Bianca McCall: 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. This listening session is being brought to you by the Nevada Opioid Center of Excellence, also known by the acronym NOCE. My name is Bianca D. McCall. I'm your moderator for today's listening session, which will address the stigma surrounding substance use disorder and its impact on people who use drugs communities, particularly people who use opioids and are receiving treatment. And together at last, we'll explore ways of fostering recovery friendly spaces in the workplace and across mixed communities. So the main objectives for today are for us to leave with a gained knowledge of evidence based recurrence prevention strategies effective for today's people who use drugs communities. And here comes the action with the knowledge. I'm going to marry the terms action and knowledge which fun fact in real life. I'm also an ordained minister, Jamie, so we'll have to add that to the bio. But with that I pronounce you acknowledging and or adopting two or more strategies for challenging and reducing stigma to create an environment that encourages individuals to seek help help and become actively engaged in their recovery. And our panel of incredible subject matter m experts will share their insights about the importance of creating recovery friendly spaces in both the workplace and across communities and understanding how these spaces can contribute to sustained recovery and recurrence prevention. So our intentions to meet said objectives are grounded in the mutual agreement of these rules, of our two thumbs up culture at NOCE but we are here to actively listen to the unique and diverse perspectives of the speakers. we'll demonstrate respecting others viewpoints, maintaining an open mind and willingness to learn and to hear different perspectives without preconceived notions. Also with the focus being on mutual validation and understanding and please note in the event any parts of this conversation or comments activate an undesirable response for you, you may submit a comment or question via direct message to our technical team and we will address your concerns promptly and otherwise. program references and resources will be provided to you at the conclusion of this listening section. So now you can relax your two thumbs up and now I have the absolute pleasure of introducing these champions that you see here on the screen of leadership and service in our opioid response communities. Help me to offer a warm welcome to our panelists for today's session. I'm going to begin with Cheryl Nixon. And Cheryl is a Nevada Strong Verified Certified Peer Recovery support specialist since 2018. Cheryl's in recovery themselves and loves to give back to the recovery community. Now Cheryl's worked alongside community partners like Washoe County Crossroads women and children's programs, and in 2022, Sheryl accepted a position with the North Nevada Hopes as a lead peer support specialist. Now Cheryl is highly regarded and recognized for her inspirational work with Northern Nevada hopes, delivering a memorable and moving keynote at the annual HOPES conference recently. And Cheryl also received the Inspire Award by the Nevada Dry Society Gala. So Cheryl, she's a beacon of hope for so many in Nevada. Thank you so much Cheryl for joining us today. And I look forward forward to the gems that you're going to bring to today's discussion. And moving on to the next is Daniel Fred, now director of Nevada Recovery and Prevention Program, which goes by the acronym nrap. Okay. And Daniel. And NRAP is housed at the University of Nevada, Reno, gopack. And I'm going to mention Daniel's greatest achievements in the order that he listed them on his bio. So Daniel has been in long term recovery since 2000 and I'm sorry, since July of 2002 and has been married to his amazing wife Christy since 2004. And together they're raising three incredible daughters who keep life exciting. So I want to name the most important achievements. Right, Christy and their daughters. The most important. And then also Daniel's got an lithany of achievements in the professional space. he's a graduate of Texas Tech University, where he was a member of the Collegiate Recovery Program and fell in love with the world of recovery support. That passion led him to the University of Nevada Reno where he earned his master's degree in Human Development Family Sciences, specializing in addiction treatment services. And now Daniel has helped build up programs and empower future generations in the workforce. He teaches addiction treatment stud. He's, been recognized as faculty of the Year not once but twice. And recovery education and inspiration, those are his jams. Right. And previously he has served as the director of recovery and national outreach at Transforming Youth Recovery and on multiple local and national advisory boards working to expand recovery resources and break the stigma of addiction. And now we're going to travel to Southern Nevada To Teresa Sands.


 

And Teresa is a devoted advocate, an educator, a leader dedicated to advancing addiction recovery and promoting injury prevention initiatives statewide. Now, Teresa was born and raised in the fabulous Las Vegas, Nevada. And for the attitude on the line, the answer is no. She does not live in a casino. Okay? But Teresa does deeply connect to her strong roots in the community and brings a unique perspective to her work. she holds a bachelor's of Science degree in human services with a focus on addiction studies from Indiana Tech. And she is pursuing her Master's of Social work at the University of Nevada, Reno. And she's also a Nevada verified and certified Peer Recovery Support Specialist. Blending professional expertise with such unique lived experience. Now, Teresa has survived 18 years in entertainment and show business, so she's bringing to you today intentional shares around the unique experiences of special populations like entertainers, and around her professional experiences impacting the culture with sex workers and survivors of sex trafficking. Now, Teresa, she's a proud member of the Recovery Advocacy Project, Nevada. She's also a Nevada chapter lead for young people in recovery. Teresa is a leader in reaching underserved groups, and she inspires in her facilitation of educational workshops and distribution of resources. Welcome, Teresa. Thank you for joining us today.


