Kayla Shannon: CASAT Podcast Network.

Bianca McCall: Welcome to the NOCE Dose Opioid Crisis Unplugged. The NOCE Dose Opioid Crisis Unplugged is a concise and insightful podcast offering a deeper dive into the realities faced by professionals combating the opioid epidemic. Join us as we reconnect with expert panelists from our listening sessions, providing a behind the scenes look at their work and insights into the pressing issues of prevention and diversion, harm reduction, opioid use, treatment, recovery and reoccurrence prevention. Welcome to the no Dose brought to you by the Nevada Opioid center of Excellence at nvopioidcoe.org. I'm your host with the NOCE, Bianca D. McCall. Going behind the scenes of the front lines, having courageous conversations with those who support the opioid response programming in Nevada State. Today's show is a special one we're all set to debrief after the latest the greatest no Sponsored listening session. And today we're joined by Kayla Shannon. Kayla is a licensed clinical social worker and licensed clinical alcohol and drug counselor from Spartan Parks, Nevada with degrees in social work from the University of Nevada, Reno and a master's in clinical Behavioral Health from the University of Maryland. Kayla leads as the MAT coordinator at Northern Nevada Hopes and is known for providing holistic care for adults with alcohol and opioid use disorder. Now, Kayla specializes in trauma work and addiction and is a trained yoga instructor and she integrates yoga into her trauma informed practices. And I'm so excited to be a part of this conversation and to hear how Kayla is reshaping opioid addiction treatment with a mind body approach. Kayla, thank you so much for joining the platform and connecting with us today. Tell me, how are you doing today and how have you been since December's listening session way back in 2024?

Kayla Shannon: Yes. Hi everyone. Thanks, Bianca. it's really good to be back. I have been doing good. It is funny you say that though. It feels like that was a long time ago, kind of. So it does feel like a lot has passed, but, yeah, New Year and just getting hitting the ground running, I guess. Yeah. Back into things.

Bianca McCall: And tell me, Kayla, it does seem like it was so long ago, but. But after the listening session from December, did anything kind of stick with you? Did anything land with you? Any profound statements that you took into, the brand new year 2025 with.

Kayla Shannon: Yeah, I mean, after doing our listening session, I think just a huge thing that always stands out to me with this kind of work is the collaboration and like partnership amongst people doing this work and amongst people getting into this field, it's something that I personally value so much is collaboration and working together. And so I, for me I think it was just kind of a reminder of that, of sometimes it's easy to fill a little alone in this work or a little just only tied to maybe like the agency that I'm with or you know, but I think to be able to connect with other professionals doing this and even someone represented from Vegas and other people in like rural areas and everything, it's just really great to know that we are all working towards the same thing. Yeah, yeah.

Bianca McCall: And absolutely. And what I appreciate about a ah, platform like, like the NO stos and like the no sponsored listening sessions is that you know, it does foster that, that of community. Right. The community that we rally behind. Not only just the services that we provide. Right. But it's the people behind the services. Right. It's that sense of culture and having an impact on culture and community, so that we're all connected, even the consumers in the community that are engaging our services. Is that the first step? It starts with us, right? And it starts with us connecting with each other and knowing who else is doing these amazing things, within our state of Nevada. And so what I loved from your contribution is you talked, you bring kind of that trauma informed, ingredient to the table. and all of what we talk about in terms of the services and how we treat M through the uses of medications and how we treat opioid use disorder, in our region, you know, for it to be trauma informed is, is, is taking the community and shifting from that, you know, what, what's wrong with you kind of mindset and us just out here, you know, it's us versus them. There's those degrees of separation and migrating to the what happened to you and empowering people to be you know, operators and owners of their own narratives. Right. And their, their own stories. And for some they're trauma stories, they're pain stories and, and co creating or collaborating to create these safe spaces so that people are able to tell their pain stories. Right. and in order to do that, you know, I'm thinking about this post listening session. In order to do that, there has to be, you know, these courageous conversations where mutual validation and understanding occurs and understanding that people have these expansive trauma profiles. And we talked about this during the listening session. We talked about the expansiveness of trauma profiles, especially for individuals with opioid, use disorders. And I believe there was a question asked, how do we treat expansive, trauma profiles. Right. And reduce the exposure, to trauma that's happening as a result of engaging our systems, and in our overwhelmed systems of care. Right. And you mentioned, concurrent treatment. I believe you mentioned concurrent treatment and the integration of policies and practice to support holistic treatment. Right. So to start us off, Kayla, will you first, take us on a deeper dive of what expansive trauma profiles looks like in Nevada communities? And the second part of this question is what does integration of holistic treatments, like mindfulness, like yoga, what does that look like in conjunction with medically assisted treatment for opioid disorders?

