American International College Introduces AIConversations Tonight
SPRINGFIELD — American International College (AIC) will launch AIConversations, a discussion series highlighting important topics featuring members of the campus community, today, May 2, at 6 p.m. in the Stinger Pub on campus. The inaugural event will feature Lina Racicot, AIC’s director of Graduate Psychology, who oversees the forensic psychology and clinical psychology master’s-degree programs as well as the educational psychology and mental health counseling doctoral offerings for the college.
Racicot has decades of experience as an educator, author, researcher, clinician, and advocate. Further, she has been invited to work on a Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration grant investigating medically assisted treatment for opioid addiction.
AIConversations will include discussion of Racicot’s recently released novel, Living with the Little Devil Man, which is based upon her own experiences with a loved one’s struggle with mental illness and addiction.
“The opioid public health crisis has led to such senseless loss for so many,” she said. “Whether it be the addicted losing everything, including their own identity, or loved ones losing them to the addiction, it’s essential to open the dialogue with healthcare providers to help recognize the comprehensive needs of each unique individual that comes their way.”
In addition to her role with the college as an advocate for at-risk youth, Racicot partners with the Juvenile Detention Alternative Initiative to identify rehabilitative opportunities in lieu of imprisonment for non-violent offenders. She also works with the Hampden County Sheriff’s Department researching the efficacy of post-incarceration services.
AIConversations is free and open to the public. For more information, visit [email protected] or call the Office of Institutional Advancement at (413) 205-3520.
