The Southeast Rural Opioid Technical Assistance Regional Center (ROTA-RC) housed at FSU’s Stoops Center for Communities, Families, and Children is delighted to announce a groundbreaking development for our upcoming virtual symposium, Catalyzing Change: Strengthening Community Capacity for Opioid Response. Scheduled to take place April 11th through April 12th, from 9:30 am until 3:00 pm EST each day, this event represents a significant leap forward in the landscape of virtual gatherings, achieved through a collaboration with vFairs, a leading virtual events platform that is redefining the conference experience.

Benefits for Attendees

Participants can anticipate an immersive 3D environment where they will navigate using avatars, virtually exploring the symposium space. Engaging with exhibitors will become an interactive experience in the exhibit hall, where attendees can explore virtual booths, curate personalized swag bags of resources, attend sessions, and connect with fellow participants through video or text chats in a lounge. Eliminating physical boundaries allows for seamless participation from the comfort of one's own space, marking a transformative era in event hosting.

The conference is packed with valuable content presented by industry experts from diverse backgrounds, ensuring it is engaging and relevant across multidisciplinary professional settings involved in addressing the opioid crisis, whether it is through prevention, harm reduction, healthcare, justice, or treatment.

Our focus on strengthening a community's capacity to respond to the opioid epidemic has led us to prioritize several critical topics to ensure that every professional within a community has something to gain from attending this conference. From first responders to teachers, healthcare workers to librarians, 4H staff to child welfare workers, everyone benefits from this experience.

Highlighted Speakers

Samantha Brown, a Survey Statistician at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, will share critical substance use and mental health measures in the Southeast region as a keynote speaker of the two keynote speakers at the symposium. 

Dr. Kristen Gilliland, from Vanderbilt University's Warren Center for Neuroscience Drug Discovery, will discuss a unique cinematic approach to youth prevention and share her passion for educating adolescents and their parents about mental health that came out of a personal tragedy underscoring the impact of substances and stress on development. 

Dr. Macarena Garcia, a Senior Health Scientist at the Office of Rural Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, will present on racial and ethnic disparities in opioid overdose-related mortalities within the Southeast region.

Expand your knowledge and gain new perspectives as we explore and debunk myths associated with opioids, overdose, and treatment. Learn trauma-informed de-escalation techniques and how to care for yourself before, during, and after interacting with individuals going through extreme crises. Broaden your horizon with resources freely available to you and your community. Gain an understanding of what builds resiliency and how to increase resilience within individuals of all ages. Learn about recent efforts in suicide prevention. This list is not exhaustive, and more is offered through the symposium. Please click here to view the detailed agenda.

The symposium is open to the general public and faculty, staff, and students at all universities across the Southeast. Faculty and staff are encouraged to share this event with students and offer extra credit for attending.

Attendees will be provided with eight continuing education units. To register, please use the following link: bit.ly/VirtualSymposiumRegistration  Registration closes on April 4th.

Benefits for Exhibitors

This symposium extends an incredible opportunity for exhibitors to showcase products, services, and information in a manner that mirrors the physical experience of an in-person event. As Ellen Piekalkiewicz, the director of the Stoops Center for Communities, Families, and Children, aptly notes, "vFairs revolutionizes the way conferences are hosted, and the Stoops Center is proud to offer a more accessible way for professionals of all kinds to continue educating and bettering themselves for the greater good of serving those around us."

Learn More About vFairs

vFairs empowers organizations to host online events, trade shows, job fairs, conferences, and more, offering customizable virtual spaces, live chat and video capabilities, interactive sessions, and analytics tracking participant engagement. Learn more at vfairs.com.