 

And to round out our esteemed panelists, this is a personal favor of mine to speak about, the fabulous Rhonda Fairchild. Now, Rhonda became a member of the Las Vegas Recovery Community 31 years ago after being introduced to a 12 step program during her stay at a local rehabilitation facility. Now, in 2009, she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in geology from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. that other university. Go Nevada Systems for Higher Education. And after graduation from Nevada Systems for Higher Education, Rhonda transitioned her career to substitute teaching. And she served as a life skills instructor at the Clark County School District's Mission High School, which was the first all public school for young people with substance use disorders. Now, Rhonda is also the Housing Director at the Tin Hai Sober Living and Treatment Programs, a collaborative partner with apg, the alternative peer group, which is a recovery community center for teens and young adults. Thank you for joining us, Rhonda. Thank you all for joining us. And on behalf of our panelists and our team here at nos, we are absolutely delighted to have everyone on the line participating in today's session. And if you haven't done so already, please feel free to drop your name, your title or credentials and organization that you're representing here today in that chat for me and the NOS team will Be actively monitoring the chat for your responses and comments throughout today's sessions. And we'll carve out some time at a couple of points today to reflect on those comments and questions as they are welcomed and again, incredibly helpful for us to meet the event's objectives.


 

So let's begin with raising awareness around some of the issues that we're seeing impact, recovery and recurrence for people who use drugs, communities and intentionally speaking on stigma as its impact on people using opioids. And I want to start off, and I'm going to start in the south here. I want to ask Rhonda, Rhonda, how does stigma manifest in treatment settings and what are some real life examples that you have that you've encountered where stigma was a barrier to recovery?

Bianca McCall: Thanks, Bianca, and thanks for the question. so I used to work for Behavioral Health Group and we were trying to get, MAT medications into the prisons for people who, needed it and wanted it. And I did many meetings with the Nevada Department of Corrections, medical staff, nursing doctors, and I could not get through to them that Matt was a needed medication for them. And they, they had all the stigma behind it.

Bianca McCall: Right.

Bianca McCall: They're not really sober. If they're taking mat, they're going to share it with their friends. we believe in an abstinence based prison system, which I thought was hilarious because you can get any drug you want in prison. and the big one was when they said to me, if we put Suboxone in a prison system, they're going to share it, with other people in the prison system. And I was like, good, maybe they'll all get off of heroin. so that's the big one. The Nevada Department of Corrections and I am happy to announce that after working on that project for I think almost four years, they do now accept MAT medications in the Nevada Department of Corrections. So there was, there was some, it took us a long time, you know, and a lot of meetings and and a lot of education, right, with, with the specialist doctors and nurses. but they finally, they finally do it. So I'm really, really excited about that. And then, I have a family member who's on Suboxone and my m. Family doesn't understand why he's still on Suboxone. Right? So there's even in a family where there is education, where there, you know, where we do talk about it, where it is accepted, where it is, common, you know, in our family, there's still stigma related around it. so that's what I'm seeing, currently and a little bit from the past. Thanks.

Bianca McCall: Sure.

Teresa Sands: sure.

Bianca McCall: No, thank you so much for sharing that. And perhaps what resonated with me the most out of what you said is that even in environments where there is education, there is some familiarity, with engagement, with approaches, with resources, and certainly education around or awareness around rather, stigma. Even in these environments that are so well supported, stigma still exist. Right. there's just such a high prevalence still.


 

And so Rhonda, keeping the conversation kind of aligned there, with stigma still existing, have you been able to experience or see any type of reduction in that stigma, in these areas, whether it be professionally or even within your own family. And what's kind of contributed to, to that reduction, you know, related to events in our community.

Bianca McCall: So I think that Nevada has done an ah, incredible amount of work trying to reduce stigma. And we really, I think it's just about the people standing up and saying that's not right. You know, if, if I'm in a conversation with someone about MAT medications and they say, oh, that's not, they're not sober or they're not clean, if they're taking Suboxone, can I, can I calmly have a discussion with them? Because I want to get angry because mat medications have saved family members lives and I want to get angry. and so can I calmly try to help them understand, you know, that if I say my, my family member is on Suboxone and they immediately attack me, if I would have said my family member is on insulin, would they have attacked me the same way?

Bianca McCall: Right.

Bianca McCall: We don't think about it. If, you know, my family member is on a medication that we have all agreed is okay. Right. Yet the same conditions apply for someone being on insulin. That applies for some being on MAT medications. If they would adjust their lifestyle, if they would eat right, if they would exercise, if they, you know, then they wouldn't need the insulin either. But we've come m to accept that. And so I do see that the more we talk about it, the more people are starting to accept it. It's not a, you know, in our sober living homes now for tin high, when somebody comes in and they say they're on mat medications, nobody bats an eye. You know, it's, it's totally acceptable. It's okay. It's, you know, we encourage them to stay on it as long as their doctor wants them to stay on it. we encourage them to stay on it forever. You know, there's no end date. So, I have seen it with me, first off, because I was years ago one of those people. and so with me, I see that I have changed and grown because of education and because of the state of Nevada's efforts in reducing stigma. And I've also seen it in our community. Not enough, but I do see it.

