SOS Recovery Community Organization is presenting the 4th annual RICH conference. Northeast’s premier peer-recovery conference. The conference will include nationally recognized keynotes that will present on innovations in peer-based recovery supports and harm reduction with a focus on diversity, equity and inclusion. This conference will include nationally recognized keynote speakers and breakouts over 2 days surrounding the theme of the conference.
This conference will attract leaders and advocates within the prevention, treatment, recovery, and harm reduction communities across New England as well as health care providers, clinical staffs, licensed professionals, mental health professionals, agency staff, social service providers, educators, first-responders and local, state and federal policy makers and legislators. The conference will also attract individuals and family members impacted by substance use disorder, people who use drugs, people who identify as sex workers, and allies of the recovery and harm reduction community.
Dr. Orisha Bowers
Orisha A. Bowers holds a BFA, MA, MEd, PhD in Interdisciplinary Studies, a Graduate certificate in Women and Gender Studies and a Certificate in Complementary Alternative Medicine. Orisha has more than 15 years of experience in social services, nonprofit leadership, grants management, program design, and civic leadership. Orisha’s life work is centered on an intentional merging of women’s studies, education, interdisciplinarity and creativity, spirituality, healing, wellness, and movement. She uses scholarship and vocation to do healing work in communities of color in reproductive health, women’s issues, and communities of faith. Orisha, an ordained minister through the Universal Life Church. She combines a spiritual focus with the therapeutic disciplines of mindfulness dancing to offer the dynamic Dancing Mindfulness and other healing practices across the U.S. Dr. Bowers is the Executive Director of the National Harm Reduction Coalition.
Jeff Foote, Ph.D.
Jeff Foote, PhD, is Co-Founder of the Center for Motivation and Change (CMC) in Manhattan, as
well as CMC:Berkshires and CMC:Foundation for Change. Dr. Foote is a nationally recognized
clinical research scientist who has received federal grant funding for his work on motivational
treatment approaches and substance use disorder treatment research, focused on the implementation
of evidence-based treatments. Dr. Foote was also Psychologist for the NY Mets for 11 years, and
continues in sports psychology as an independent performance consultant to professional
athletes. Before co-founding CMC in 2003, Dr. Foote was the Deputy Director of the Division of
Alcohol Treatment and Research at Mt. Sinai Medical Center in NYC, as well as Senior Research
Associate at The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University
(CASA) in NYC. Dr. Foote also served as Chief of the Smithers Addiction Treatment and Research
Center as well as Director of Evaluation and Research between 1994 and 2001.
He is co-author of the award-winning book Beyond Addiction: How Science and Kindness Help
People Change, a practical guide for families dealing with addiction and substance problems in a
loved one based on principles of Community Reinforcement and Family Training (CRAFT), as
well as The Beyond Addiction Workbook for Family and Friends, which came out in Summer
2022. He is also a contributor to two workbooks combining strategies from CRAFT and
Motivational Interviewing: The Parent’s 20 Minute Guide and The Partner’s 20 Minute Guide,
which offer specific tools and practice in evidence-based strategies for helping a loved one
change.
Deborah R Goldfarb, MSW, LICSW
Deb has worked in the social services field for over 10 years with diverse patient populations throughout the Greater Boston Area. As a case manager and clinical social worker she has focused on social determinants of health as well as those experiencing acute psychiatric crises, trauma, houselessness, and addiction. In recent years her work has concentrated on the intersection of behavioral health care and the criminal legal system through work in the state prison system and with Harvard Law’s Criminal Justice Institute. Currently she works with Grayken Center for Addiction on initiatives related to the criminalization of addiction. She is a passionate advocate for those facing social injustices. She leads the National Association of Social Workers- MA Chapter’s Criminal Justice Committee, is a board member with the Criminal Justice Policy Coalition, and teaches part time at Boston University School of Social Work.
Haner Hernández, Ph.D., CPS, CADCII, LADCI
Recovery Processes Grounded in Equity: the Role of Providers and Peers
Dr. Hernández is Puerto Rican, bilingual and has worked for over 35 years in the health and human service field developing, implementing, and evaluating culturally and linguistically intelligent youth and adult health prevention, intervention, treatment, and recovery support programs. He is a master trainer and facilitator and provides individualized technical assistance and support to organizations that provide Substance Use Disorder and gambling prevention, intervention, treatment and recovery supports. Also, Dr. Hernández has over 30 years of experience in delivering addiction counseling and clinical supervision to professionals in the field.
