Addiction is a Brain Disease

Presented by Brent Van Ham, MS, RN, CDC, CADC
SIU School of Medicine Center for Rural Health and Social Services Development
Join us for the seventh training opportunity in the 2023 RCORP Training Series! This 90 minute virtual training is
free and open to everyone including service providers, law enforcement, community health workers and
community members.
“Addiction as a Brain Disease“ will be presented by Brent Van Ham, Project Coordinator, Center for Rural Health and
Social Service development at SIU School of Medicine. The presentation will address the history of the disease
model of addiction, predisposing factors for addiction, evidence based healing processes, along with addiction
recovery and its stages.
Brent Van Ham, MS, RN, CDC, CADC, holds a master’s degree from Southern Illinois University in Rehabilitation
Counseling and is a Certified Rehabilitation Counselor, specializing in Substance Use Disorder prevention,
treatment and recovery. He is also a Registered Nurse with many years of experience in multiple clinical settings,
including physical-medical rehabilitation and medical-surgical care. Brent is especially interested in novel
approaches to address health and resource disparities affecting rural and minority populations, with focus on
behavioral health and substance use issues