Bianca McCall: Sure, sure. thank you so much for that.


 

And when you say, I just want to get angry, and I think about when we're angry, we tend to use some choice language, don't we, when we're angry? And so this next question I want to pass towards Teresa and say, or ask, rather, can you let us know what role does language play into reinforcing or dismantling stigma surrounding substance use disorder? And what are some terms that we should eliminate from our vocabulary altogether? Right. Or at least be able to identify when we are in that space of being just angry?

Teresa Sands: Absolutely. No, that's an amazing question. So when it comes to stigmatizing language, anyone that knows me, first off, knows that I'm a huge advocate for person centered, person first language. Really, that was ingrained in me early on with my training with ypr. That was something they put you through, like, stigma workshops in the first couple weeks of getting involved with ypr. So it's ingrained in my soul. when it comes to stigma language, it really dehumanizes the individual, Right. So it reinforces stereotypes. It can make that individual feel less than. So it's really important to be mindful of, A, who your audience is and B, what the message, is that you're trying to portray. So, for example, if you're in a room, you're talking to elected officials, you're not going to go in there and be like, hey, I'm a junkie and I did this, this, and this. Because that's A, it's kind of jarring and kind of cringy on their, you know, on their side of the street. And if you really want them to open up and see the message that we recover, we want to portray that with our language. Right. So, for instance, even the word this is a very common one. Substance abuse. I hear it all the time still. A, it doesn't make sense. you can't abuse substances. Substances are a chemical compound. So unless you are punching a bag of fentanyl, you're not. That doesn't make sense. The term itself doesn't make sense. Plus, I want to preface, if you are punching a bag of fentanyl you can't overdose because you cannot overdose from touching fentanyl. Okay, I digress. But with that being said, like substance abuse, so a way to tailor that conversation to align with the individual and support them and make sure that they know that they have human rights is to say, hey, maybe you have a problematic relationship with substances. Right?

Bianca McCall: Yeah.

Teresa Sands: So there's those very simple things that we can do to spread the message that we recover addict or junkie. We can use the term, person with a substance use disorder, which is a very common one that, that I see recently, that, is tailing to the right direction with language. Another one that I see a lot is, dirty or clean. Like I have a clean UDS or I have a dirty uds. And again, that doesn't make sense. Like, are we putting dirt in the uds? Like, just the term itself that you have a dirty UDS doesn't. Doesn't check out. So just being mindful, saying I have a positive uds, and just being mindful again, of who you're speaking to, what the message is that you're trying to portray, and just making sure you spread a message that we do get better and that we're not making the situation more harmful for the individual.

Bianca McCall: Yeah, I love that, and am interested as we go throughout this conversation, learning a little bit more about how we can, replace or what we replace some of these outdated terms with, because language is so important.


 

And I love what you said about relationships, you know, and having a relationship with the substance and being able to identify what that relationship is like, and empower all that's involved in the relationship, to reframe, to shift paradigm to being more person centered. Right? And when we look at building and, nurturing relationships, which everything, you know, everything that we do behaviorally. Right. Everything that has to do with our mental health or our state of being in terms of our mental health, it all comes down to relationships and building and nurturing relationships. that looks different, the process in which we do that, that looks different from different cultures in different communities. there are different cultural rules and roles in how we develop these relationships. And so, Teresa, staying with you, I'd like to know what are some unique challenges that special populations, special communities and cultures, what are some unique challenges that face regarding stigma and how we can tailor those individuals or those interventions, rather. Excuse me, how can we tailor our interventions to support some of these special populations?

Teresa Sands: Another really good question. So let's take sex workers or people that use Drugs as an example. So oftentimes they're reluctant to reach out for resources. There's a barrier to access to healthcare regarding stigma and the shame that they may face or even criminal, you know, penalties that they may face for reaching out. also barriers to housing. I know Rhonda just mentioned that there are sober livings out there that are accepting mat medications and that's amazing and I'm so excited we're moving in that direction. But there's also some that don't and there's not a whole lot of sober livings out there. So like making sure that we have enough resources for all people. And again, employment is a big one. And also just the mindset that not everyone is looking for a rescue. Right? Like sex workers aren't necessarily looking to get out of their industry. They're looking for supportive services. They're looking for a mentor, they're looking for a safe ob GYN that they can go to and not face judgment. I want to use myself in my lived experience as an example, and it is a layman, example, but I went to my primary care doctor many years ago and I was transparent that I had a substance use disorder that I identified in the queer space. And automatically I was labeled as engaging in high risk sexual activity even though I had disclosed that I was with the same partner for many, many years. And there's just those little things that divert people from actually asking for help. And although it might seem minute, again just knowing the audience, being culturally competent of the demographic that we're serving so that we can best reach that individual.

