AUBURN — The Maine Association for Infant Mental Health will host a conference titled “Creating New, Healthy Links: Breaking the Generational Chain of Addiction,” featuring physician and author, Gabor Mate, M.D.

The conference will be held from 8:15 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Friday, May 11, at the Hilton Garden Inn. Deadline for registration is May 4; registration will not be available at the door.

The author of “In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters With Addiction,” according to Mate, “Brain development in the uterus and during childhood is the single most important biological factor in determining whether or not a person will be predisposed to substance dependence and to addictive behaviors.”

According to MeAIMH board member Ellen Martzial, “It hardly matters which of his four publications I am reading, Dr. Mate’s deep understanding of attachment theory as a driving force in human behavior is a unifying concept.”

In addition to Mate’s discussion how addiction arises in one generation and how it affects the next, there will be a presentation by panelists who are members of the Bridging Program of the Washington County Community Caring Collaborative and the Penquis District Linking Project. Both programs are involved with substance-affected families in Maine.

Mate ran a family practice in East Vancouver, Canada, for two decades. For seven years he also served as medical coordinator of the Palliative Care Unit at Vancouver Hospital, caring for the terminally ill. More recently he worked for 12 years in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside neighborhood with patients suffering from hardcore drug addiction, mental illness and HIV.

Mate is also the author of books on addiction, parenting, stress and attention deficit disorders.

For more information and/or to register, go to www.infantmentalhealth.org or contact Debra Nugent Johnston at (207) 375-8184 or [email protected].