Session Presenter - Brenda Conlan

Brenda Conlan has been an Alcohol and Other Drug Educator since 1994. Students, parents and faculty in over 100 schools throughout the world have enjoyed her lively, honest presentation style and her colorful personality. In addition to her work in classrooms, Brenda has given presentations at international conferences in Europe (ECIS) and China (EARCOS) for independent schools abroad. She has also provided schools with in-service workshops and assisted in developing curriculum and policies regarding substance use. A 1989 graduate of UMASS Amherst, Brenda taught languages in Germany before she began her training in the field of drug prevention. Brenda’s truthful account of her own adolescence, which was derailed by early addiction to drugs, gives her a magic credibility in her student seminars. Each workshop is as unique as the individuals participating in it and Brenda is thankful to the students who have allowed her into their world. They have taught her much about being young and negotiating today’s mind-boggling social landscape. Brenda lives on Cape Cod with her family (mostly canine) and enjoys running, reading and gardening.

Brenda Conlan combines the best in current prevention research with vast national and international teaching experience to assist young people in reaching their full potential. Brenda creates a safe forum where students can explore their own decisions and feelings around drug use (alcohol included) and understand the more subtle ways in which substance abuse can impair their social, emotional and spiritual well-being. The objective of all the seminars is to increase abstinence, delay first use of alcohol and enable young people to make lower risk choices for their lives.

Brenda has mastered the art of weaving her personal story of addiction and recovery into the discussion that doesn’t glamorize drugs or eclipse the more important theme of the program; inviting students to reflect on their own attitudes and beliefs towards substances in a meaningful way. When students reach their own conclusions, real learning has begun…Brenda typically spends a week in a community working intensively with a particular grade. Recognizing that underage drinking and other drug use are community issues, she also provides workshops for parents, faculty and other concerned groups.

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