Laura Cooley is a health educator with the Northwest Addiction Technology Transfer Center (Northwest ATTC), a regional health workforce training center based at the University of Washington in Seattle. She has been working on education about opioids for over a decade. Currently, her work involves technical assistance to peer organizations in Washington State aimed at boosting peers’ counseling skills; support for Recovery-Oriented Systems of Care (ROSC) in implementation; and ongoing efforts to better address opioid use challenges. For the Northwest ATTC, she works primarily in Alaska and Washington State. Recently, she developed an online course designed for peer counselors, outreach workers and others entitled Supporting Recovery from Opioid Use: A Peer’s Guide to Person-Centered Care. (Available on the HealtheKnowledge.com platform). The course offers tips for peers on how best to work with people who face opioid use challenges. A companion “Dig Deeper Toolkit is available as part of this course. (http://adai.uw.edu/nwattc/peerguide/digdeepertoolkit.pdf) Laura is originally from Maryland, went to college in New York, and practices yoga when she’s not walking or swimming in the lakes and mountains of the great Pacific Northwest. She enjoys coffee and culinary adventures.

She previously co-led a regional training program for physicians and other healthcare providers (COPE for Chronic Pain) designed to address opioid prescribing. Laura has an MA from the University of Essex, U.K., and a BA from Vassar College. She previously worked on HIV/AIDS, vaccines, and other public health programs at the international non-profit PATH, the World Bank, and other organizations.