Kayla Shannon: Yeah, absolutely. I mean you ask really great questions. These are big questions. Things that you know, we, yeah, take a. Take a lot of time to really work through and focus on in this work. And One thing I actually want to go back. I don't know if this directly answers your question, but something that came to mind while you were speaking that I think is really important to note is this idea of not like re. Traumatizing people in this system and coming into treatment and therapy. And I, I really value a lot of. Some of the. The big names and legends of like therapists and psychologists and psychiatrists in, in our field that have kind of led the way of like trauma informed care. And so I got to go to a really neat conference this last summer and something. Janina Fisher, I have to give her credit, she's really amazing. And something that she really brought forth was just this idea of giving people permission, right. To tell their stories in the time that they're ready to tell their stories. And so sometimes as a clinician and as a therapist, that can be a hard thing to balance when the reality is we do have some checkboxes that we have to hit for like insurances and reimbursement purposes. but to not get lost in that. Right. And that, that we are really. I am really trying to have person centered care. And so you know, I just always remember that when I'm. When I'm meeting someone for the first time or I'm really establishing that rapport when someone's coming into treatment, to be able to give them permission that a lot of times in their trauma and in their history, things that have happened to them or things that they have experienced were very out of their control. And so this is an opportunity for us as clinicians to put that control back into someone's life and say, hey, you get to tell Me when you're ready to talk about this, you know, and if you're ready to talk about this and and we can. I, you know, I really try to match their pace and go with what is comfortable for them. So I just want to throw that out there too.

Bianca McCall: I love that, I love that. Give permission in trauma informed care and giving permission to people to tell their stories. So going back to that question of what does expansive trauma profiles look like first, what I'm hearing from you is first we've got to give people permission and that's the way to collaborate in creating that safe space. And once we give permission, what are you hearing once you've given permission the people to share their journeys. What are you hearing? that that is unique perhaps to Nevada communities. What do, what do these trauma profiles look like?

Kayla Shannon: Yeah, I think what's unique about our area that most of us you know, know and are aware of is that we are this 24 hour kind of town and city. And so I think for people who are like native to this area from this area, that is something that we grow up with of just feeling pretty normal. Right. And being exposed to more substances. I think from a younger age is, is pre. Is a little more normal here. because of the nature of, of the city and our. Yeah. That most of us are used to growing up in. And so I mean it ranges. It's, it's. Yeah it's definitely a range. It can. I think a lot of trauma stems from childhood for sure. For many of the folks that I work with. I also work particularly with a lot of folks that are referred to us through like court programs and court systems. And so unfortunately you know there is, there's trauma that comes from time of being incarcerated maybe. whether that is like local jails or state prisons. and as well as just having this like co occurring disorder that a lot of times people. It. Sometimes it can be this chicken or the egg debate of like what comes first, you know, of the substance use or like the mental health condition. but what we do know for sure is that they, they go together. And so we have to be able to look at yeah people's just each individual and unique story. And a lot of times once people if they have not already experienced trauma by the time they are using substances, a lot of times that comes with different traumatic experiences. Like now we know like the fentanyl, right. A lot of overdoses, increased overdoses are happening and different Things are happening within our community. And you know, oftentimes people that, that I, that I work with are people who have also experienced a lot of loss of their friends and family and, and people that they've been around.

Bianca McCall: Sure, sure.

Kayla Shannon: Gosh.

Bianca McCall: So, so just with your explanation you, you've got people as they are, are feeling safe enough to, to share their, their journeys, their, their histories, their, their sometimes their trauma or pain stories. we're learning that their identity, right, is largely is. Is expansive in itself. the expansion of their trauma profiles really I think it's parallel runs, parallel to their identities. Right? Their expansive identities, all the communities that they may identify with and all the communities in which they engage. And so not just coming in, engaging maybe like the substance use, disorder community. Right. Or just focused on that one challenge, but, but co occurring with perhaps some other challenges, as well as comorbidities, right. That have them engaged, intermittently with our medical and healthcare systems, with our corrections, or justice systems with engaged in several different communities, through our behavioral healthcare systems. And so we start to kind of look at this whole person, you know, being revealed, to us, you know, in just an initial screening, right for treatment. We see this whole person and we see where perhaps the opioid use disorder has impacted different parts of this whole person. Right? And so it makes sense, it makes sense to then say hey, we've got to integrate a whole person, treatment and services and supports. Right? Holistic treatment, like the mindfulness, like the yoga. And so what does that look like, what does that look like in an mat space when we're talking about healthcare, behavioral healthcare at the clinics, at the counseling agencies and things like that. What is, what is integrated, holistic treatment look like and successfully. Right, look like, you know, in some of the programs that, that you've worked in.

