Gaudenzia Women and Children's Conference

Please join us for the 28th Annual Gaudenzia Women and Children's Conference on Tuesday, November 8, 2022, and Wednesday, November 9, 2022.

This conference is a collaborative effort sponsored by Gaudenzia and supported by UPMC Pinnacle Health Systems, Geisinger Holy Spirit Maternal Assistance Program, Pennsylvania Statewide Tobacco-Free Recovery Initiative (STFRI) and the Pennsylvania Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs. We will once again hold this event at the Best Western Premier Central Hotel and Conference Center in Harrisburg, PA.

The goal of this year’s conference is to enable healthcare professionals to promote healthier outcomes for pregnant women and families in high-risk situations. The conference staff consists of professionals knowledgeable in assessing and treating the medical, legal, and social impact of substance use disorder. The 28th Annual Conference will enable participants to promote better outcomes for pregnant and parenting women exposed to High-Risk Pregnancy, HIV/AIDS, Substance Use Disorder, Co-Occurring Disorders, incarceration, Opioid Use Disorder, other emerging drug trends and healthcare related issues.

Each day has several workshops for attendees. Attendees must pick ONE (1) morning workshop and ONE (1) afternoon workshop for the day they are attending. The details for each workshop will be listed in the corresponding ticket information.

Early Bird Pricing (ends Sept. 30 at 5 PM):

• $150 for one day
• $225 for both days

General Admission Pricing:

• $175 for one day
• $250 for both days

Who is the target audience?

This program is designed for healthcare professionals, social workers, drug and alcohol treatment professionals and other interested health and children’s service providers.

Interested in sponsoring or exhibiting at the Gaudenzia Women and Children's Conference or have any questions?

Contact the organizer Jackie Felker at [email protected] or event planner Cassie Wiggins at [email protected]

“This event does not accept funding from the gaming, alcohol, or tobacco industry. This extends to goods, cash, in-kind contributions, and services from these entities, their subsidiaries and/or agents.”

Dr. Carlo DiClemente is an emeritus professor of psychology at the University of Maryland Baltimore County and director of the Maryland Tobacco Resource Center at the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC). He is co-developer of the Transtheoretical Model of behavior change, and author of numerous scientific publications on motivation and behavior change with various health and addictive behaviors. He has published extensively on smoking cessation, brief motivational interventions, and initiation and recovery from addictions. He is the author of Addiction and Change: How Addictions Develop and Addicted People Recover. He has also co-authored several professional books, The Transtheoretical Model, Substance Abuse Treatment and the Stages of Change, and Group Treatment for Substance Abuse: A Stages of Change Therapy Manual and a self-help book, Changing for Good.

Dr. Stoner is a board-certified obstetrics and gynecology physician with more than three decades of experience. He attended Marshall University, where he earned his medical degree, and completed his residency at Geisinger Medical Center. Dr. Stoner is certified by the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology. As Director of Geisinger’s Women’s Health Opioid Use Disorder Program (OUD), He devotes all his effort towards the care of pregnant women with OUD. He lectures widely on the stigma of this topic and when applicable, includes patients to join him for a panel discussion with the audience.

Judith Grisel, Ph.D., is a Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Bucknell University and author of the New York Times bestseller Never Enough: The Neuroscience and Experience of Addiction. Grisel is an internally recognized behavioral neuroscientist with expertise in pharmacology and genetics whose research focuses on determining root causes of drug addiction. She studies sex differences in the role of stress and endorphins on drug reward and works to identify innate factors that contribute to individual differences in the liability toward addiction.

Throughout her two-decades-long career in HIV/AIDS prevention and advocacy, Hydeia has been esteemed as the first African-American youth to speak out about the epidemic during a time where stigma and misinformation surrounding the virus was at an all-time high. Today, Hydeia continues to travel the country, calling for prevention, awareness, and resources for those living with HIV/AIDS. She was recently selected to be an ambassador for the Prevention Access Campaign, an initiative looking to educate others on virus undetectability in patients. Hydeia has appeared on countless panels at some of the nation's most prestigious college institutions, including Morehouse School of Medicine, UCLA, and Howard University. She has spoken of preventative measures and pushed for a cure in several prominent publications, such as the New York Times, National Geographic, People, and Ebony. In 2006, Hydeia acted as a featured speaker for the International AIDS Conference.

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