12-Step Facilitation and other Psychosocial Interventions

Dr. James Finch obtained his medical training at the University of South Florida College of Medicine and his residency training in Family Medicine at Lancaster General Hospital in Pennsylvania. Following a Faculty Development Fellowship at Duke University, he stayed on with the Duke Family Medicine Residency Program and with joint appointments in Family Medicine and Psychiatry, helped found and was Assistant Director of the Duke Addictions Program. After leaving Duke, Dr. Finch worked for many years in public sector mental health and substance abuse treatment and currently directs a private Addiction Medicine practice in Durham, NC called “Changes By Choice." 

He has continued to be active in local, national and international training initiatives, including the PCSS mentoring systems for buprenorphine and other opoiods, the SAMHSA sponsored Safe Opioid Prescribing workshops, and ongoing NC SBIRT initiatives in primary care and emergency room settings. He is the Clinical Training Director for Project Lazarus Community Care NC, a statewide initiative for safer use of opioid and other controlled medications. He is a Fellow of the American Society of Addiction Medicine, the Immediate Past President of the NC Society of Addiction Medicine and the Director of Physician Education for the NC Governor's Institute on Substance Abuse. 

His other life interests include being with his wife, Jane Blansfield Finch, an LCSW psychotherapist who is also an active Red Cross volunteer, three adult daughters and a grandson. He collects vintage and contemporary photography and attends modern dance and opera performances whenever possible.