Addiction, family and counseling discussed in book talk at Fairfield University bookstore | Press Releases

Media Contact: Teddy DeRosa, tderosa@fairfield.edu , 203-254-4000 ext. 2118

FAIRFIELD, Conn. (February 4, 2016) — Virginia Kelly, Ph.D., associate professor of counselor education at Fairfield University’s Graduate School of Education and Allied Professions (GSEAP), will discuss her new book, Addiction in the Family: What Every Counselor Needs to Know , at the Fairfield University Downtown Bookstore, on Thursday, February 11th starting at 7 p.m . This event is free and open to the public.

“In Connecticut and across the U.S. we are experiencing a heroin epidemic among adolescents,” Dr. Kelly said. “Heroin is cheaper than marijuana and has caught the attention of youth everywhere. There are a number of reasons for the emergence of this issue, including the development and widespread use of opiate-based pain medications and the developmental struggles typical of adolescents.”

In her book, Dr. Kelly describes how the features of shame, denial, and control permeate the lives of family members of addicts, as well as the other emotional, relational and behavioral consequences of living with addiction. The book discussion will touch upon those topics, as well as on how family members affected can respond.

Dr. Kelly has been a counselor educator since 1993 and has taught in the Council for Accreditation of Counseling & Related Educational Programs (CACRE)-accredited doctoral and master's level programs throughout her career. She began teaching in Fairfield University’s counselor education department in the fall of 2001. Among the courses she teaches include Theories of Counseling and Psychotherapy, Research Methodology, Lifespan Human Development, and others.

Dr. Kelly has been honored with an Award for the Outstanding Contribution to Counselor Education in the field of addictions from the International Association of Addictions and Offender Counseling, 2005; a Professional Service Award from the International Association of Addictions and Offender Counseling, 2003; Outstanding Alumni Award from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2001; the Dr. Nuala McGann Drescher Award from the New York State/United University Professors, Joint Labor Management Committees, 1998 and the Chi Sigma Iota National Outstanding Researcher Award from Chi Sigma Iota International Honorary Society, for a paper entitled: Parental Alcoholism and Coping: A Comparison of Female Children of Alcoholics with Female Children of Non-Alcoholics , 1996.

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Vol. 48, No. 91

Fairfield University is a Jesuit University, rooted in one of the world’s oldest intellectual and spiritual traditions. More than 5,000 undergraduate and graduate students from 36 states, 47 foreign countries, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico are enrolled in the University’s five schools. In the spirit of rigorous and sympathetic inquiry into all dimensions of human experience, Fairfield welcomes students from diverse backgrounds to share ideas and engage in open conversations. The University is located in the heart of a region where the future takes shape, on a stunning campus on the Connecticut coast just an hour from New York City.