Pat Aussem, L.P.C, M.A.C, and VP, Consumer Clinical Content Development for Partnership To End Addiction at Drugfree.org. She is responsible for developing services and resources relevant to the families we serve, distilling complex information from multiple sources into understandable and actionable materials for lay audiences. This entails curating information on current substances trends, risk and protective factors, ways to intervene in youth substance use, parenting skills, and how to find and access quality evidence-based treatment along the continuum of care. She is a frequent spokesperson for the organization on topics including vaping, marijuana, opioids, medications to assist treatment and co-occurring disorders among others. In addition to a Master of Business Administration degree in finance, Pat has a master’s degree in counseling psychology and is licensed in New York as a Licensed Mental Health Counselor and in New Jersey as a Licensed Professional Counselor with a Master Addiction Counselor certification. Prior to joining Partnership to End Addiction, she was engaged in clinical work at a psychiatric hospital, collaborating with psychiatrists to provide comprehensive treatment plans for adult and adolescent patients on detox, rehab and co-occurring disorders units. She also supervised an intervention program for perpetrators of interpersonal violence at Jersey Battered Women’s Services. In addition to her work at Partnership to End Addiction, Pat has a small private practice in New Jersey serving families struggling with addiction and is on the board of Community in Crisis, a local nonprofit focused on ending the opioid epidemic. Learn more at https://drugfree.org/ —--- Topics covered in this episode: How does ADHD put a person at more risk with substance use? Does using ADHD medication put a person at more risk for addiction? What are the most used drugs used in 2023? How has nicotine captured a new generation? Is marijuana addictive? What is fentanyl and why is it dangerous? How parents can help their teen navigate peer pressure of experimenting with drugs? How parents can navigate if using drugs is experimentally vs a problem? What steps can parents take to support their teen? How Partnership to End Addiction can help a parent? —------ Please click here for show notes & ALL links. https://nota.fm/ADHDKids   Newsletter Sign up at https://www.adhdkidscanthrive.com/ —------ Thank you for listening!   #adhd #adhdkid #adhdparent #adhdparentsupport #adhdsupport  #substanceabuse #drugfree.org #drugfree