Black Addiction Counselor Education Program Graduates Inaugural Class

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On Saturday, October 27, 2018, the inaugural class of the Black Addiction Counselor Education Program graduated 17 students at the Judd Gymnasium at Springfield College, Springfield MA.

The Black Addiction Counselor Education (BACE) program, first imagined in 2011 but put on hold due to budget cuts, finally came into being in January, 2018, when the first cohort of students began the 300 hour, 9-month long course, which is currently being reviewed by BSAS Licensing in an effort to become an Approved Addiction Education Provider (AAEP).

The program was developed in collaboration with the Bureau of Substance Addiction Services (Jen Parks and Karen Pressman), AdCare Educational Institute (Jim Gorske), the Latino Addiction Counselor Education program (Haner Hernandez), and BACE Director Della Blake. Brenda Westberry, with support from Emanuel Aaron, adapted the curriculum from existing program curricula.

Congratulations and best wishes to these accomplished students:

Yusef Id-Deen, Latasha Drungo, Carrie L. Guess, II, Camille Holmes, Shameshia Holmes, Richard Johnson, India Kyles, Hamzah Latif, Jacqueline Lawes, Jacqueline Milton, Dana Motley, Gary Porter, Rosalind Marie Smith, Anthony Squaire, Joaquin Suttles, Howard Tomlinson, and Kimberly Weir.