The Future of Complex Case Management

Welcome & Panel Introductions

Drew Powell opens the roundtable and invites each panelist to introduce themselves. Tyi Reddick shares his role as Head of Case Management for Valiant Detox and his work across Colorado recovery communities. Michael Simms introduces himself as Chief Operating Officer at All Points North, a licensed clinical social worker with more than fifteen years in the field. Sherry Young describes twenty years in the industry, twenty-eight years of recovery, and her work alongside her daughter Julie at Right Fit Collaborative. Dr. Stephanie Emde, a clinical forensic psychologist, explains why she created the roundtables: a belief in collaboration and never wanting to be the smartest person in the room.

Defining Complex Case Management

The panel sets context for what complex case management means today. Simms frames it as seeing the client in their entirety, moving from a single substance-use or mental-health lens toward co-occurring, polysubstance, process addictions, family systems, and trauma. Sherry centers family systems and intergenerational pain. Tyi adds the practical layers beneath the diagnoses: housing instability, legal involvement, and multiple providers who are not talking to one another. The complexity, he notes, is coordinating all the moving parts in a way that keeps the client stable and engaged.

New Clinical Patterns Changing Care

Dr. Emde describes a rise in bipolar presentations among high-performing men, with elevated suicide risk when an identity mask is removed. She and Simms discuss engineered THC and a corresponding rise in psychosis, the shift in language from substance-induced to substance-revealed delusions, and the growing presence of Kratom marketed as wellness. Simms cites research linking adolescent marijuana use to greater long-term suicidality and notes that psychotic episodes often recur and may require lifelong management.

What Makes a Case Complex

Sherry names denial as a defining factor that no diagnosis captures, sharing an example of a client who did not initially recognize a brother’s suicide as trauma. Tyi describes how his population often normalizes severe events as ordinary life. Dr. Emde explains why she reframes “trauma” as “life events that stand out,” and Simms points to multiple treatment episodes without durable recovery as a signal to get curious about what is being missed rather than labeling it failure.

Denial & Spiritual Bypassing

Responding to an audience question about the church, Sherry introduces spiritual bypassing as a form of covert trauma and denial. Drew reflects on being taught that feelings were bad and how honest confession, like a 12-step room, creates the conditions for healing. Simms observes that unlike physicians or pilots, the church often lacks a structured way back for leaders in recovery, and points to physician health program outcomes as a model worth matching.

Collaboration Across Levels of Care

The panel turns to care coordination. Tyi describes warm handoffs, the underrated value of peer support, and a technology platform that keeps the whole care team informed across therapy, medical, and case-management touchpoints. Simms highlights treatment-team meetings that include the client and family, and names triangulation as the signal to increase support. Dr. Emde notes that the real gap is communication between facilities, and credits Sherry with helping coordinate transitions to the right next level of care.

Trauma Lens with 12-Step Recovery

Prompted by a question from Julie Hurley, the group discusses how a trauma-informed lens supports rather than replaces the 12-step model. Sherry shares her own path from daily meetings to later trauma work. Simms draws on polyvagal theory to describe co-regulation and self-regulation, arguing that learning to emotionally regulate aligns directly with 12-step principles and that stabilization helps people become able to engage.

Practical Takeaways & Closing

For practical application, Dr. Emde urges clinicians to start from the client’s own goals. Sherry reframes addiction as a solution before it became a problem, and defines the clinician’s job as helping people become conscious of what was once unconscious. Simms calls for involving outside providers and family from day one, since clients do not exist in isolation. Drew closes by noting this is the first of an ongoing Third Thursday conversation.

This is a lightly edited summary transcript. Full speaker labels and timestamps are available with the audio above.