In 2007, Community Healing Centers set a goal to bring community members together “To enhance public and professional knowledge, understanding and attitudes toward persons suffering from addictive disease.” We believed that, with this knowledge and with community conversations, we could reduce the stigma associated with addiction and help more people receive treatment. This was the beginning of the Coming Together Conference on Addiction and Recovery.

Each year since, nationally recognized speakers, authors, and actors have come to Kalamazoo to share their expertise and stories to help educate and inform the community while enhancing conversations about addiction and recovery. The Specialty Program in Alcohol and Drug Abuse at Western Michigan University has been a partner in this conference from the beginning. In 2011, the Drug Treatment Court Foundation joined as a partner, and throughout the years, other local businesses and foundations have become supporters of the project.

Presenters have included Dr. Claudia Black, Sis Wenger, Dr. Robert Ackerman, William Cope Moyers, Martin Sheen, Earl Hightower, Mark Lundholm, Dr. Carlton Erickson, Dr. Carlo DiClemente, Dr. Robert Zucker, Dr. Lisa Najavits and Dr. Jeannette Johnson. Our conference and community event have a great reputation in the field and presenters are pleased to be a part of this.

Each year, the Coming Together Conference on Addiction and Recovery includes a community event that is free and open to the public and an all-day conference for professionals and community members that offers continuing education units for various professions. Community Healing Centers is proud of the growth of the conference, and especially of the community conversations that have resulted from it.

For more information, please visit:
www.communityhealingcenter.org