International Conference on Substance Use Disorders
The Melaka State Government organized The International Conference on Substance Use Disorders in collaboration with the Colombo Plan Asian Centre for Certification and Education of Addiction Professionals (ACCE), in the Historical city of Melaka on 11th & 12th July 2012.
The conference fired up with a grand opening ceremony and valuable speech by the dignitaries. During the inauguration of the programme, Mayor of Melaka Historic City Council, Mr. Zainal Bin Abu, Mr. Tay Bian How, Director of Colombo Plan ACCE and Datuk Nortipah Binti Abdol representing the Right Honourable Chief Minister of Melaka were present to deliver their welcoming remarks.
Many professionals of addiction showed their keen interest in this International conference which is prominently visible by the number of participants. More than 150 members from Malaysia, Indonesia, India, Germany, Thailand, Maldives, Pakistan, Bhutan, Philippines, Indonesia, Korea and Macau actively participated in the conference and shared their views as well as fulfilled their quest related to substance abuse disorder.
On the first day of the conference, there were two plenary sessions. The first plenary session was on “Challenges, Perspective and Trends in Substance Use”. The speakers were Dato Zainuddin Bahari (Malaysia), Dr. Vicky Kim (Republic of Korea), and Dr. Salman Shahzad (Pakistan). The second plenary was on “Professionalizing Treatment of Substance Use Disorders”, with speakers including Tay Bian How (ACCE), Dr. Shanthi Ranganathan (India) and Junjun Abella (The Philippines). Both plenary sessions were well-received with many questions on evidence-based practices and promoted the need for ACCE training and credentialing.
On the second day of the programme, there were five concurrent skill based workshops. ACCE’s pool of International Trainers led and facilitated sessions on Science of Addiction, Recovery Capital, Ethics for Addiction Counsellors, Evidence-based Practices, and Family in Crisis. The full day training workshops also updated the participants with the latest evidence-based practices.
All the participants and dignitaries enjoyed the dinner with a colourful cultural programme and city tour to the historical city of Melaka organized by the Melaka State Government.
The august presence of Mayor Datuk Wira Omar bin Kaseh brightened the valedictory of the International Conference.
