By Valerie Fields Hill
School of Social Work
As part of Social Work Month activities, the UTA School of Social Work will host dozens of professional addiction specialists, aging advocates and school and military Social Workers during its annual Field Agency Day and Job Fair event later this month.
A highlight of Field Agency Day will be the annual Addiction and Recovery Workforce Symposium. The Symposium will feature professional development workshops that explore contemporary addiction-related topics for professionals working in substance use and treatment fields, says Dr. Dawnetta Smith, assistant dean of field education in the School of Social Work.
“This symposium will bring together the leading voices in North Texas who work in addiction and recovery,” Dr. Smith says. “These outstanding scholars, researchers and practitioners will offer the latest data-driven practices in the treatment of opioid disorders and substance misuse.”
“The misuse of and addiction to opioids – including prescription pain relievers, heroin, and synthetic opioids such as fentanyl – is a serious national crisis that affects public health as well as social and economic welfare,” the Institute reported.
Opioid misuse is not only deadly, but incredibly costly. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate the total economic burden of prescription opioid misuse in the United States is $78.5 billion a year. That figure includes the costs of healthcare, lost productivity, addiction treatment and criminal justice involvement.
Kurt, C. Kleinschmidt, M.D.
Emergency Medicine, UT Southwestern
Courtesy: UT Southwestern
The symposium’s luncheon keynote speaker is Dr. Kurt Kleinschmidt, a professor in the Emergency Medicine Department at University of Texas Southwestern School of Medicine.
Dr. Kleinschmidt was chief of medical toxicology for 16 years at UT Southwestern. In 2016, he became medical director of the perinatal intervention program at Dallas’ Parkland Health and Hospital System where he cared for pregnant mother who were diagnosed with substance misuse disorders.
He will address “Addiction vs. Physical Dependency.”
In 2019, lead investigator Dr. Debra Woody and the UTA School of Social Work received a $1.3 million grant from the federal Health Resources and Services Administration’s Opioid Workforce Expansion Program.
Under the grant, the School of Social Work provides training and hands-on practice to advanced Social Work students, practitioners and healthcare professionals who work in outreach, intervention, treatment, or support of individuals diagnosed with opioid disorders or other drug addictions, Dr. Woody, senior associate dean and director of the UTA SSW Center for Addictions and Recovery Studies, has said.
The symposium will include student research poster presentations and a student research contest.
The Addiction and Recovery Workforce Symposium will be held from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday, March 29 at UTA’s E.H. Hereford University Center, 300 W. First St., on the UTA campus in Arlington. The symposium is free. Registration is required.
Healthcare and addiction industry professionals, counselors, hospitals and related professionals are welcome to become vendors.
To attend the symposium, register here. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/uta-school-of-social-work-addiction-recovery-workforce-symposium-registration-292596141937
To become a vendor, register here. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/uta-social-work-job-field-agency-fair-vendor-registration-registration-292563383957
