Program Overview
Lipscomb’s new Healthcare Professionals Certificate Training (HPCT) certificate program consists of a one-year, three-course substance addiction specialization curriculum within a CACREP-accredited clinical mental health counseling program. Participants will also enroll in two group supervision courses led by an instructor. Group supervision will occur in the summer and fall semesters.
The HPCT program is grant-funded and designed for counselors, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, nurses and social workers practicing at partnering Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) and community mental health centers. This program emphasizes substance use disorder treatments (especially opioid) for underserved populations. Coursework is free to participants with a one-year program commitment. Only practitioners working with qualifying agencies are eligible to participate.
Lipscomb University’s Clinical Mental Health Counseling Program (CMHC) has been awarded a $1.65 million grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, to improve mental health services in Middle Tennessee by training the behavioral health and healthcare workforce to address unmet needs. This grant will fund Lipscomb’s new Healthcare Professionals Certificate Training (HPCT) program and will provide full tuition for a total of 50 students to complete a graduate Certificate in Substance Use Disorder Treatment.
NOTE: This publication is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of an award totaling $1.65 million with 0 percent financed with non-governmental sources. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by HRSA, HHS, or the U.S. Government. For more information, please visit HRSA.gov.
"The cohort felt cozy in the sense that my 9 colleagues and I could openly discuss our own experiences and knowledge as a clinician, while also learning new material for the treatment of substance use disorders."
- Tanisha N. Haynes, Licensed Master Social Worker
Addiction Conferences
Current Addiction Conferences
2026 Co-Occurring Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Conference
Medications in Behavioral Health: From Addiction Treatment to Mental Health Management
A Practical Guide for Non-Prescribing Clinicians
The HPCT program is excited to host our third annual conference on Friday, September 18, 2026, from 9-11:30am. The conference is free and will be held via Zoom. David Marcovitz, MD is our featured presenter. He will equip non-prescribing behavioral health staff with foundational and applied knowledge of the medications their clients are most likely to encounter. His back-to-back sessions will address Medications for Substance Use Disorder (MSUD) and Common Mental Health Medications.
Featured Presenter:
David Marcovitz, MD is a board-certified general and addiction psychiatrist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and the Director of the Division of Addiction Psychiatry in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. He helped launch the Vanderbilt University Hospital Addiction Consult Service and transitional outpatient Bridge Clinic at VUMC. He also serves as the Principal Investigator for the state-funded Middle TN Opioid Addiction Treatment Hub at Vanderbilt. While completing his addiction psychiatry fellowship at Partners Healthcare / Harvard Medical School, he also worked as a staff psychiatrist receiving additional mentored training in collaborative care in the IMPACT Model at Partners Healthcare in Boston, MA. He is an experienced educator, delivering formal and informal didactics on various addiction-related topics to medical students, residents, fellows and colleagues. He has served as the senior trainer for Tennessee supporting the federally-funded Opioid Response Network to help build addiction treatment capacity across TN. Dr. Marcovitz' teaching at the regional and national level has focused on models of collaborative care with internal medicine and other specialties and disciplines in addiction treatment in both the inpatient and outpatient setting. He has also presented at national meetings on novel teaching methods and outcome measures in addiction psychiatry. He has published on addiction education methods as well as research at the intersection of treatment of opioid addiction and community mutual help. Dr. Marcovitz serves on the board of directors for the American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry (AAAP).
Previous Addiction Conferences
Why Earn a Substance Addiction Certificate at Lipscomb?
The Healthcare Professionals Certificate Training program will prepare trainees to address the unmet co-occurring mental health and substance use disorder needs of underserved and vulnerable individuals in comprehensive health centers, with a focus on children, adolescents and the emerging adult population in Middle Tennessee.
Interested in this program? lstrevell [at] lipscomb.edu (Email )for application information.
