Donna M. White

• Addiction Specialist
• Fellow-American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress
• Certified Educator-Compassion Fatigue
  
  

Donna McCarten White is the Addiction Specialist for the Lemuel Shattuck Hospital, a Public Health Hospital for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Her immediate previous position was former Program Director for the Commonwealth Research and Evaluation Unit--a conjoined program between the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health and Harvard University. She is the former Chief Operating Officer and Nurse Executive at Worcester State Hospital, the oldest publicly funded psychiatric hospital in the United States. In addition, she was Director of Nurses and the Director of Chemical Dependency Services at Pembroke Psychiatric Hospital. She is a graduate of Boston City Hospital School of Nursing and earned a BSN from Curry College in 1985. She holds an MSN from the University of Massachusetts/Boston, is a licensed drug and alcohol counselor with additional certification in advanced Drug and Alcohol Counseling, is certified in Chemical Dependency and Addictions Nursing and is an advanced practice Clinical Specialist in Public Health. Dr. White has many awards to her credit and is the 2006 recipient of the Peer Assistance Award from IntNSA. She is a Board Certified Fellow at the American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress and is a Green Cross Foundation Certified Educator in Compassion Fatigue. In 2007, she was the first recipient of the Fong-Bressler Award for Outstanding Preceptorship from the Massachusetts General Hospital Institute of Health Professions. Dr. White is the statewide Chairperson of the Massachusetts Nurses Association Addictions Council and completed her doctoral studies in Human Behavior with her dissertation in Compassion Fatigue and Vicarious Traumatization in Healthcare Professionals. She is a designated ASAP responder for traumatic events in her facility. She has lectured at many facilities and agencies nationwide and is a recognized leader in the field of Addictions, Impaired Practice and Peer Assistance, as well as Healthcare Professional stress.

Workshops, Presentations and Seminar Topics

• Compassion Fatigue-Healing the Heart-Renewing the Soul To present a new perspective on the issue of stress in Clinical Practice. Research presented will demonstrate how caretaking behaviors in the professional increase the risk of specific stressors that may lead to Compassion Fatigue. Discussion will present the profile of a Professional working in a caring capacity that is suffering from Compassion Fatigue. The interactive seminar will identify common stressors that impact performance of those professionals. The learner will be given methodologies to identify patterns of Compassion Fatigue and strategies to promote Wellness, Recovery and a renewed sense of identity as a caring professional.
  
  
• Treating the Person With an Addictive Disorder and Co-Existing Pain
  Issues: Why is it so Difficult?
  To present a healthcare perspective on the issue of pain management issues co-existing with an addictive disorder



• Treatment of Domestic Violence and Addictive Disorders in
  Cross-Cultural Populations: Framing the Issues

  To present a healthcare perspective on the issue of cultural perspectives involved in domestic violence and the interwoven strand of substance abuse
  
  
• Treatment of Alcohol Use and Abuse Utilizing
  Brief Intervention Techniques

The purpose of this workshop is to present a new perspective on how alcohol use and abuse can be treated effectively utilizing a Brief Intervention Model and why a Brief Intervention Model can be particularly useful.


Following is a list of organizations with whom Donna M. White has interviewed, consulted or trained:

Healthcare agencies nationwide

Massachusetts Nurses Association

Boston Medical Center

Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA

Beth Israel Medical Center, Boston, MA

Rochester General Hosptial, N.Y

National Emergency Healthcare Summit

Acadia Medical Center, Maine

DATA of Rhode Island

Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, N.H.

Massachusetts Department of Public Health

Nurse Practitioner Associates for Continuing Education
University of Massachusetts, Boston

Massachusetts General Hospital Institute of Health Professions
Northeastern University

Curry College

Bunker Hill Community College

Psychiatric Nurses Association of Indiana

Maine Nurses Association

Rhode Island Student Nurses Association

Community Agencies Serving Alcoholics

Boston Alzheimer's Association

International Nurses Society on Addictions

New England Psychiatric Nurses Association

National Association of Drug and Alcohol Counselors

Boston Cable Channel TV station