2025
Conference Sessions

2025 Conference Schedule

Tuesday, October 21, 2025 (4.5 CEUs)

Registration – Lower Lobby

Quiet Break Room

Opening Remarks and Introductions

(1 CEU)

Learning Objectives:

• Understand the difference between technical problems and adaptive challenges
• Apply adaptive leadership skills to manage change
• Identify opportunities and barriers for collaboration among recovery organizations

Workshop Series I (4 Workshops)

(1 CEU)

365 Days Per Year – How to Maintain a Center That is Open Every Day

Description:

This workshop will provide attendees with comprehension of governance, policy, staffing standards, safety response, and defense from burnout, all required to operate 365 days per year for recovery center services.

Learning Objectives:

• Implement skeleton of organization delegated work
• Measure organization and mission effectiveness
• Ways to incorporate professional development

A Window Between Worlds: Bringing Creativity to Recovery

Description:

Creating art is a human right. Art honors and reflects multiple aspects of a person’s identity and personal experiences. No matter what our background, we all have the power to create —we just need to be offered the opportunity. The Windows Program provides this opportunity in a safe atmosphere to those impacted by violence and trauma.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe what AWBW program is about.

• Describe how to use this program at your center.

Moving Forward: Peer Grief Support

Description:

Grief is complex, personal, and often unsupported—especially in the context of substance use loss. In this powerful session, the presenter shares her lived experience of losing her 19-year-old son to an overdose on Mother’s Day 2023. Through this lens, participants will explore the many forms grief can take, the wide range of emotions it brings, and the gaps in support that grieving individuals often face. This workshop invites open-hearted reflection and offers insight for those supporting others through loss.

Learning Objectives:

• Understand the lack of grief supports
• Understand the many emotions grief brings
• Understand the different kinds of grief

Tell Your Advocacy Story

Description:

Learn how to confidently share their advocacy story and engage decision makers at any level—from state legislators to local officials. Using the proven principles of Action Circles, a political strategy firm experienced in working with diverse communities, attendees will gain practical tools for preparing and delivering impactful advocacy messages. The session will focus on meetings with state legislators but is applicable to any setting where influencing policy or decisions is the goal. Participants will practice telling their own stories, receive feedback, and leave with strategies for turning conversations into action. No prior advocacy or lobbying experience is required—professionals from nonprofits, grassroots organizations, and anyone seeking to create change will find this workshop valuable.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify the key elements of a personal advocacy story.
• Apply story-based strategies to communicate effectively with legislators and other decision makers.
• Practice delivering advocacy messages with clarity and confidence.

Workshop Series II (4 Workshops)

(1 CEU)

Is the Juice Worth the Squeeze? Considerations for Medicaid Expansion

Description:

Peer-run, grassroots community recovery organizations not only provide critical services, but they also drive long-term system change within the continuum of care. Funding the work of these organizations is an ongoing challenge, however, and many states are looking to Medicaid expansion as a way to sustain community-based peer recovery support services. Using examples from Minnesota and elsewhere, this session will explore the pros and cons of using Medicaid dollars for recovery community organization services and ask participants to consider whether the “juice” from this funding is worth the “squeeze” getting it might put on your organization’s operations, mission, and values.

Learning Objectives:

• Understand how a Medicaid funding model might impact recovery organizations and peer recovery support services

• Identify strategies for integrating Medicaid funding into the recovery organization model

• Describe the role of community-based advocacy in state recovery policymaking

Parents in Recovery Programming

Description:

Discover how two Recovery Centers are supporting parents as they navigate both parenting and recovery. Presenters will share program models, successes, and lessons learned, as well as the challenges faced in developing and sustaining Parents in Recovery programming.

Learning Objectives:

• Learn about Parenting in Recovery Programming
• Understand ways to grow support for parents

Houses of Healing – Trauma-Informed Tools for Recovery Coaches

Description:

This workshop introduces Houses of Healing, a trauma-informed approach to emotional healing and growth, tailored for Recovery Coaches. Attendees will learn how to support individuals in building emotional awareness, processing grief, and developing resilience. Whether working with people in early recovery, reentry, or navigating trauma, this session offers practical tools to enhance your coaching and empower lasting change.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe how to support individuals in building emotional awareness, processing grief, and developing resilience.
• Apply trauma-informed strategies from the Houses of Healing approach to support emotional healing and growth.