Bianca McCall: Gosh, I love that and thank you so much for sharing even your personal lived experience, engaging kind of healthcare, behavioral healthcare system, and that implicit bias if you will, that exists that fuels and feeds into the stigma surrounding substance use, and the relationships that people have with substances or who are using substances. I think about special populations like you brought up Theresa, sex workers, survivors of certain industries and sex trafficking, and just the kind of, you know, maintain this alignment with how can we better impact and empower these special populations, these special spaces in our communities.


 

and Cheryl, I want to bring the conversation to you to talk about these community spaces like faith based organizations or recreational centers, social clubs, how can these spaces contribute to creating recovery friendly environments, to avoid the engagement or the experiences something like Teresa has experienced and shared with us today. How can we as a community and some of these cultural specific pockets within our communities, ah, like faith based and social club. How can we contribute to creating these recovery friendly environments?

Cheryl Nixon: Okay, first I want to say thank you, Rhonda, for what you said and. Oh my God, Teresa, I can totally relate to you. when I look at, like faith based organizations and recreation centers, it first should start within those centers. Like for me, as being a person in recovery when if I was hungry, me or if I needed a place to stay, you couldn't talk to me about my substance use because I was hungry. If I'm walking the streets and I'm cold and I need a coat, you can't. I wasn't listening to a conversation about treatment and care and love and all that stuff because I was hungry and cold. So like, if, if Faith based churches, if, I mean, they started a program in Reno where they have a warm spot at night for the, for our homeless population. And most of the time at homeless population, they do have substance use, you know, but creating that, that warm, safe place, like opening up the doors for a couple hours and, and putting it out there in the community, because I personally know a lot of people that would volunteer their time to help be there. And we bring in food and we bring in clothing because like I said, you can't reach anybody if they're hungry. It's just not going to happen. and you know, and I think about like, different stores. Let's just take Safeway. There's always so much food, right? And if we have like a designated person to like reach out and say, hey, I'm, I'm doing this for our community. Do you have any leftovers? If you go to stores like, Walmart or whatever, all those places, they will donate, right? And it's just like having a huge contact person or per. I love to talk and I love to get out there and I will call and rack in those donations. And once we get the donations, finding that place or that building or that organization that's willing to just donate some hours.

Bianca McCall: Yeah, no, I think that's, a beautiful thing. Cheryl, thank you so much for sharing that. it's a beautiful thing, to have the skill sets and the passion and desire and the purpose that drives someone like you. Right? You're saying, hey, I'm not afraid to go out and, and ask for donations and to see these, safe spaces that are warm, that are inviting.


 

and also something that you said that really stands out to me is someone who's unsheltered in the example that you gave someone who's unsheltered, we can't begin to talk about the mental health piece or the behavioral health pieces and the engaging in treatment planning and such. we can't begin that without those very basic needs. Right? And for those of you who love references and clinical theories and all these things, I'm talking Maslow's hierarchy of needs. The colorful pyramid that starts with just those physiological needs, that get into the safety needs. But without shelter, without food, clothing, the things that you mentioned, without those very basic needs being met, it is very difficult for, for us as providers, as practitioners, as ah, therapists and clinicians. It's very difficult for us to do our jobs right and engage them in a treatment planning towards self actualization right at the top of the pyramid when we don't have our basic needs met. So thank you so much for sharing that. And I love too, I'm a teamwork makes the dream work type of person. And so I love too how you are calling out kind of that community outreach if you will, and going to the Walmarts, going to these facilities, where we look to as a community for food, for clothing, for those basic needs and engaging them in community partnership. Right, and bringing them in, identifying them as a stakeholder, seeing where they could fit, where they could contribute to this community based approach and wrapping around our unsheltered populations, wrapping around and supporting the growth of the community spaces that we talked about faith based organizations and things. And thank you for dropping that resource. I was unaware that in Reno we had faith based organizations, and facilities that were opening up their doors to provide that safe and warm space for that particular population.


 

I want to ask you Cheryl, in those spaces when we talked about faith based, we talked about recreational centers, social clubs, why do you believe that stigma is still prevalent in those areas? You know, and even though we could wrap our minds around you know, donating goods and services, right. And it's very kind of concrete and direct impact on the population, but some of the indirect impact that is largely negative due to stigma. Why do you still believe that that's so prevalent? And specifically I know Rhonda and Teresa kind of mentioned it too around MAT services, the assisted treatment services. Why do you think stigma still exists in the communities and around MAT services?

Cheryl Nixon: the stigma exists because. Lack of education. Lack of education, when you see someone that is homeless, that is seeking treatment and seeking help, hope, and they may have somebody in their family member they might have a past relationship with someone in one of these organizations and they say something like just stop. Why you, why, why you can't just stop? Right. And, and they get mad, they get mad at ah, at us, you know, and they don't know. We don't know how our community, the people out there, they don't know how to go in and ask because they already think they're going to get judged. I'm not going to go to that clinic because they going to talk about me or that I'm going to go to. I'm a go and I'm going to get help. And then I can't reach out to my family or reach out in one of our 12 step programs because we're not clean, we're not sober, we're still using these other things that are helping my life to become ah, productive. And it's just really hard for anybody. Mental health services.

