Development of a Toolkit for Implementing Evidence-Based Assessment and Treatment Practices for Co-Occurring PTSD and OUD in Rural Healthcare Settings

Our speakers are Kelly Peck, PhD, Associate Professor with joint appointments in the Departments of Psychiatry and Psychological Science at UVM and the Director of Clinical Operations for the UVM Center on Rural Addiction, and Mary Lindsey Smith, PhD, MSW, Director of Substance Use Research & Evaluation at the University of Southern Maine’s Catherine Cutler Institute. This presentation discusses evidence-based guidelines for the assessment of treatment of PTSD in individuals with co-occurring SUDs as well as barriers and facilitators to implementation in rural MOUD treatment settings. It also introduces the newly developed UVM CORA Co-occurring PTSD and OUD Toolkit. 

Learning objectives:

1. Discuss co-occurrence of PTSD and OUD
2. Outline evidence-based guidelines for the assessment and treatment of PTSD in individuals with co-occurring SUDs
3. Describe barriers and facilitators to implementation identified by rural providers in ME, NH, and VT
4. Introduce the newly developed UVM CORA Co-occurring PTSD and OUD Toolkit

Speakers

Kelly Peck, PhD,

Dr. Peck is the Director of Clinical Operations for the UVM Center on Rural Addiction. He is an Associate Professor with joint appointments in the Departments of Psychiatry and Psychological Science at UVM. He received his PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of Mississippi. His primary research and clinical interests are two-fold. First, he has conducted research focused on the development and evaluation of novel treatments for opioid use disorder (OUD). Second, he has worked extensively to address co-occurring post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in individuals with substance use disorders, particularly around the delivery and evaluation of cognitive-behavioral treatments for PTSD including a novel Prolonged Exposure (PE) therapy protocol for improving PE therapy attendance and PTSD symptom severity among individuals with co-occurring PTSD and OUD.

Mary Lindsey Smith, PhD, MSW

Dr. Smith is Director of Substance Use Research & Evaluation and a Senior Research Associate at the University of Southern Maine Catherine Cutler Institute, where she is responsible for designing and implementing health services research and evaluation projects related to addressing substance use disorder. Most of her research and evaluation work has focused on macro-level issues and has been designed to help systems reduce illness burden as well as healthcare utilization and costs. She has extensive research and clinical expertise in the area of substance use and behavioral health disorders, which has been the primary focus of her research for over 20 years. She has experience designing and managing research and evaluation projects at the local, state, and federal levels and has worked on projects funded by the National Institute of Health, National Institute of Mental Health, Veterans Administration, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Human Resources & Services Administration, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and the National Institute of Justice.