Self-Care for Recovery Professionals: Stress, Burnout, and Compassion Fatigue

Description:

Work in recovery can often lead to stress, burnout, and compassion fatigue. In this session, attendees will learn the signs of these common stressors and how to relieve them. This interactive session will help you better understand why these stressors occur and how we can care for ourselves while continuing to care for others. You’ll gain universal tools to help reduce these stressors so that you can share with your colleagues across the continuum of substance use work.

Learning Objectives:

• Understand the impact of stress on the body and the mind.
• Describe methods to control and reduce stress.
• Describe how to implement stress reduction techniques.

Lunch

Running slideshow focusing on recovery center achievements.

Visit Our Sponsors Hall

Attendees will have the opportunity to enter a raffle for one of four prizes. A raffle entry will be earned by completing a “visit our sponsors” passport.

Workshop Series II (4 Workshops)

(1.5 CEUs)

Probation & Parole: Intervention to Interaction to Believing

Description:

We will have a panel of professionals that have worked together in developing a program that has opened the door for those ready to find a better way of living. We also will be joined by participants of this program. The initial steps may not have been chosen in the eyes of those that participate in the program. Through continued work with them in the intervention phase they realize that it has been the choices they have made while active in their SUD that have brought them to the office, they now sit in being assessed for treatment of their SUD. The follow up to this first interaction may be in patient rehab, individual recovery coaching, group work, recovery housing and best-case scenario all of the above. Although early in our model (2years) we have found that by creating a curriculum of care which moves participants to each of our suggested steps without gaps has proven successful for them in establishing recovery. We will discuss details and take questions on all steps of our programming.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe the components of a continuous curriculum of care model for corrections-involved individuals with substance use disorder.

• Identify strategies to reduce service gaps and improve recovery outcomes through coordinated care, including inpatient rehab, recovery coaching, group work, and recovery housing.

Bridging the Gaps: Strengthening Recovery’s Continuum of Care Through Community Collaboration

Description:

This session will explore how certified recovery residences support individuals throughout their recovery journey and how collaboration between organizations can create a stronger, more seamless continuum of care. Leaders from VFOR and Jenna’s Promise will discuss how their respective programs work together to support individuals and families through different phases of recovery.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe practical strategies for organizational collaboration and partnership building
• Define a model for supporting individuals through recovery with a coordinated approach
• Highlight the impact of community partnerships on long-term success

From Burnout to Balance: Reimagining Workplace Wellness

Description:

Burnout is more than exhaustion. It’s a signal that systems and supports need to change. This interactive workshop explores practical strategies for reducing stress, strengthening resilience, and fostering healthier workplace cultures in recovery settings. Drawing from both research and lived experience, presenters will share how organizations can reimagine wellness through supportive policies, realistic boundaries, and intentional community care. Participants will leave with actionable strategies for workplace wellness, and practices they can integrate into both personal and group settings. This session blends organizational wellness principles with hands-on, holistic tools—such as sound healing, meditation, and creative expression through rock painting—to nourish the mind, body, and spirit.

Learning Objectives:

• Apply holistic wellness practices including guided meditation, sound healing, and rock painting
• Develop a personalized self-care and wellness plan, incorporating mindfulness, creativity, and community support.
• Describe actionable ways to integrate wellness into organizational policies, leadership approaches, and staff development initiatives.

Art Therapy: Active Emotional Processing Through Hands On Creativity

Description:

Create an acrylic canvas that explores two different phases of life. One half of the canvas will be an image that connects symbolically with a youthful period or event centered around adversity or personal struggle. The other half will represent a later time period where the challenges were overcome and the difficulties were left behind.

Learning Objectives:

• Create a personal artwork through reflection and self-assessment and connect with the realization that there is no “good” or “bad ” art in this exercise.
• Identify more fully with the concept of resilience and see how they have developed strength through overcoming challenges.
• Apply the concept of resilience to their current lives and feel more confident in their ability to navigate obstacles based on awareness of previous success.

