An unremitting epidemic of opioid use and overdose deaths highlights the need for all mental health therapists, regardless of professional discipline or specialty area, to know how to evaluate, diagnose, engage, treat, and/or refer opioid-using clients they are likely to encounter in office-based practice and other clinical settings. Although medication is often the first-line treatment for opioid dependence, the combination of targeted pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy is often more effective than either one alone. This presentation will describe the scope and consequences of opioid use; the clinical pharmacology of opioid drugs, clinical assessment and diagnosis, individualized treatment planning, medications for treating opioid use disorders (including buprenorphine and naltrexone), and a client-centered psychotherapeutic approach that integrates evidence-based behavioral and pharmacological interventions within a harm reduction framework. Lecture material will be interspersed with case vignettes to illustrate the clinical application of this approach.

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