Session 2: Clinical Stability and Early Remission in Addiction Treatment: Implications
for Treatment Court Decision Making
September 9, 2025 | 12:00 p.m. ET | 75 minutes

This session will provide a deep dive into the concepts of clinical stability and early remission, emphasizing their central role in guiding treatment decisions and supporting recovery within the treatment court context. Participants will examine the distinctions between clinical and psychosocial stability, review physiological and behavioral stabilization indicators, and explore how remission status, particularly during the early remission window, can inform supervision, treatment planning, and phase advancement decisions. Special attention will be given to assessment tools and pharmacotherapy (including medication for opioid use disorder and psychotropics) that support stabilization and promote sustained recovery. This session equips treatment providers with evidence-informed strategies to support individualized, stage-matched care for justice-involved individuals.

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:
1. Define clinical stability and early remission and differentiate them from psychosocial
stability in the context of addiction treatment and treatment courts.

2. Identify key clinical indicators and assessment tools used to determine physiological
stabilization and remission status.

3. Explain how early remission and clinical stability inform appropriate treatment
interventions, phase movement, and ongoing care planning for participants in treatment court programs.

Presenter(s):
Julie Seitz, L.G.S.W., M.S.W., L.A.D.C., is a project director with Impaired Driving Solutions (IDS), a division of All Rise. She joined IDS in 2018, bringing over 20 years of experience in the clinical sector and community program development. Prior, she was the clinical director of an internationally recognized treatment center offering the continuum of clinical care, including a first-of-its-kind, direct-access opioid withdrawal unit. Recognizing the many pathways to recovery and the need for additional recovery services, Ms. Seitz worked with a small team to develop and launch a recovery community organization to serve rural communities in northern Minnesota. She spent 10 years as the treatment provider for Minnesota's Sixth Judicial District DWI and Mental Health Court programs. As a published author and clinician, she has spent the last 25 years of her career giving clients a voice. Her work with clients has focused on feedback-informed, research-based, and outcome-driven practice. As a fierce advocate for education and growing the field, she is also an adjunct professor at the College of St. Scholastica in the Master of Social Work program and delivers training and technical assistance at the state, national, and international levels