This webinar will focus on epidemiology of adolescent substance use before and after the COVID epidemic, and the opportunities for prevention, recovery, and increasing access to treatment. Participants can expect to receive a summary overview of research, discuss the SAMHSA principles of adolescent substance use and recovery, learn about both the benefits from treatment and the limitations of the traditional approach to SUD treatment and recovery, and the barriers to integrated treatment. The overview will also highlight the current interest in SUD prevention programs for adolescents and the opportunities advanced recovery programs present to families, schools, and communities. Special attention will be given to the challenges some new state legislative changes created to the adolescent exposure to drugs, addiction, and recovery. The presentation will conclude with discussion of the recovery of adolescents with co-occurring disorders and the related challenges and opportunities.
The presentation will feature prevention as an underutilized strategy to prevent substance use disorder among adolescents. After attending this webinar, learners will be able to:

1. List the SAMHSA principles of adolescent substance use recovery

2. Identify the therapeutic benefits of prevention programs which feature food, mood, and movement

3. Describe the latest GTI program efforts that include therapeutic horticulture, cooking and nutrition, movement and fitness, and therapeutic art activities
About the presenter:

Jenni Guentcheva, LPC, LAC, NCACII, has worked extensively as a psychologist in Europe and a psychotherapist/addiction specialist in the United States. Since 1999, she has been a behavioral health administrator, a clinician, and a university instructor in Colorado and California and has developed multiple successful community behavioral health programs. Jenni’s clinical focus includes neurobiology, human growth and development, addiction treatment, trauma informed care, and family services. Jenni program development approach has a strong community orientation and aims at creating health equity in underserved areas and populations. She co-founded Green Thumb Initiative (GTI), a non-profit prevention, treatment, and recovery organization in 2018, and along with Brian Monahan, has been developing innovative programs to assist adolescent and their families to overcome substance use and mental health disorders through advanced behavioral health technologies, such as therapeutic horticulture, fitness, nutrition, and art. As part of SAMHSA Food and Mood coalition, GTI is assuming national leadership in adolescent SUD prevention.