Kayla Shannon: Yeah, absolutely. So we model our program based off an integrated care type setting. So I said this in a listening session, but yeah, SAMHSA states that being able to provide a team that can treat co occurring disorders improves outcomes for individuals who have substance use disorder. And so we take a lot of pride in being able to say that we have a great team that can provide both medical and behavioral health to, to our patients. And so what that looks like is someone will come in and oftentimes we do try to focus on getting them connected with the mat provider first so that someone is feeling better and Getting a little more stable physically. because when someone's in maybe like withdrawal or you know, still in those beginning stages of reducing use and all those things, it's a little harder to be able to focus on like the behavioral health side of things, when you're not feeling good. So we try to help people, people just kind of get stable with that first. And when they come into their medical visits, they can also have access to the behavioral health team in those visits so they can have support still like emotionally, to get through that time really as they're getting stable. And so sometimes that looks like through a therapist, sometimes that looks like through a peer support specialist which we really value and love having on our team. someone with lived experience who can really relate to them and just provide support, support to them during that time. And then we also have a case manager who can help just meet maybe some of their practical needs if someone is needing access to food or safe housing or those types of things. And so try to address just kind of those like physical needs first. And then once we get someone feeling a little more stable, then we can really offer them like the full menu of the behavioral health options. And so that's where I come into play more. and we can get people connected to therapy. And so we do that through individual and group therapy. And so when we provide individual therapy then of course that's just an individualized treatment plan based on what that person's needs are. And so that everyone may be coming in on that different level of some are a little more ready to, to dive in and be able to really focus on healing some of those past pains and traumas. you know, other people we start with maybe a more different focus of kind of just like relapse prevention, really supporting in that way first.

Bianca McCall: Yeah, same. Yeah, yeah. And you know, and with regards to your, your training and being a 200 hour certified, yoga trainer. Right. With regards to your, your training with yoga, again I'm kind of making these connections where, where a lot of it is, is, is aligned here. Yoga, you know, known to improve trauma, related symptoms that are both psychological, and physiological, you know, impacting the, the psychological and physiological effects. because you mentioned with this type of treatment, it's you know, you're addressing the physical, right. Or the physiological symptoms, you know, beforehand before you're able to address the psychological effects. And I see how yoga as a holistic treatment, can certainly, you know, benefit, benefit, those that are, that are engaged in medically assisted treatment. also, can you talk a little bit more about kind of the benefits of a yoga practice, for example? things like the increased body awareness and emotional regulation and inflammation and regulation of the nervous system and all those things. But how does your practice in yoga or what, connects you, you know, with the yoga practice and how you integrate that into your, your therapy practices?

Kayla Shannon: Yeah, well, you nailed it. You named so many benefits already of yoga. but yeah, there's those benefits and many more that come with yoga. And so I, I originally actually started doing yoga just for my own personal practice and found that it was so beneficial. And so that's how I actually really wanted to be able to bring yoga, and make it more accessible to people who are not always able to just access yoga. yoga studios are fun and awesome and there's a place for that. And I wanted to be able to bring it to people who might not just show up at a yoga studio. And so what's been really cool about being able to incorporate this practice here is people that you may, I don't know, just not expect to show up to a yoga class, are willing to come and show up and try it. And so the benefits that I have seen for people is it really helps people start to just slow down. And a grounding is a really big skill that I, that I teach when I am helping someone, specifically through like trauma therapy. being able to have grounding and mindfulness skills is really, really important to be able to do that work. because the truth is too, I'm not able to really open up some of those past painful times and moments. Right. If it's not, if someone doesn't have those skills to be able to regulate and to be able to train themselves too. And so is really like the foundational practice to being able to walk someone through a deeper healing journey really is how I see it. And so we do a lot of breath work attached with movement, and really just, yeah, moving your body is so beneficial on like, like you mentioned a physical level but also a mental and emotional level. And so I think, I think the, the major benefit with yoga is that yeah, it impacts so many different areas positively by just doing the one thing you can hit so many targets. And so that's why we found it to be really helpful.

Bianca McCall: Yeah, and I appreciate you too, bringing up the perception factor where the trauma informed yoga can be perceived better. Right. By vulnerable individuals. And people who use drugs communities, as a practice people might be more willing to walk into a yoga studio for this type of holistic benefit. they may be more inclined to do that than walking into a healthcare ah, clinic. Right. Or behavioral healthcare clinic. And so the perceived benefits by the community at large I think is really important to kind of bring up. and this is also linked to a lot of research that suggests the same that these communities are more inclined to engage in these types of practices for the physiological and the psychological benefits, especially those in correctional systems which you mentioned beforehand. and also fun fact, because I tell people all the time I love data. I'm a bit of a nerd. Right. So according to the national center of Addiction and Substance Abuse, there's a high prevalence of substance use disorder among incarcerated individuals. Right. This is what we know. And during the listening session you made the statement that treatment in or at one location increases the success of the, of the intervention. And you mentioned in your last response, multidisciplinary teams, integrated care models, those have a positive impact on outcomes. And I wonder how might this apply to work being done in partnership, in collaboration, in referral based or actually on site at location at correctional facilities. Right. How might this apply considering that it's been very recent. Right. Recently that there's been a national effort to expand MAT to incarcerated populations in Nevada. I believe we began kind of piloting these programs during the pandemic. But what's your experience been in working with individuals that are engaged in corrections in the justice system? Yeah.

