Agenda
The Summit agenda is still taking shape, with some session details being finalized. While content and speakers may be updated, the times listed below are confirmed and will remain unchanged.
Tuesday, March 9
1:00 PM – 5:00 PM
CONVENTION CENTER ENTRANCE (ON S. SALISBURY STREET)
Check-In and Registration Desk Open
2:00 – 5:00 PM
NC Opioid Settlements
Supporting Our Workforce: Supervision for Non-Clinical Supervisors
This workshop will explore how to nurture a workforce that increasingly includes people with lived expertise, even if their supervisors may not have similar lived experience. Learn more ↗
2:00 – 5:00 PM
Prevention/Early Intervention
Shared Risk and Protective Factors for Essential Early Intervention
This workshop will provide audience members an opportunity to learn about common root causes for and protections against substance use by young people. Learn more ↗
2:00 – 5:00 PM
Harm Reduction
Expanding Community Access to Naloxone: Strategies for Effective Distribution and Engagement
This session will explore strategies to expand access to naloxone, a life-saving medication that restores breathing during an opioid overdose. Learn more ↗
2:00 – 5:00 PM
Treatment
Resilient Systems: Supporting People Who Use Drugs Before, During, and After Disasters
This session will explore lessons learned from recent disasters, highlight practical strategies that syringe services programs can use to prepare for and respond to emergencies, and discuss how public health, emergency management, and community organizations can work together to build more resilient systems. Learn more ↗
2:00 – 5:00 PM
Recovery
Reentry Simulation
Facilitator: North Carolina Department of Adult Correction
The Reentry Simulation is designed to mimic one month in the life of an individual who has just been released from prison and is now on probation, post release, or parole. Learn more ↗
5:00 – 7:00 PM
Naloxone Saves: Rescue Kit Making and Reception
All Summit attendees are encouraged to attend this special community service event and reception.
On the first evening, join us and Remedy Alliance For the People for a hands-on, interactive opportunity to assemble lifesaving naloxone rescue kits. These kits will be available to Summit attendees and distributed throughout North Carolina through syringe service programs to people at risk for overdose. Come learn how to recognize signs and symptoms of an opioid overdose and how to save a life using this medication.
Wednesday, March 10
8:00 AM – 5:00 PM
CONVENTION CENTER ENTRANCE (ON S. SALISBURY STREET)
Check-In and Registration Desk Open
8:00 – 10:00 AM
BALLROOM AB
Continental Breakfast
10:00 AM – 12:00 PM
BALLROOM AB
Welcome and Keynote Speaker
Keynote Speaker: Shoshana Walter
12:00 – 1:15 PM
BALLROOM AB
Lunch
12:00 – 1:15 PM
HEALING SPACE (ROOM 402)
SMART Recovery Meeting
SMART Recovery meetings will be held in the Healing Space (Room 402). Anyone who identifies as seeking recovery is welcome to attend, regardless of current substance use.
1:15 – 2:15 PM
NC Opioid Settlements
What is…Opioid Settlements?
