Community as Treatment: The Opioid Epidemic and the Therapeutic Community Model

The opioid epidemic is devastating individuals, families, and communities around the world. Medication-assisted treatment and short-term rehabilitation are common treatment options for individuals with opioid use disorder, especially in the United States, but do not meet the needs of all individuals. The therapeutic community (TC) model offers a unique treatment frame to address individuals with opioid use disorder, and may at times be preferred by patients over current first-line interventions. This conference will explore the evidence supporting different treatment options for opioid use disorder around the world, highlighting the TC modality as uniquely effective and using a current European model—San Patrignano, the largest TC in the world—to identify salient mediators of outcome.

Tentative Schedule

Welcoming remarks: David Freedberg (Director, Italian Academy, Columbia); Daniele Bodini (Chairman, Friends of San Patrignano)

Letizia Moratti (Co-founder, San Patrignano Foundation):
San Patrignano as a self-sustaining community and an example of an alternative rehabilitation system

Jonathan Avery, MD (Director of Addiction Psychiatry; Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychiatry, Weill Cornell Medical College; New York-Presbyterian Hospital):
The opioid epidemic; presentation of speakers

John Mariani, MD (Director, Substance Treatment and Research Service [STARS]; Associate Professor of Clinical Psychiatry, New York State Psychiatric Institute, Columbia University Medical Center):
Medications for opioid use disorder

Monika Kolodziej, PhD (Director of Psychological Services, Fernside, McLean Hospital; Instructor of Psychology, Harvard Medical School):
Inpatient rehab in the U.S.

Kristopher Kast, MD (Chief Psychiatry Resident, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York-Presbyterian Hospital):
Therapeutic communities in the U.S.

Coffee Break

Gabriele Manella (University of Bologna – Ce.P.Ci.T. research center)
& Dr. Bruno Genetti (Explora – Research and statistical analysis, Padua):
Tackling drug addiction in Italy: the TC model and the case of San Patrignano

Thomas Skiffington:
Personal stories from San Patrignano

Phaedon Kaloterakis, MWS (Assistant Director, KETHEA, Greece; Vice President, European Federation of Therapeutic Communities [EFTC]):
Why therapeutic communities are relevant today

Jonathan Avery
Summation

Letizia Moratti
Closing remarks and thanks

Organizer: Jonathan Avery, MD (Weill Cornell Medical College; New York-Presbyterian Hospital)
Co-sponsor: Friends of San Patrignano

See here for biographical notes on all speakers.

From the Italian Academy at Columbia University.