Cheryl Nixon: It's really bad right now. It's really bad. And when you have addiction and when you have the stigma around MAP medications and you don't have availability to to therapists into psychiatry, into our map, you know, MAP program and psychiatry because it goes hand in hand.

Bianca McCall: Sure, sure.

Cheryl Nixon: You can't treat addiction and not treat mental health. You can't treat mental health without treating addiction. It goes hand in hand. So it, it's a we thing in our, in our communities and it, we need more of us. When I say us, I mean people like, like me and other people who have been through, who have walked in those shoes that knows the path.

Cheryl Nixon: To reach back and bring others. And that's what I love to do. I love to be out there. I love to be in the trenches helping and bringing people. I work at Hopes and I work in the MAP program and I love it.

Bianca McCall: gosh, Cheryl, thank you so much. I got to tell you, I, I'm learning, I'm listening, learning myself, taking notes and I gotta tell you, when you said it's a we thing, that struck a chord with me. That struck a chord with m. Me. Thank you so much. It's a we thing, everybody.


 

I want to take just a moment. I think that we could take at least one question, or comment or respond to one comment, from the chat. And so Jamie, I'm going to ask if you've seen anything that's popped up, that really is aligned with what Cheryl, the nugget that she just dropped on us, that it's A we thing. But can we respond to a comment or take a question in the chat? And then while Jamie's looking, for that one question, I want to pose a question to all of the participants and just please respond, by dropping your text in the chat there. but my question is. Okay, it's a we thing. Cheryl mentioned that lack of education. Right. is how we can combat stigma. right. So if education is at the center of prevention here, whose job is it? This is my question to all the participants. Whose job is it to educate people, to educate the providers and things like that that have responded to the Rhonda's, the Teresa's, the Cheryl's so far in the conversation. Whose job is it to educate? Right. If it's a we thing. so please, if you have some thoughts on that, drop that in the chat for us. And then Jamie, if we can respond to one question and, or comment. that's, that's come through so far. I'd love to do that.

Dr. Krista Hales: Sure. So there's not a lot of questions so far, but some great comments. when I really thought was a good one was the power of words. The words you can either deconstruct stigma or reinforce it.

Bianca McCall: Yeah. I love.

Dr. Krista Hales: And then the other one I liked was it takes a community, all of us.

Bianca McCall: Mm It's a we thing. That's going to be the mantra for the day. Thank you so much Cheryl for that and yes, absolutely. Thank you so much Jamie for, for highlighting that comment about language. And I don't know if you saw me, I got a little bit of a buzz of an energy boost when I heard deconstructive. again my jam. I love when we are able to migrate away from these binary, ways of thinking that we're either constructive or destructive. Right. And we think about the coping strategies. Right. Because using substances, our relationship with substances, it really reflects our coping strategies. Right. That is a coping, strategies. But it may be a destructive coping strategy. But understanding that this isn't just an either or. Right. There's a whole spectrum, a whole continuum when it comes to how we engage in our relationships. And things can be constructive, things can be, deconstructive, which is what really just gave me that energy boost, that undermine the ways that we can be creative and we can build on the pro programming and these approaches, to just be fully engaged in our recovery. But they can also be deconstructive. Right. And so I love that this is a great, Transition and segue into the next half of our conversation, talking about solutions. What are some ways that we can migrate towards the continuum of being constructive, of building upon the lessons that we've learned, of building upon these relationships in the community? And I want to talk, solutions.


 

I want to give a voice and perspective into Nevada's special populations. And I want to start with youth, on this discussion, about solutions. So, Daniel, I'm coming to you, and I want to ask that with recovery in mind, what are the most important protective factors for preventing recurrence among young people?

Cheryl Nixon: People.

Daniel Fred: Yeah, I think. I mean, that's. That's a good question. And I'll say this. I think there's a lot of crossover between recovery and prevention, which is why, obviously, we have recovery and prevention in our name. Right? And. And I think the most obvious when we talk about, like, community belonging, acceptance, like, you have to have those. Those are. Are simple. But in my last, you know, 13 years in doing this, I think there's one that we don't talk about enough that is essential, and that's people how to have fun sober. And, like, that's what. Community belonging is good. But, like, the therapists and us, like, we want to get these youth together. We want them to feel, you know, we want them to talk. We want them to get in their emotions. We want to teach them, like, emotional intelligence. And that's super important. But teaching them how to have fun and how to engage and how to be their weird, goofy selves, you know, and to be free, to be themselves. I think that's one of the most important things, because that's, like, when you look at why people use, that's the majority of it. It's to be able to, like, take their mask down, to be able to, like, be social, to be able to go up and talk to that person. and so I, like. A lot of what I do on campus is really normalizing that you can still do everything you do. And there's actually tons of really cool research. I won't geek out on it too much on here, but there's tons of really cool research that has been done, done that shows that actually, like, everything that alcohol and a lot of these other drugs that people use as the social lubricant is already within you. You just give the power to it. And so I think a lot of the prevention that we can do is normalizing that. What we do in recovery, we have to learn to do sober. And so, for example, like, doing recovery karaoke Is like sober karaoke. I always tell my students, like once you can do karaoke sober, like, like that's a new level of recovery. and so I think, I mean obviously having community, having belonging, super important, but I think learning how to. We don't, we don't put enough importance on, on fun and engagement and, and celebration and those types of things. And I think, you know, those aren't, those are hard to, to find evidence based programs for. But I think as, as programs and communities, we really need to prioritize that.

