavioral Health clinical counseling program. He holds dual licensure as both a professional counselor and an alcohol and drug counselor, and provides integrated care for substance use and mental health disorders to patients at Alltyr Clinic in St Paul, Minnesota. He is also an adjunct instructor/community faculty at the University of Minnesota, where he teaches Applied Psychopharmacology in the Addiction Studies graduate program; as well as St Mary’s University of Minnesota, where he teaches Substance use and Community Health in the Master of Arts in Instruction program.

      Previously, Ian worked to develop a Spanish language intensive outpatient program, along with working on various advocacy projects for people with opioid use disorders. He is currently on the board of Minnesota Alternatives Inc., a nonprofit dedicated to providing non-12 Step peer support, harm reduction services and a community center where people are encouraged to define their own recovery. In addition, Ian provides training and consultation to agencies and staff on person-centered evidence-based treatment approaches, the use of anti-relapse medications, and how to work with families to effectively and compassionately support their loved ones in recovery.

      Ian has worked alongside Mark Willenbring, MD since the founding of Alltyr Clinic, helping to develop its programs and to train clinical staff. He knows firsthand that many programs are still using treatment approaches that haven't been updated since the 1950s - in spite of the mountains of research that have been accumulated since - and is devoted to bringing paradigm change to the field of addiction treatment and making 21st Century care available to all.