This session will test your knowledge of North Carolina’s opioid settlements through an interactive game show-style experience covering settlement funding, strategies, legal requirements and available technical assistance. Learn more ↗
1:15 – 2:15 PM
Prevention/Early Intervention
Caring for Participants and Staff: How a Trauma-Informed Approach Can Improve Services for All
This session will provide an introduction to trauma and the principles of trauma-informed approaches. Learn more ↗
1:15 – 2:15 PM
Harm Reduction
Realities in the Drug Supply
This session will look at current trends in the drug supply and what researchers and community groups are doing to respond to the fluctuating drug markets. Learn more ↗
1:15 – 2:15 PM
Treatment
Medications for Opioid Use Disorder (MOUD) Access in Prisons and Jails: Benefits and Challenges
This session will discuss current efforts to provide services that, in the long run, also reduce the healthcare cost burden on our detention centers. Learn more ↗
1:15 – 2:15 PM
Recovery
Substance Use Disorder Related Laws and Protections
Speakers: Sara Harrington, JD; Dane Mullis, MSW, LCSWA, LCASA; Lisa Nesbitt, JD
This presentation will provide a comprehensive overview of how disability civil rights laws protect people with SUD. Learn more ↗
2:30 – 3:30 PM
NC Opioid Settlements
Moving Up the Ladder of Meaningful Engagement in Decision Making
Speakers will describe different mechanisms through which community members can get involved in decision making around the uses of opioid settlement funds and ways we can collectively climb the ladder of engagement and move away from transactional relationships to shared leadership. Learn more ↗
2:30 – 3:30 PM
Prevention/Early Intervention
Faith as a Social Determinant of Health
This session will focus on how faith can be a powerful social determinant of health, shaping how people find meaning, build resilience, make health decisions, and access support during times of crisis. Learn more ↗
2:30 – 3:30 PM
Harm Reduction
How to Reach the Hard/Hardly Reached
This session will explore how to better understand the needs of people who use drugs in each community, where best to meet the constituents we are trying to serve, and how to connect with people (e.g. decision makers, allies, resistors) who may think and believe differently. Learn more ↗
2:30 – 3:30 PM
Treatment
Clinical Guidelines for Person-Centered and Evidence-Based Treatment for Opioid Use Disorders
This session will describe ASAM criteria for providing structured, evidence-based opioid use disorder treatment, emphasizing a whole-person, individualized approach. Learn more ↗
2:30 – 3:30 PM
Recovery
Meeting Critical Moments: Post Overdose Response Teams (PORT)
Speakers: Dalton Barrett, B.S., CP-C; Brooke Lane, MPH, CHES
Attendees will learn practical strategies for building and sustaining a PORT program, leveraging opioid settlement funds, and measuring outcomes that demonstrate community impact. Learn more ↗
3:30 – 4:00 PM
Coffee and Snack Break
4:00 – 5:00 PM
NC Opioid Settlements
Communicating Annual Reporting Data: A New Toolkit
This session will share tools to help local governments describe their efforts to increase access to supports and services and share their annual reporting data with their communities. Learn more ↗
4:00 – 5:00 PM
Prevention/Early Intervention
NC Perinatal and Maternal Substance Use and the CASAWORKS for Families Initiative
For the past 30 years, North Carolina has been connecting pregnant and parenting people affected by substance use disorders to services and resources. This session will cover the services offered at these comprehensive programs, and share examples of individuals and families who benefit from them. Learn more ↗
4:00 – 5:00 PM
Harm Reduction
Celebrating 10 Years of SSPs in NC
Syringe Service Programs (SSPs) were legalized in North Carolina in 2016. This session celebrates the past decade of community-based harm reduction services that offer health-promoting services, medical and behavioral health care, housing, food access, and more. Learn more ↗
4:00 – 5:00 PM
Treatment
Not Your Parents’ Opioid Treatment Program (OTP)
This session digs into how Opioid Treatment Programs (OTP) have evolved from rigid, regulation-heavy systems to something far more flexible, humane, and aligned with patients’ realities. Learn more ↗
4:00 – 5:00 PM
Recovery
The Power of Choice in Peer Recovery Supports
Speakers: Xiggy Carter; Pete Rubinas
With a particular focus on language, this session will discuss the importance of offering choices to those seeking recovery in each community. Learn more ↗
5:00 – 7:00 PM
An Evening of Community Building
Thursday, March 11
7:00 AM – 8:00 AM
HEALING SPACE (ROOM 402)
SMART Recovery Meeting
SMART Recovery meetings will be held in the Healing Space (Room 402). Anyone who identifies as seeking recovery is welcome to attend, regardless of current substance use.