“Visit Our Sponsors” Prize Draw

Wellness Hour

AA 12-Step Meeting

SMART Recovery

All Recovery Meeting

RPV Member ED Networking Time

Group Walk

Bring Your Own Crafts to Craft Together

Break

Recovery Stars Benefit Dinner and Silent Auction

Wednesday, October 22, 2025 (2.5 CEUs)

Continental Breakfast with Coffee Service

Quiet Break Room

Panel Presentation: The Power of Recovery Support in Middle and High Schools: How Recovery Centers are Supporting Students Where They Are

(1.5 CEUs)

Description:

The school-based recovery support model uses trauma-informed practices — including emotional regulation, resilience, stress management, and attachment theory — delivered through assemblies, small groups, and one-on-one coaching to address substance use among students. Its strength lies in building trusted relationships between students and recovery coaches, fostering a culture of connection and accountability.

This panel will feature professionals from multiple recovery centers, including the coaches providing direct services, to share lessons learned, outcomes to date, and strategies for expanding school-based peer recovery support across Vermont.

Learning Objectives:

• Learn about practices used in school-based recovery support.

• Understand how recovery coaches build trust and connection with students.

• Explore lessons learned and strategies for bringing this model to more schools.

Break

Workshop Series IV (4 Workshops)

(1 CEU)

Fundraising Explained – 101

Description:

During this workshop NCVRC and I will discuss Fundraising from all angles, and we will answer all questions from the audience. We will dip into where does one start to fundraise, where do we seek sponsors, and how do we know what donated items you will need for auctions.

Learning Objectives:

• Pinpoint who to reach out to for sponsorship and how.
• Describe how to seek auction items and from who.
• Define what “hot ticket” items for auctions and/or fundraising are.
• Describe the verbiage we use to secure sponsors and items.

The Spiritual Democracy of Recovery, Many Paths to the Mountain Top

Description:

This workshop explores the presence and power of spirituality in recovery, highlighting its role as a universal yet deeply personal aspect of the healing journey. Presented from lived experience, the session emphasizes the inclusive, peer-based, multi-pathway nature of recovery and how spiritual practice can be woven into everyday life. Attendees will gain insight into honoring diverse spiritual paths while recognizing spirituality as a valuable resource for resilience and growth in recovery.

Learning Objectives:

• Define spirituality – what and whose it is.
• Address the role spirituality plays in recovery and its role in the individual’s recovery.
• Recognize the universality of spirituality alongside respect for individual spiritual paths.

Building a Collaborative Recovery Service Organization Network: Leveraging RPV to Advance Shared Progress

Description:

The Turning Point Center of Addison County invites recovery center leadership to a focused workshop on the Recovery Service Organization (RSO) process. Together, we will review the progress made so far and, more importantly, work toward a concrete plan for how recovery centers can collaborate to meet shared requirements more efficiently.

Recovery center directors often face overlapping reporting demands, administrative tasks, and operational pressures that can lead to inefficiency and stress. Rather than duplicating efforts, this workshop will bring stakeholders together to design a shared process that reduces workload, streamlines responsibilities, and ensures sustainability for directors and their teams.

Central to this effort will be leveraging the strength of Recovery Partners of Vermont (RPV) membership. As a statewide collective, RPV provides a vital structure for coordination, advocacy, and resource-sharing across recovery centers. This workshop will emphasize how the network can use its membership in RPV to advance shared goals, build systems that lighten the burden on individual centers, and create a stronger, more unified recovery network.

Learning Objectives:

• Evaluate the progress and lessons learned from the RSO process to date.
• Identify shared requirements across recovery centers that create inefficiency and stress for directors.
• Leverage the collective strength of RPV membership to coordinate efforts, share resources, and advocate for system-wide solutions.
• Design and commit to a concrete, collaborative process that enables recovery centers to meet shared requirements more efficiently and sustainably.

Breaking Bread, Building Bonds: How Community Meals Foster Connection and Recovery

Description:

The cafe is a program we run weekly. It provides a meal to the entire community for free. It helps bridge the gap between our center and our community. We are able to help break the stigma by opening the meal up to every demographic. It is also a great way for our community partners to come to the center & provide direct services while on sight.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe how to find grants & funding.
• Describe how to build a cost-effective program.
• Describe ways to utilize local resources to provide meals.

Closing Remarks

Complete and Submit Evaluation Forms, Return Lanyards.