Speaker Biography

Linda Napier
Biography:

Linda Napier earned her Master of Science Degree from Quinnipiac University, North Haven, CT and Graduate Certificate in Spirituality from Hartford Seminary, Hartford, CT. She is a Family Nurse Practitioner with experience as the Director of Health Services at Landmark College in Putney ,Vermont, a school for students with learning differences. She moved to Maine in 2016 and has been a provider in a rural primary care setting where medication-assisted treatment for Opioid Use Disorder was also offered. Currently she is implementing a “Hub and Spoke” model for Opioid Use Disorder treatment at The Downeast Treatment Center in Ellsworth, Maine. Linda has extensive experience in varied settings from hospice and palliative care, acute and long-term care to her background as a health educator and presenter, grant and policy writer and health columnist and author of a book on the health benefits of focused touch. On occasion, she has been known to transform into Daisy, a hospital clown.

Abstract:

Who would know better as to what has best facilitated their recovery from addiction and what may have been detrimental than someone who’s been there? “If you were to create an addiction treatment model, what would it look like?” was the question posed to patients in recovery. Each patient’s background and journey through addiction to recovery will be presented, culminating with their recommendations for a recovery treatment program of their design. Then, deciphering what each proposal had in common, the concepts were distilled down to a collaboratively created addiction treatment strategy which will be outlined in this presentation.