Best known for his work on A&E Network’s Emmy-winning show “Intervention,” author and professional counselor Jeff VanVonderen will be the keynote speaker at the Overcoming Addiction Together workshop Aug. 15 at Northcentral Technical College. This event will be repeated Aug. 16 in Rhinelander.

The Aug. 15 event will run from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in NTC’s Health Science Building on the Wausau Campus. Cost is $20, but students, recovery coaches and peer specialists are free.

VanVonderen will also be available for an informal conversation session from 1:15 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Also, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., people can enjoy free massage therapy mini-sessions (advanced sign-up is required). Professionals working in addiction fields, as well as members of the general public, are invited to attend.

“Quite often people try, with the best of intentions, to help themselves or their loved ones through a problem or crisis, only to discover that the help is not helpful, or even harmful,” VanVonderen said in a news release. “They find themselves supporting and helping to prolong on the outside the very thing they do not support on the inside.”

From 10:05 a.m. to noon, participants select three out of five breakout sessions centered on the theme of self-care for providers and concerned loved ones. Session options include aromatherapy, yoga, art therapy and pet therapy, mindfulness meditation and self care.

VanVonderen is the author of six books on addiction and co-founded and is the former director of Passages Counseling Center, a licensed out-patient mental health clinic in Minneapolis. He has served on the advisory boards of the National Association for Christian Recovery and Urban Ventures Foundation, and has memberships in the National Association of Alcohol and Drug Addiction Counselors, the American Association of Christian Counselors, and the Association of Intervention Specialists. He is a certified case manager interventionist – masters level (CCMI-M).

For more information about the workshop, and to register, visit northcentralwiahec.org/overcoming-addiction-together.