Kayla Shannon: While while I haven't had any experience myself working specifically with like inside the correctional facility, I've definitely worked with many individuals who have been incarcerated or are still involved in like criminal justice system when they come out. And so I, I absolutely see being able to offer all of these interventions, whether it's yoga or mat, as huge opportunities, while people are within correctional facilities, like you mentioned, if it's. There's just so many benefits to it. And so if we're really moving towards being able to offer more like rehabilitative services, then both of these things would be a huge benefit for these individuals. I know specifically for mat. well, I think we have to say too like the reality is we know that substance use still occurs within correctional facilities. Right. And so being able to use MAT could maybe help reduce that potentially. And really also then Being able to set someone up to start that stabilization of, of like physically feeling more stable and being able to actually start to consider and work towards what that would mean. to work towards a lifestyle without using substances. Right. And being able to start that process while they are incarcerated, and then being linked up more to services when they are discharged too would be, would be a huge link. and something that at Northern Nevada Hopes like we are really interested in, in being a part of that work and being able to be a place that people can come to, you know, when, when they are released and being able to already have like those resources set up. So I think that there's a really huge opportunity for that there and would really just put someone a few steps even further in their journey of being able to work towards some other goals that they have.

Bianca McCall: Yeah. Yeah. So you mentioned Northern Nevada Hopes and, and and and kind of the services that, that that you provide there. can you let us know and let the professionals in the opioid treatment spaces, know that are. That are listening to to our episode today. Can you let us know how do we connect with you and what types of things can we call you for? Call you and in Nevada, Northern Nevada Hopes.

Kayla Shannon: Yeah, absolutely. So I'll start with just Northern Nevada Hopes. As, as a healthcare community we now have two locations and so anyone can come and establish for primary care here at either of our locations. One on fifth street and we have a brand new building over on fourth street. And so you can just call the main number and schedule an appointment to get established with primary care. And then specifically for what I do with Matt, we have a mat cel number that I'll actually give out but anyone can utilize. it is also found on our website but it is 775-737-1326 and so anyone who is interested in being a client, and a patient receiving those mat services can call that number and get more information. or anyone who is m. Maybe working like a community partner and wants to be able to collaborate more. You can also reach out or if you are trying to coordinate care for a client, please reach out through that number and that's available Monday through Friday. Anyone on our team can answer questions. If you would like to connect with me personally about any collaborations or partnerships, I'm always open to doing that and hearing you out on that and, and seeing how we can work together. And so you are welcome to contact me by email which is K. Shannon hopes.org thank you so much. I just want to say I appreciate this opportunity and I also agree that this work of just being able to continue to get education out in the community is so important. and for my message for the one person would be that, I just think that this work and stepping, whether you're working on the professional side of things or whether you're someone who's stepping into exploring what it would be like, to maybe reduce or, discontinue substance use. This work takes a lot of courage and bravery. And so, I guess I would just want to invite you to step into that and take that first step and to know that this is a community that's really growing, to offer more and more resources and more support. So, people care and people are here to help and, just come be a part of that with us.

Bianca McCall: Kayla, thank you so much for joining us today and sharing your incredible insights on trauma, addiction and holistic healing. Your work is truly inspiring and we are so grateful for the impact that you're making in the lives of so many. And thank you to everyone for tuning into this episode. If you found value in today's conversation, be sure to subscribe, to share and to leave a review. Stay connected with us for more inspiring stories and impactful discussions. Until next time, take care and be well. Thank you for listening to the nostos, the Opioid Epidemic Unplugged. We hope that you found this episode compelling and informative, and we ask that you please share this episode with your friends and your colleagues. And if you want to learn more, please visit our website at nvopioidcoe.org the NOCE Dose podcast is brought to you by the Nevada Opioid center of Excellence, or NOCE. NOCE is dedicated to developing and sharing evidence, informed training, and offering technical assistance to professionals and community members alike. Now, whether you are a care provider or a concerned community member, NOCE provides resources to support those affected by opioid use. Funding for this activity was made possible in whole or in part by the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services, DHHS Director's Office through the Fun for Resilient Nevada.

Kayla Shannon: CASAT Podcast Network. This podcast has been brought to you by the CASAT Podcast Network, located within the center for the Application of Substance Abuse Technologies, a part of the School of Public Health at the University of Nevada, Reno. For more podcast information and resources, visit casat.org.