Bianca McCall: Gosh, I love that. And, and Daniel, I'm gonna let you know, I don't know if you saw, all the hearts and everything and, and and the cheers when you said teaching people how to have fun while sober. You know, being sober, that seemed to really resonate with, with all the participants and things and, and I gotta say, all the hearts and things. I'm thinking, you know, Christy, it's okay. You know, we just love, we just love. We love your guy.

Daniel Fred: Right?

Bianca McCall: This is good stuff. Thank you so much for sharing that. and we've heard, you know, on this platform before, what, you know, prevention and that integration with recovery, what that really looks like and what that means as far as what we're teaching people, teaching people how to be uncomfortable. You know, I hear all the other sides of things, right? Like how to deal with these crises and coping strategies for when life is life. And as the young people say, Daniel, I think, I could reference some of your conversations with that. But you're right, we're not hearing how to teach people how to enjoy life, to embrace, the uncertainty and unpredictability of life, the opportunities to be creative, to be constructive. Right? We're not teaching people how to have fun and how to ah, reach this point of self acceptance right, while being sober. And because that's a challenge no matter who you are, that's a challenge that we all have, is reaching that point of self acceptance in our circumstances and where we are in life. so thank you so much for that. I love, the mic, drop, pun intended with recovery karaoke. And I would like to know when and where y'all are doing that and if I can, if it's in Reno, if I can join virtually recovery karaoke. I love it. and maybe before the end of today's session, we might get a few, notes and lyrics and things I might sing. I'm not going to make any promises, but I might be singing by the end of this. So thank you so much.


 

so when we're talking about, about the how to have fun to something else, that kind of comes into the purview of the conversation is, who are we? You know, I asked the question to the participants, who is responsible for teaching this? And I want to take this time to recognize how, the significance, the importance of peer support, when we talk about prevention and recovery, activities, how significant peer support is in the role of teaching people who are using people that are engaged in these treatment systems, who's doing the teaching, who's doing the educating. Peer support specialists, just have such an immense role, in all of this. And I just wanted to highlight, all of our peer support specialists and those engaged in that programming in Nevada. Cheryl, I want to ask you because again, you, Teresa, you're verified, certified peer support recovery support specialist. but Cheryl, for you, what role do you believe that peer support specialists play in fostering recovery friendly environments? And how can organizations better incorporate peer support specialists into their programs?

Cheryl Nixon: Good question. I know at, for what I know at hopes. Like we love peer support because we honestly. So we are able to say things, things and do, a little bit different than, most of our clinical staff. and for me, fostering the peer support is just being open and being honest and being like telling them that I know what you're going through because I've went through it. I love what you said about having fun. It's hard. It's really hard. It's awkward. and I get to share like my experience with having fun, with the feeling awkward and grabbing people and letting them know, look, if I can do it, you can too. far as, like our work environment, it's a lot of education because even though peer support is, it's out there, there a lot of providers, a lot of our facilities doesn't know what we really do. and having that education and peers just being open and honest about our live experience, it's been amazing and it's continue to grow. We have more people coming out of treatment, wanting to give back to their peers up about their life and their journey. So just education, just education.

Bianca McCall: Yeah, no, I hear you, Cheryl, and I hear you loud and clear. Education. Education. Education is at the center of prevention and it's also at the center of recovery, in the entire spectrum. Right. And I also heard you say peer peers wanting to give back. Right. So this is a way, this is peer support. It's almost this reflection of a Person of a human being inspired in their recovery. Right. Getting to that point where they want to give back, to the community in an impactful way. and certainly, this is a no own part of the process of recovery. When we talk about 12 steps and things like that and what the process of healing is for, this community. and we know that during that process, you mentioned Cheryl awkwardness, and I think that's a really nice way of putting it. But the recovery process, especially when you start to think about, about family members and the relationships, you know, what the relationships were with your family members when you maybe had a, dangerous relationship, with substances, when you bring in family members, when you bring in employers, when you bring in community, ah, your social groups, but also community leaders and things. and I'm going to take this time to go to Rhonda and ask you from your perspective, Rhonda, how can family members and employers and community leaders actively challenge stigma in their everyday interactions, right. With those that they may have loved, that may have had some dangerous relationships with substances in the past?

