Patricia O’Gorman (Photo provided)

SARANAC LAKE — St. Joseph’s Addiction Treatment and Recovery Centers’ consulting psychologist with its adolescent and veterans programs is the recipient of the National Association for Children of Addiction’s Ackerman/Black Award.

Patricia O’Gorman’s research and advocacy in the early 1970s helped to lay the groundwork for children of alcoholics being seen as a high-risk group for addiction. She subsequently became the first director of the Department of Prevention for the then National Council on Alcoholism, National Office, and then became the director of the Division of Prevention for the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

O’Gorman co-founded the National Association for Children of Addiction, worked in child welfare, and is the author of nine books on the impact of addiction on children, families and women. The titles include “Healing Trauma Through Self-Parenting,” co-authored with Phil Diaz, and “The Resilient Woman.”

The award presentation occurred on Dec. 6 at the Johns Hopkins University Symposium on Children in Families Affected by Addiction in Baltimore, Maryland.