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On-Demand

Youth Addiction Recovery: The Role of Human Development and the Environment

Andrew Finch, Ph.D
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Recorded

  • -

Description

Although adolescent alcohol and substance use rates have been studied for decades, much less is known about the prevalence, pathways, and predictors of remission and long-term recovery among youth. In this presentation, Dr. Finch will explore key developmental considerations relevant to youth addiction recovery and provide an overview of the current treatment and recovery landscape for adolescents. The talk will emphasize the important but often complex roles of social relationships and school contexts. Dr. Finch will also introduce the emerging Nexus Model of Prevention, Treatment, and Recovery, which offers a framework for supporting youth across the substance use continuum. Finally, he will highlight the structure, impact, and case examples of recovery high schools, illustrating how they uniquely blend recovery support with educational services.

Educational Goal

The educational goal of this workshop is to be able to explain the emerging Nexus Model of Prevention, Treatment, and Recovery, which offers a framework for supporting youth across the substance use continuum. Dr. Finch will highlight the structure, impact, and case examples of recovery high schools, illustrating how they uniquely blend recovery support with educational services.

Learning Objectives

Participants will be able to:

  • Identify three developmental factors of adolescence relevant to addiction recovery

  • Describe three adolescent-specific recovery services

  • Apply the Nexus Model to a school scenario by analyzing how different systems of care (school, family, treatment, community recovery supports) can coordinate to support a student in transition.

Target Audience

  • Addiction Professional
  • Counselor
  • Marriage & Family Therapist
  • Psychologist
  • Social Worker

Presenters

Andrew Finch, Ph.D
Dr. Andy Finch is a Professor of the Practice at Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College. He is a core faculty member for the Human Development Counseling Program in the Department of Human & Organizational Development. Dr. Finch is also the faculty Head of North House in the Martha Rivers Ingram Commons. Dr. Finch co-founded the Association of Recovery Schools in 2002, and for nine years, Dr. Finch worked for Community High School in Nashville, one of the early schools for teens recovering from alcohol and other drug addictions - a school he helped design and open in 1997. Dr. Finch also helped found Vanderbilt University’s collegiate recovery program in 2007 and currently serves on its advisory committee. Dr. Finch has been a lead researcher on two national studies of recovery high schools, both funded by NIDA. He co-wrote the Standards for Accreditation for recovery high schools and was one of the lead developers of the Systematic Evaluation for Adolescent Recovery Services (SEARS) instrument. Among Dr. Finch’s numerous published works on recovery and education are Starting a Recovery School (2005, Hazelden Foundation) and Approaches to Substance Abuse and Addiction in Educational Communities: A Guide to Practices that Support Recovery in Adolescents and Young Adults (2010, Routledge), on which he was a co-editor. Dr. Finch most recent book is Salvaging a Teenage Wasteland: Origins of the Recovery High School Movement (2024, Oxford University Press).

Financially Sponsored By

  • Society of Addiction Psychology (APA Division 50)