Bianca McCall: Thanks, Bianca. I think about my family, first, right? And always I think about my family, calling me from Indiana and saying, you know, your cousin's been drinking a lot, can you talk to her? and yes, I can talk to her, but if she doesn't want the help, then I can't force her to take the help. And then my family's like, why can't you help her?

Bianca McCall: Right?

Bianca McCall: So there's also this misconception of like, I'm actually helping someone, right. They have to want to help themselves, myself first or it's not going to do me any good to even go and talk to them. but then I feel like I let my family down. And I saw something in the chat earlier about shame. shame is what's killing us. And I think that even as a person in long term recovery, I still take on that shame, that I can't help other people or that I am in recovery and my family members are dying of, drug and alcohol use. You know, as an employer, I think it's important that we educate our staff, you know, on medication, assisted treatment, all of them, what they do, what the medicine, medical people, you know, doctors and nurses, what their, viewpoints are on this, to really do the facts, collect the data, data, show them the numbers. Even though that's the last thing I want to look at, you know, it tells a story, right? So to really educate our staff and our family members on the benefits of these medications is where it needs to start for us.

Bianca McCall: Right? For me, such important pieces, of that. Rhonda, profound statements.


 

One, what. What popped up for me is, is this idea of the ego, right? The ego from a, From a professional standpoint or even from that family member that's been identified as, as maybe perhaps you should know or, or, you know, you should have the answer. but. But something so profound is that the ego would have us believing that we are the ones helping. Helping, you know, people in, in recovery. Right? I'm helping them. And so when we, you know, operate along those lines of that egotistical kind of statement or belief that. That we are the ones that are helping people, then what comes along with that is the shame, you know, to your point, the shame and, and. And the self doubt feeling, like we're not enough because we can't. Or in if and when we can't. Can't help people, you know, and so it's. It's almost like to our own, Our own doing, right, Is. Is, we're putting all of this pressure on ourselves. and it all starts with just kind of the ego having us believe that we are the ones doing this, when in fact, it's, you know, this is actually empowering, you know, for people who use drugs, communities that are engaging in treatment. This is an empowering statement that they are the ones that are leading, that are championing this effort, to heal and to engage in their recovery. That it's not us, it's them. We're mere reflections of this is possible. We're mere, instruments and conduits of hope that recovery is possible. That, to Daniel's point, joy and happiness and fun, you know, is possible, you know, while sober. And so, I thank you for that and just helping us to kind of reframe and reposition ourselves as providers, practitioners, clinicians, you know, whomever we may be representing today, you know, to reposition ourselves as guides, as reflectors, you know, as conduits, as opposed to, you know, we're. We're the ones that are helping and determining, the outcome. So thank you so much for that.


 

and Daniel, I want to come back to you and tie in kind of the youth groups as well, and looking at collegiate recovery and stigma reduction. and I want to ask you, how does collegiate recovery and stigma reduction play a role in overall prevention strategies in higher education?

Daniel Fred: Yeah, that's. That's a good question. I think. Yeah, I, I think Really, I mean a lot to what you all have said and similar things is, you know, as we're open about our recovery and as we show that this is what recovery looks like and kind of normalize that. There's a quote by William White, who I call, the father of modern day recovery. I don't know if that's an official title or not. but he says the reason we still have a stigma with recovery is everybody knows somebody in recovery, they just don't know they're in recovery. Recovery. Right. And so, I think that's part of it. And I think, you know, people who are willing and able to kind of talk about their own recovery reduces what recovery, the stigma of recovery. and so I think that's part of it. And so as we do that on campus and the students are able to do that, it reduces what people think recovery looks like. and as we talk about what recovery is, you know, I think it normalizes, that recovery is possible. And also the attributes of recovery, I think in a college setting, obviously, like the things that students do for stress are alcohol, drugs, all the negative behaviors, that students face are way higher for college students, I mean for things like depression, anxiety, disordered eating, self harm, addiction issues, like, like all of the negatives, suicidality, all of those issues are way higher for this, this population, because it's normalized. And so when we normalize some of these healthy things that we do in recovery, because we have to, and we normalize it as part of a lifestyle, hopefully it becomes something that's also normal to do when you respond to stress. There's a lyric that J. Cole has in his song Friend Friends, right? And he talks about like, obviously like marijuana use and some different things. And he says meditate, don't medicate, right? And he's talking about like obviously meditation versus, weed use. And so we have a, sticker super similar that says smoke zombies, not weed. And so like our idea is like we play video games when you come into, in rap and we play zombies and stuff. And so it's kind of like the idea of, of there's things you could do in recovery to deal with this stuff that we have to do. But if you do it without having to go through the pathway that we've done, it's still going to be beneficial to you, right? And so, I think that is if we normalize those behaviors, it's going to help people from having to go through the roads that we've gone through just to get to this side of taking care of yourself.

