National Association for Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Counselors (NAADAC)

Mental Health Academy (MHA) is collaborating with the ACA, CCPA, NAADAC, and NBCC to bring you one of the most important professional events of the year: the online 2026 Working with Addictions Summit.

What happens when shame becomes chronic or toxic? Individuals with substance use disorders are presenting with unconscious, untreated toxic shame, yet this subject is underacknowledged in addiction treatment and the wider field. When we understand the role of shame in addiction, we see the need for wrap-around care, systemic and depth approaches - and why we need to include children and family members in treatment. 

This interactive training covers the 2025 updates to the NAADAC Code of Ethics and provides practical tools for ethical decision-making in behavioral health. Using real-world case studies, participants will explore boundary management, dual relationships, ethical self-disclosure, and strategies to prevent burnout and countertransference.

Substance use disorders (SUDs) are common, affecting at least 1 of 3 adult Americans at some point in their lives.  One of the many characteristics of SUDs that makes them unique is that the nature of the addictive process is such that denial, minimization, and lack of insight are natural components of the development of the disorder.

We cordially invite you to submit a proposal to present at the EMPOWER 2026: the Annual Conference for NAADAC, the Association for Addiction Professionals. The 2026 Annual Conference will be held on August 29-31, 2026, in Kansas City, MO, at the Sheraton Kansas City Hotel at Crown Center.

Time: 3PM - 4:30PM Eastern Time

Statistics show that when peer services are delivered with adherence to the peer model and within recovery-oriented systems, they are highly effective for the participants and the systems employing them (SAMHSA).

This webinar demonstrates how to use in-vivo systemic and attachment-based interventions in session to not only heal the deep wounds that drive addictive processes but simultaneously create a substitute-replacement for self-medicating with substances: secure attachment.

This interactive webinar introduces essential principles and clinically practical methods from the presenter’s two recent books on recovery resilience.  We will focus on working with process - or behavioral - addictions, providing numerous real-life examples and creating a rich and dynamic learning opportunity.

Studies continue to support a direct connection between trauma and SUD, with at least 2/3 of those with SUD having a history of childhood trauma or abuse. Toxic stress in childhood from trauma, abuse, neglect, losses, and other adversities has been shown in research to be linked with an increased risk for SUD in adults.