The Cape Cod Symposium: Days 1 & 2

Founded in 1987, the Cape Cod Symposium began with a mission to provide better treatment options and support for local clinicians. Nearly 40 years later, the Cape Cod Symposium now attracts 1,200 attendees and over 100 exhibitors. Their focus remains on the skills-based application of knowledge, helping addiction treatment and behavioral health professionals translate insights into better treatment delivery. 

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Day 1

The Symposium offered valuable insights into best practices for intervention services, with one central theme emerging across nearly every session:

Employee wellbeing isn't just nice to have—it's essential for delivering effective and ethical intervention.

This focus revealed an interesting generational shift happening in human services. Rather than creating division, we witnessed seasoned professionals reflecting on their careers and sharing hard-earned lessons with younger colleagues about sustainable, ethical practice.

We attended this conference for two reasons: to ensure our employment practices align with industry best standards, and to deepen our understanding of substance use disorders. While Reset Boston operates as a coaching service (not clinical treatment), we often work alongside clients' clinical teams to support complex cases.

The Foundation of Ethical Practice

The opening lecture made a compelling case that ethical intervention starts with self-aware professionals who are well-supported by their employers. This message strongly affirmed Reset Boston's approach—we deliberately maintain smaller caseloads than industry standard, believing this allows us to provide higher-quality intervention while properly developing and mentoring our staff.

The presenter backed this up with research showing that ethical violations often stem from environmental pressures and unmet professional needs, rather than individual character flaws. Over the past year, we've invested heavily in intensive mentoring for each team member, creating space to process challenging situations, and ensuring our workplace reflects our values of integrity and service.

The audience discussion was particularly revealing. Nearly every attendee identified large caseloads as the biggest barrier to mentoring new professionals, yet there was unanimous agreement that quality mentorship remains the most important factor in both employee retention and intervention effectiveness.

This perspective helps clarify our role in the broader human services ecosystem. At Reset, we position ourselves as complementary to clinical intervention—helping clients get to appointments, navigate insurance questions, or work toward non-clinical goals set in therapy. While many clinical interventionists could provide this support, doing so within their limited hours often detracts from their primary clinical objectives.

By maintaining high-quality, well-supported staff, we aim to create smoother service delivery, reduce the burden on direct clinical interventionists, and help clients achieve their broader goals.

The day's second session provided practical tools for implementing these principles, which the presenter and audience explored through several key concepts:

"Be wary of contempt prior to investigation."

While this might sound obvious, it's remarkably difficult to practice in high-stress, rapidly changing situations. Professional intervention requires recognizing how our assumptions can unhelpfully frame our approach—particularly when we're operating on "autopilot" or responding to crisis situations. Importantly, this principle applies equally to how we approach colleagues and clients.

In practice, this means pausing to ask questions rather than jumping to conclusions, especially when dealing with challenging behaviors or seemingly obvious problems. The audience shared examples of how slowing down to investigate first had completely changed their understanding of client situations, leading to more effective and compassionate interventions. This principle becomes especially crucial during high-turnover periods or when working with clients who have complex, long-standing issues that might trigger professional frustration.

Day 2

Friday's lectures focused on specific interventional skills and emerging developments in the field.

The morning session explored pharmacology, metabolic side effects, and the use of adjunctive GLP-1 treatments to improve long-term medication compliance in clients with psychotic disorders and substance use disorders. The presenter, drawing from his clinical practice, discussed how GLP-1 therapies are increasingly being used off-label to address metabolic side effects—a strategy that's proving remarkably effective in helping clients stay on their primary medications.

While the lecture was clinically focused, it raised important considerations for our coaching work. We now better understand how to nutritionally support clients using GLP-1s, the importance of appropriate exercise protocols, and how to navigate what can be a sensitive topic for many clients. These medications often carry stigma or trigger complex feelings about body image and weight, requiring careful, informed conversations that balance medical necessity with emotional support.

The afternoon session provided best practices for working with clients experiencing psychosis or emerging psychotic features. The presenter made a crucial distinction between these two states based on insight—a person's ability to recognize they're experiencing a pathological condition rather than something that's simply part of who they are. This differentiation completely changes how we approach and support someone in distress.

Practical de-escalation techniques were discussed, along with methods for assessing insight levels, and evidence-based approaches for these challenging situations. Given our close proximity to clients and their care teams, we're often positioned to observe emerging symptoms or concerning changes that clinicians might miss between appointments.

This session equipped us with mental health first aid skills, a clear framework for de-escalation, and—perhaps most importantly—the precise language needed to communicate our observations effectively to clinical professionals. Having this shared vocabulary ensures that concerning behaviors or changes get accurately conveyed rather than lost in translation.

Stay tuned for our post on days 3 and 4!!!