Research to Recovery 2026

Description:
Pregnant and postpartum people navigating substance use disorders face a uniquely complex intersection of medical, legal, social, and systemic challenges — and the systems meant to support them are too often fragmented, punitive, or simply absent. This panel brings together four expert voices from across the continuum of care to examine what it truly takes to build effective, equitable support for this population.
Panelists include a Peer Recovery Specialist with lived experience working alongside pregnant women with SUDs, a reproductive rights attorney examining the legal landscape shaping care access and patient autonomy, the CEO of a recovery housing organization serving pregnant and parenting women, and a PhD, MSN nurse researcher specializing in the neurodevelopmental impacts of prenatal substance use and maternal psychiatric conditions. Together, they will explore how individual-level care, community-based services, housing stability, and policy reform must work in concert to meet the full range of needs facing this population.
The panel will address gaps in the current system, center the voices of those with lived experience, and offer attendees concrete frameworks for advancing both systemic change and person-centered care in their own communities and organizations.
Objectives:
·      Participants will be able to identify the barriers pregnant and postpartum people with substance use disorders face across medical, legal, housing, and social systems, and describe how integrated, trauma-informed approaches can address these gaps across the continuum of care.
·      Participants will be able to explain the neurodevelopmental and psychiatric impacts of prenatal substance use and maternal mental health conditions, and recognize how this clinical knowledge should inform both individual care planning and broader systems design.
·      Participants will be able to describe models of peer integration, recovery housing, and legal advocacy that support pregnant and parenting people in recovery, and identify strategies for implementing or strengthening these approaches within their own organizational or community context.