8:00 AM – 1:00 PM
CONVENTION CENTER ENTRANCE (ON S. SALISBURY STREET)
Check-In and Registration Desk Open
8:00 – 9:00 AM
BALLROOM AB
Continental Breakfast
9:00 – 10:30 AM
BALLROOM AB
Keynote Speaker and Plenary Panel
Keynote Speaker: Kerwin Pittman
Moderator: Anna Stein, JD, MPH
Plenary Panel: Lauren Garvie, CPSS, CADC; Henry "Tommy" Green, NCCPSS; Kerwin Pittman; Ashley Wurth, MA
This plenary panel will explore the critical intersection between incarceration, substance use recovery, and long-term community stability. The conversation will challenge systems to think differently about recovery, reentry, and the role communities play in creating lasting system change to build a healthier, safer, and more just North Carolina. Learn more ↗
10:30 – 10:45 AM
Coffee and Snack Break
10:45 – 11:45 AM
NC Opioid Settlements
The Grant Readiness Roadmap: Assessing Capacity and Planning for Success
Speakers: Rebecca Badgett, JD; Amy Wade MPA, PhD
This interactive session helps participants assess their current grant readiness, identify strengths and gaps in both proposal development and grant management, and explore the key organizational factors that support long-term funding success. Learn more ↗
10:45 – 11:45 AM
Prevention/Early Intervention
Why Resiliency Training Is Essential for Public Servants and How Nervous System Skills Save Careers
The session will explore why resiliency training is not simply a wellness offering, but an essential professional skill that helps people regulate stress, recover more effectively, and sustain meaningful careers in public service Learn more ↗
10:45 – 11:45 AM
Harm Reduction
Justice-System Diversion and Deflection: Building Pathways to Care
Moderator: Ashley Wurth, MA
Speakers: Gregory Berry BS, AA, NCCPSS, CHRS, FPS-T; Fred Brason II; Katlynd Taylor, NCCPSS; Jeff Walker, NCCPSS/RCP
This panel will include insights into how communities are implementing evidence-informed diversion and deflection strategies, the partnerships required to sustain them, and lessons learned from local and statewide implementation efforts. Learn more ↗
10:45 – 11:45 AM
Treatment
Medications for Opioid Use Disorder (MOUD) Access through Mobile Opioid Treatment Programs (OTP) and Medication Units
Speakers: Kristin Cain PhD, LCMHCS, LCAS, CCS; Rachel Crouse, MA, MBA, LPA, LCAS, CCS; Delton Russell, CPSS;
This panel of speakers will explore how innovative practices help support access to life-saving medications for opioid use disorders. Learn more ↗
10:45 – 11:45 AM
Recovery
Reentry Housing: Possibilities and Considerations
Speaker: Kristen Powers
This session offers considerations when advocating for the rights of people leaving incarceration to safety, housing, food, healing, and connection rooted in dignity and self-autonomy. Learn more ↗
12:00 – 1:00 PM
BALLROOM AB
Lunch
1:00 – 2:00 PM
NC Opioid Settlements
Leveraging Federal Programs and State Policy to Improve Access to Treatment in High-Need Settings
This session will describe policy barriers to MOUD in certain settings, mainly correctional facilities, federally qualified health centers, and harm reduction programs, and how those could be addressed in North Carolina. Learn more ↗
1:00 – 2:00 PM
Prevention/Early Intervention
Culture is Medicine
This session will help participants ensure tribal communities have continuous access to good medicine grounded in traditional values. Learn more ↗
1:00 – 2:00 PM
Harm Reduction
A Rose by Any Other Name Would Smell as Sweet
This session will explore how to correct misinformation about harm reduction programs and communicate more effectively about this life-saving work. Learn more ↗
1:00 – 2:00 PM
Treatment
Upstream Solutions for Perinatal Substance Use Disorder
Speakers: Mel Ramage, MSN, FNP-BC, CARN-AP, LCAS; David Ryan, MD, FASAM, FACOG
This session will explore evidence-based and upstream solutions – coordinated outpatient care, regional consultation, workforce training, and cross-system collaborations – that address overdose prevention, maternal health, infant wellbeing, and intergenerational impacts in communities. Learn more ↗
1:00 – 2:00 PM
Recovery
Co-responder Models for Behavioral Health
Speakers: Cyndy Caravelis, PhD; Chris Hatton; Leigh Mazur, LCSW
This session will explore how embedding behavioral health professionals alongside law enforcement can connect individuals to treatment, recovery supports, and other community resources while reducing unnecessary involvement in the criminal justice system. Learn more ↗
2:15 – 3:15 PM
BALLROOM AB