Brad Collins, Director, Community Relations/Research & Efficacy at 12 & 12, Inc., recently attended and co-presented (with Dr. Hamed Ekhtiari) at the International Society of Addiction Medicine conference, held in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE) October 25-30, 2017.

Collins and Ekhtiari were invited to offer their presentation, entitled “Neuroscience-Informed Psycho-Education in Addiction Medicine” which highlighted the benefits that their co-authored Brain Awareness Recovery Initiative (BARI) has proven to provide patients in early abstinence/recovery, encouraging identification with brain functions impaired in addiction. BARI is a 3 poster series, using cartoons as an attention-grabbing medium for folks in early recovery, which also utilizes two companion books as a journal approach (“Brain Healing First Aid: How to Recovery my Brain’s Abilities during Addiction Treatment”) and the fully complemented brain Exercises and Activities workbook (“Brain Gym”). The journal also proposes numerous helpful attitudes and assignments that patients can adopt along with the activities and exercises offered in “Brain Gym” which can be utilized to recover and re-empower brain functions damaged or lost in addiction.

The BARI literature has now been translated in several different languages for use in other countries by government treatment agencies, private treatment centers and addiction professionals as a supplement to their “treatment-as-usual” approaches. Many new language translations are in progress.