The West Coast Symposium on Addictive Disorders is Elevating the Virtual ExperienceThe West Coast Symposium on Addictive Disorders is Elevating the Virtual Experience
I Love Being Sober
Tim Westbrook and Dee McGraw talk about how the West Coast Symposium on Addictive Disorders is being redesigned as a virtual event to keep addiction professionals learning and connected. The conversation outlines practical features, key clinical topics and Dee’s enduring passion for supporting the recovery community.
30:30•25 Nov 2020
Elevating Connection: The West Coast Symposium Goes Virtual
Episode Overview
- The West Coast Symposium offers about 50 sessions and up to 64 continuing education credits for a broad range of behavioural health professionals.
- A customised virtual platform includes searchable attendee profiles, live chat and email tools to make finding your professional tribe easier.
- The exhibit hall provides videos, documents and interactive elements that help clinicians learn about programmes and build referral networks.
- Key topics reflect current pressures, including self-care, compassion fatigue, self-harm, suicide concerns and co-occurring mental health issues.
- Future events are being planned as hybrid gatherings, combining in-person meetings with virtual access to widen participation and safety.
“We want it to be an experience. We want you to feel nurtured both in spirit and mind and body and brain and all of that and be surrounded by all that.”
Curious about how others handle their sobriety journey while working on the frontline of addiction treatment? This conversation between host Tim Westbrook and guest Dee McGraw gives a behind-the-scenes look at how the West Coast Symposium on Addictive Disorders is reshaping professional connection and education in a socially distanced world.
Dee, executive vice president of education and event services for the non-profit C4, shares how their long-standing mission is “really trying to educate people on what is the latest research… evidence-based practice that we have for what works best for treatment.” With over 28 years in the substance use and prevention field, she talks through the shift from bustling in-person conferences to a sophisticated virtual set-up designed to keep human connection at the heart of the experience.
You’ll hear how the symposium offers around 50 sessions and up to 64 continuing education credits for a wide range of behavioural health professionals, from doctors and nurses to therapists and sober living operators. Dee explains features such as a searchable attendee database by interest and role, live chat and email functions, and an exhibit hall packed with videos, documents and a dash of gamification to make networking feel more like fun than homework.
The episode also highlights key content areas shaped by the pandemic: mental health, self-care, compassion fatigue, self-harm and trauma. Dee points to a full-day trauma series from Judy Crane as a standout example of how the event responds to current stress and triggers many people are feeling right now.
Alongside practical conference tips, Dee shares why this work still moves her after nearly three decades, describing the recovery community as “humbling” and “beautiful” and calling the events “a true labour of love.” If you’re in the treatment field and craving both fresh knowledge and a sense of tribe, this chat might get you thinking about how you’d like to show up and connect next.
So, how could you use a gathering like this to strengthen both your practice and your own recovery journey?
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