Haner is a person in long-term recovery (36+ years) from addiction and is committed to eliminating health disparities by participating in processes that build equity. He has served as a consultant to a number of local and state health departments with a focus on disparities, building health equity, addiction treatment, and recovery supports. He also consults with and teaches a number of courses at the New England Addiction Technology Transfer Center at Brown University and the National Latino and Hispanic Prevention, Treatment Addiction Technology Transfer Centers funded by CSAT. Currently he serves on the Peer-Led Advisory Board of the National Addiction Peer Recovery Center of Excellence. Dr. Hernandez was appointed to SAMHSA Bringing Recovery Supports to Scale Technical Assistance Center Strategy (BRSS TACS) steering committee in 2014 and the Criminal Justice Policy Committee in 2018. He has served a consultant to several federally-funded initiatives in the areas of behavioral workforce development, HIV/AIDS, Substance Use Disorders prevention and treatment, military service members, their families and TBI and PTSD, and pediatric asthma. Dr. Hernández serves as faculty at the New England School of Addiction Studies since 1998, has taught a number of undergraduate and graduate courses, and has presented at several national and state conferences. Dr. Hernández serves as President of the Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Board for Voluntary Certification of Drug and Alcohol Counselors, was appointed to the Springfield Public Health Council in 2006, and served on the Massachusetts Governor’s Latin American Advisory Commission in Massachusetts from 2000-2004.
Haner earned his GED in prison, a Bachelor of Science in Human Services from Springfield College and a Master of Education with concentrations in Counseling Psychology and Addiction Studies from Cambridge College in Massachusetts. His doctoral degree was earned at the School of Public Health and Health Sciences at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. His major was Community Health Education and his minor was Social Justice Education. In addition, Mr. Hernandez holds an advance Certification in Drug and Alcohol Counseling at the reciprocal level, is also licensed in Massachusetts, and is a Certified Prevention Specialist.
Rebekah Joab
“Access to Health Care: Anti-Discrimination Protections for People with Substance Use Disorders”
As a Senior Staff Attorney at the Legal Action Center (LAC), Rebekah Joab advocates for individuals who have experienced discrimination because of their substance use, arrest or conviction records, and HIV or AIDS status. Rebekah works on LAC’s impact litigation and direct legal services across these areas, with a particular focus on LAC’s legal and litigation strategies to increase access to medication for opioid use disorder and enforce anti-discrimination rights for people with opioid use disorder. During her time at LAC, Rebekah has litigated Finnigan v. Mendrick et. al., which challenged a jail’s ban on medication for opioid use disorder, and written amicus briefs in several cases challenging discrimination against people with substance use disorders, including Dominque Harris v. State of Ohio, Vernon Yontz II v. State of Ohio, and Clint Mueck v. LaGrange Acquisitions, L.P. In her role at LAC, Rebekah also educates and trains organizations and individuals about anti-discrimination and other laws protecting LAC’s constituencies.
Before joining LAC, Rebekah was a program analyst at the DC Corrections Information Council. Rebekah earned her BA in psychology from the University of Maryland, College Park, and her JD from the Georgetown University Law Center.
Dr. John Kelly
Dr. Kelly is the Elizabeth R. Spallin Professor of Psychiatry in Addiction Medicine at Harvard Medical School – the first endowed professor in addiction medicine at Harvard. He is also the Founder and Director of the Recovery Research Institute at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and the Associate Director of the Center for Addiction Medicine (CAM) at MGH.
Dr. Kelly is a former President of the American Psychological Association’s (APA) Society of Addiction Psychology, a founding member and inaugural President of the American Board of Addiction Psychology, a Fellow of the APA, and a Diplomate of the American Board of Professional Psychology. He has served as a consultant to U.S. federal agencies and non-federal institutions, as well as foreign governments, the United Nations and the World Health Organization.
Dr. Kelly has published over 200 peer-reviewed articles, reviews, chapters, and books in the field of addiction medicine, and was an author on the U.S. Surgeon General’s Report on Alcohol, Drugs, and Health. He has won numerous state, national, and international lifetime achievements and distinguished scientist awards for his work.
His clinical and research endeavors have focused on addiction treatment and the recovery process, mechanisms of behavior change, and reducing stigma and discrimination among individuals suffering from addiction.
More Speakers will be announced soon!.
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