Target Audience

This educational activity is designed for behavioral health professionals, school behavioral health teams, Military and Family Life Counselors (MFLCs), military healthcare providers, pediatric and primary care providers, counselors, social workers, psychologists, psychiatrists, nurses, substance use professionals, graduate students, direct support professionals, community health workers, and other professionals who provide services and support to adolescents and their families.

Program Description

Adolescence spans roughly ages 10 to 25, a uniquely malleable period when the brain is geared to learn quickly, absorb experience, and support the transition from childhood toward adulthood, independence, and greater responsibility. During these years, emotions are powerful, novelty is compelling, and the capacity to pause, plan, and weigh short-term urges against long-term benefits is still developing. Because experience helps shape adult life, adolescence offers powerful opportunities to build healthy habits as well as vulnerabilities to alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use, including binge alcohol use. This workshop will examine the wonders and vulnerabilities of the developing adolescent brain, consider how cultural contexts can support drinking and drug use, review the biological and behavioral risks associated with binge use and other adolescent substance-use patterns, and discuss treatment recommendations, including the importance of family involvement.

Registration Fee

There is no registration fee for this program. Registration is required to attend.