Welcome to the Marna and Stephen Wise Tulin Spring Community Education Series. Our series is free and open to the public and offers timely educational sessions and dialogue on a variety of current topics related to mental health, substance use, and developmental needs. The sessions include presentations, film screenings, and panel discussions and are always followed by the opportunity for discussion and Q & A.
We have one session remaining in our spring series at Dealer.com in Burlington at 1 Howard Street. If you are attending in person, please use the Howard Street entrance on the north side of the building. We’ll also offer a livestream option* in partnership with Media Factory.
Please note: if you have attended our virtual events in the past, it will be a different experience than our Zoom webinar events. If you attend by livestream, you will have the option to submit questions through the chat. We will send you your livestream link a few days before the event. Virtual attendees who would like to participate in the Q&A must be signed into a YouTube account.
If you are able to offer ASL support or for other accommodations or questions, please call 802-488-6912. YouTube live captioning will be available for our livestream audience.
Registration is open by for both attendance options below.
*Recording Disclosure: In-person attendees should be aware that this event will be live recorded and archived on howardcenter.org, which may include footage of the audience and Q&A participants.
Substance Use and Our Community
May 2, 2024 | 6:30 – 8 p.m.
Dealer.com | 1 Howard Street, Burlington
Registration will close at 9:00 a.m. on Tuesday, April 30.
Our community, like many others in our country, is experiencing the effects of a surge in substance use, including opioid use. While individuals who engage in illicit substance use often struggle daily, their families, friends, neighbors, and colleagues—in short, their community—are also impacted.
As our second session in our Spring Community Education Series, this panel discussion will provide an overview of substance use in our community, including programs and services that provide treatment and efforts to create a bridge between people who use drugs and recovery, followed by a question-and-answer period. We encourage all community members to attend, share their experiences, and contribute to the discussion on how we can work together to create a safer, healthier community.
Howard Center provides multiple services for opioid use disorder within a harm reduction framework. Requests for help may come from an individual who is seeking treatment, a family member who wants advice to help a loved one, a community partner seeking support for individuals with opioid use disorder, a resident reporting used needles in a park, or a business owner who may be confronted with a person experiencing an overdose at their place of business.
As a community, we have all been impacted by the increase in substance use; as a community, we can create a path forward together. While it is unclear what the future may look like, one thing is certain: Prevention, harm reduction, and effective treatment—provided within a supportive and compassionate community—are key elements for successful recovery.
Beth Holden, MS, LCMHC, LADC, Howard Center Chief Client Services Officer will moderate the panel discussion. Panelists include Howard Center clinical staff John Brooklyn, MD, Medical Director of the Chittenden Clinic, Dan Hall, LADC, Director of Outpatient Services, and Heidi Melbostad, Ph.D., Director of the Chittenden Clinic.
About the Speakers
Moderator
Beth Holden is a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor and a Licensed Alcohol and Drug Counselor in the state of Vermont. She holds a Master of Science degree in community counseling from the University of Vermont. She has worked as a clinician, supervisor, and administrator in the mental health and substance abuse fields with adults, youth, and families for 30+ years.
Prior to becoming Chief Client Services Officer, Beth held the position of Director of Home and Community Services, as well as serving in the Children’s Co-Director role in the state designated agency system. She has specialty training in emergency mental health services, co-occurring disorders, trauma integrated practice, managing suicidality and supervision.
Beth is a believer and supporter of community mental health services and provides leadership in her agency developing increased competencies for all staff providing integrated services, trauma informed practice, and suicide care. She is level two trained in EMDR, a certified state of Vermont Attachment, Regulation and Competency (ARC) trainer and has been a clinical supervisor for 25+ years.
Beth is an experienced presenter and provides workshops on many topics related to trauma-informed practice and mental health. She has also served an instructor for the UVM Graduate Counseling Program and taught classes on trauma-informed care and counseling children and adolescents. She previously served her disciplines on the Vermont Addictions Professionals Association Board and the UVM Graduate Counseling Program Advisory Board.
Panelists
Dr. John Brooklyn is board-certified in family medicine and addiction medicine. He is an associate clinical professor of family medicine and psychiatry at the UVM College of Medicine. Dr. Brooklyn has been the Medical Director of Howard Center’s Chittenden Clinic since 2002 and a staff physician at the Community Health Centers of Burlington since 1993. He has been the medical Director of the BAART Clinic system in Vermont and, most recently, Dr. Brooklyn has been in charge of the St. Albans Clinic in Franklin County.
Dan Hall is a Licensed Drug and Alcohol Clinician and the Director of Outpatient Services at Howard Center. In his role as Director, he oversees co-occurring Outpatient treatment for children through elders, as well as office-based Medication for Opioid Use Disorder (MOUD) services. Additional programs under his purview are five treatment courts, Outpatient and MOUD programs in Franklin/Grand Isle Counties, and harm reduction/low barrier services for substance use disorders, including mobile outreach and treatment.Dan has helped to create several innovative partnerships and programs with Reach-Up, Eldercare, SASH, VT Lottery, and the United States Probation Office. Dan specializes in the treatment of individuals connected with the criminal justice system and those struggling with opioid use disorder.
Heidi Melbostad, PhD, MFT has been the Director of Howard Center’s Chittenden Clinic since 2021. A hub in Vermont’s hub and spoke model of care for opioid use disorders, the Chittenden Clinic provides outpatient treatment and pharmacotherapy (methadone, buprenorphine, and naltraxone) for individuals who have Opioid Use Disorder.Dr. Melbostad holds a PhD in psychology, is trained as a Mariage and Family Therapist, and has completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the Vermont Center on Behavior and Health at the University of Vermont. Prior to joining Howard Center, she worked in the community-based system at the Parent Child Center and at Health Care and Rehabilitation Services, the local Designated Agency in Springfield, Vermont focused on serving young women and families parenting children.
Mental Health is Community Health
Thank you to everyone who attended the March 27 event. You can read a description of the event, learn about the presenter, and watch the recording here: Mental Health is Community Health
Our Community Education Series continues May 2 with Substance Use and Our Community.
View Full Community Education Series Archive
Thank You, Supporters!
