It Takes a Team: One Member’s Mission to Empower All Disciplines Involved in Addiction Care

Judith Cole, MSN, AGPCNP-BC, WHNP-BC, CARN-AP

In 2019, Judith Cole, MSN, AGPCNP-BC, WHNP-BC, CARN-AP, moved to New York City to start a new position as a primary care and women’s health nurse practitioner at Care for the Homeless. The job took her to women’s shelters across the Bronx. While providing addiction treatment was not originally on her radar, she quickly saw how substance use disorders impacted the patients she cared for.

Judith recalled several moving experiences caring for patients, including many women with substance use disorder. These encounters inspired a shift in her career, which she originally thought would be solely focused on primary care and obstetrics / gynecology.

"I now practice one hundred percent in addiction medicine," said Judith, who has been an ASAM associate member since 2023. "And I wouldn’t look back for a moment."

This jump into addiction care happened, in part, out of necessity. While Judith obtained her X-waiver in 2019 to prescribe buprenorphine for opioid use disorder, she wasn’t immediately using it. In a siloed care system, her focus remained on primary care and women’s health, while another prescriber oversaw addiction care and medications for addiction treatment, she explained. It wasn’t until that sole prescriber left that Judith realized patients would lose access to their medication treatment.

"It was something I knew I had to take on in order to help fill a gap in care," she said. With her X-waiver in place, she was able to step in and begin offering buprenorphine as part of broader addiction care services.

Judith immediately saw the power of integrating primary care, women’s health, and addiction medicine under one umbrella. The pieces came together to form a complete picture of her patients’ health.

One specific encounter stands out to her as the moment when things started to click into place. Her patient was a mother. She was struggling with opioid use disorder. And she was fighting to regain custody of her child.

"She had a hard time wanting to start medication for opioid use disorder because her family really believed that willpower and prayer would get her through this," recounted Judith. "She went through a lot of internal strife over that and felt like she was failing as a mother."

Judith explained that through routine primary care, she was able to build the trust needed for patients to speak honestly about substance use and accept support without fear of judgment.

"I realized all she truly needed was someone to listen to her and to believe in her," said Judith. "That was something I was good at doing because I cared deeply, but I had not been able to understand how the care components worked together in addiction medicine. But really at its core, the most important thing you can do working in this field is build trust and relationships with the people you care for."

Finding her niche at the intersection of women’s health and addiction care, she continued to seek out specialized education, later becoming a Certified Addiction Registered Nurse – Advanced Practice (CARN-AP). As her career progressed, she eventually found her way to ASAM, where she’s become a passionate champion for supporting fellow advanced practice providers and the larger associate member community.

Empowering a Diverse Addiction Treatment Workforce

Judith first joined ASAM and the New York Society of Addiction Medicine (NYSAM) in 2023 to connect with local colleagues doing similar work. She says the inclusive environment encouraged her to share her experiences as an advanced practice provider and associate member.

"I credit NYSAM with really creating that space for associate members to be valued and take on leadership roles," said Judith, who served for two years as NYSAM’s conference co-chair and is the newly elected treasurer. "I really appreciate the people who have advocated for more associate member involvement. Seeing newer people get involved, gain experience, and be able to move the organization along, as well as having more diverse voices in the mix — it’s been great."

Her experience advocating for diversifying the workforce and elevating associate members eventually led her to join ASAM’s Membership Council in 2025.

She’s also part of ASAM’s newly created Advanced Practice Provider (APP) Subcommittee, chaired by Jeanne Wiggins, PMHNP-BC, PMHCNS-BC, PMH-C, CARN-AP and Shay McNeal, ANP-C, CSAP, CARN-AP, PMH-BC. The goal of the subcommittee is to continue to advance engagement, representation, and support for APPs within ASAM, especially as this membership group continues to grow.

Judith also co-champions the recently launched associate member community, alongside Marianne Fingerhood, DNP, ANP-BC, CNE, a fellow addiction nurse practitioner. The group is open to pharmacists, nurses, behavioral health specialists, and other associate members. Monthly virtual meetings and sessions are intended to showcase the expertise of its members while also fostering meaningful collaboration and peer-to-peer learning.

"It’s exciting to see the momentum building within this associate member community," said Judith. "So many professions are vital to the work of addiction care. We want to promote this as an inclusive group and have a pathway that elevates all these crucial specialties."

In addition to virtual engagement, associate members had an in-person meet-up at the Annual Conference, which Judith described as feeling like a "homecoming."

"It’s been a really wonderful opportunity to connect with people that do this work and are passionate like you," said Judith about her Annual Conference experience.

Volunteering through her state chapter and ASAM national has been incredibly gratifying, she said.

"I’ve found myself thinking about ideas and projects in the middle of the night and wondering, ’Why am I staying up and thinking about a volunteer position?’" said Judith. "But I think volunteering with ASAM really feeds into my creativity, enthusiasm, and energy for this work."