Dr. Claudia Black

Specialty:

Addiction in the Family

About The Speaker

Claudia Black’s seminal work with children impacted by substance abuse in the late 1970s created the foundation for the adult child movement. Today she is a renowned author and trainer internationally recognized for her pioneering and contemporary work with family systems and addictive disorders. Claudia Black designs and presents training workshops and seminars to professional audiences in the field of family service, mental health, and addictive disorders.

Claudia’ pioneering contributions are many:
•  She would be the first to name and coin the dysfunctional family rules, “Don’t Talk, Don’t   Trust, Don’t Feel.”
•  She described the phenomena of delayed stress, emotional trauma, the child’s denial process, the phenomena of “looking good” kids as they relate to growing up with addiction, and hence the
meaning and phraseology of “Adult Child of Alcoholics”.
•  She utilized art therapy in the context of group work with young children that offered a model for children’s programs for the past three plus decades.
•  She broke the barrier and openly discussed physical and sexual abuse in the context of addictive families.

Her work, her passion has been ageless and offers a foundation for those impacted by addiction to recover, and gives our professional field a library of both depth and breadth She is Senior Fellow and Clinical Architect of the Claudia Black Young Adult Center at The Meadows in Arizona. She serves on the Advisory Board for the National Association of Children of Addiction, and the Advisory Council of the Eluna Foundation.  Claudia is the author of several well-known books; the latest title being Unspoken Legacy: Addressing the Impact of Trauma and Addiction within the Family.

Dr. Jennifer Melamed

Specialty:

Addiction

About The Speaker

Dr. Jennifer Melamed (MBChB, Med BSc., ABAM Diplomate, FASAM, FIAIME, CCSAM, CISAM, CSAT Candidate, MROCC), is a family physician licensed to practice within British Columbia. She qualified as a Certified Medicolegal Evaluator in January 2022 and was recognized as a Fellow of the International Academy of Independent Medical Evaluators in 2023. Dr. Melamed received recognition as a Family Physician Specialist after attaining a Certificate of Added Competence in Addiction Medicine from the College of Family Physicians in 2019. After practicing as a family physician in British Columbia from 1992 to 2000, She began to focus on addictions and pain management. Since 2004, her practice has been fully devoted to addictions and pain management. She worked as a consulting physician at the Cordova and Vancouver Detox Centers in Vancouver. She prescribes Opioid-Assisted Treatment at the Alliance Clinic in Surrey, British Columbia.
Dr. Melamed is a Fellow of the American Society of Addiction Medicine (FASAM) and a member of the International Society of Addiction Medicine (ISAM); and was the British Columbia board representative to the Canadian Society of Addiction Medicine (CSAM). In 2006, Dr. Melamed completed both the ISAM and ASAM certification examinations and have received Board Certification in Addiction Medicine in the United States. In November 2013, she completed the ABIME (American Board of Independent Medical Examiners) certification course.

Dr. Mel Pohl

Specialty:

Addiction

About The Speaker

Mel Pohl, MD, DFASAM is the Senior Medical Consultant, Pain Recovery Program, The Pointe Malibu. He is the former Chief Medical Officer of Las Vegas Recovery Center (LVRC) and was a major force in developing LVRC’s Chronic Pain Recovery Program. He is certified by the American Board of Addiction Medicine, (ABAM), and a Distinguished Fellow of the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM). He is a member of the planning committee for ASAM’s Annual “Common Threads, Pain and Addiction” Course. Dr. Pohl is a Fellow of the American Academy of Family Practice and a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Nevada School of Medicine. He was elected by his peers for inclusion in Best Doctors in America® from 2009 to present. In 2022, he received the Father Joseph Martin Professional Excellence Award. He starred in a special for PBS titled “The Pain Antidote” which aired nationally in 2016.

Dr. Pohl is a nationally known public speaker and co-author of:
● Pain Recovery: How to Find Balance and Reduce Suffering from Chronic Pain (Central Recovery Press, 2009).
● Pain Recovery for Families: How to Find Balance When Someone Else’s Chronic Pain Becomes Your Problem Too (Central Recovery Press, 2010)
● The Caregiver’s Journey: When You Love Someone with AIDS (Hazelden, 1990).
● Staying Sane: When You Care for Someone with Chronic Illness (Health Communications, 1992).

Dr. Pohl is the author of A Day Without Pain (Central Recovery Press, 2008), which won a silver medal from Independent Publisher Book Award in May 2009. A Day Without Pain, Revised Edition (Central Recovery Press) was published in 2011. His newest book with Kathy Ketcham is The Pain Antidote, Stop Suffering from Chronic Pain, Avoid Addiction to Painkillers, and Reclaim Your Life, (DaCapo Life Long, 2015).