Bianca McCall: Yeah, no, absolutely. And I, and I love that.


 

Thank you so much for actually sharing resources that resonate, resonate with our youth. Right. You speak about the attributes of recovery and share these impactful messages that resonate with our youth. Things like, the music artist J. Cole, Meditate, Don't Medicate, and the Smoke Zombies. can you share, ah, a bit more on that? I think for those of us that are working with youth, in recovery to be able to kind of, take, from that, you know, those types of resources and then also speak to how you are ensuring that the prevention strategies and the messaging, Daniel. Are inclusive of all recovery approaches.

Daniel Fred: Yeah. so I, I mean, there's a lot of folks right now that are really embracing, like, overall wellness. You know what I mean? And so that's how we're really inclusive. I think there's. You can be inclusive of people's dynamics. And so there's, there's, you know, people can choose aa, we have Recovery Dharma meetings, Sober Faction. So people can choose kind of whatever their dynamic is. But when you look at overall wellness and kind of taking care of yourself, you know, self care is a word that means everything and nothing. So I kind of despise it sometimes. And the word wellness is kind of getting there. but when you look at folks like J. Cole and even like, Kendrick Lamar and some of these, like mainstream folks who, who are really speaking out about taking care of yourself, and I think it's becoming. Because this population is really seeing the fault in, the way our society has gone. And this generation is there's research that come out, but we don't need the research to see they're the loneliest generation. They're the least motivated, the least resilient, the most anxious, the most depressed, we don't need that research to see. See it. But they're all seeing it and feeling it. And so they're, they're also seeing people rise up who are. You got to take care of yourself. So it's not hard to show them the importance of meditation, the importance of, you know, prayer or faith or whatever it is that they are finding. They just don't have the resources. So one of my favorite things when I speak to a class or a group is I'll ask all of them, how many of you have ever experienced grief? They all raise their hands. How many of you have ever experienced any emotions that feel negative or, feel heavy? They all raise their hands and Then I ask them, how many of you have ever taught, been taught healthy ways to process grief or to process these emotions? It's always like two or three people and there's always one person that's like does this kind of. Right. And so the problem is not that they're not aware that they need the skills, they've never been taught it. And we in recovery, we have to learn those skills because if not we relapse or we return to our mental health issues. Right. And so we're the best position to teach people how to navigate these issues. And so that's kind of like, I think where we bring in all these pathways is that wellness is whatever we're doing for our recovery is going to help people, before wherever they're struggling in their issue.

Bianca McCall: Absolutely. I love that. The total person wellness. Right. Looking at the entire person and identifying, because ultimately in recovery and anytime we talk about treatment and outcomes, we're improving that self identification. Right. we're improving that processing. Taking that internal kind of inventory of what resources, skills, strengths do I possess internally, what resources, skills, strengths can I, excuse me, then learn or foster environmentally or externally and then how do I make those connections and do the help seeking things like stigma, certainly present challenges to that. and so at each challenge and taking a page from your book, Daniel, when you're talking about smoke, zombies instead of substances and things, it's that gameplay, right? when there's a challenge on a particular level of a game, you pivot, you adjust, you seek multiple pathways. There has to be these multiple pathways.


 

I want to ask you Theresa, why is supporting multiple pathways and allowing room for autonomy crucial for individuals to be successful in their recovery?

Teresa Sands: Recovery loaded question. So really when it comes down to it, the key is to ask the individual what they want and let them try it. Unpopular opinion is that ah, people that use drugs or that engage in high risk behaviors are not capable of making sound decisions for themselves. And that's so far from the truth it's not even funny. I know amazing people in all communities. I have friends that engage in 12 step. I have friends that are harm reductionists. I have friends that are actively using substances and each and every one of them are doing amazing, beautiful work. And so just making sure that we're allowing people to feel like humans and making sure that we're asking them what they need. And then if you're saying that you support multiple pathways and support multiple pathways, who am I to say that 12 step is harmful. You know, I'm a harm reductionist. Who am I to say that it works for thousands of people. Right? And again, making sure that there's no. Not survivor bias. I do see that a lot where as an admissions coordinator, you may feel that this is the modality that worked for me. So this is going to work for you. And if you do not do it exactly how I say that I did it, then you're going to die. And that also doesn't make sense. So each person's recovery experience is going to be different. The way that they recover is going to be different. And then again, recovery doesn't mean abstinence. majority of us know recovery means any positive change. So if that means that you're going to change the administration route from shooting heroin to smoking heroin, then you're in recovery, you're making a positive change for your life. So again, just making sure that people know they have options. Making sure that you're not being biased as a professional and you're educating each other on those options and educating your clients on those options. And then if you're not the right person for that client, being able to put your ego aside and refer them to somebody else, right, like maybe you're not the best person for that individual. Maybe that's not the experience that you can bring to the table. So, again, we have such amazing community partners, especially here in Southern Nevada and Northern Nevada. And if we were all just able to hold hands, we would create a safety net for these individuals when they're having reoccurrences.

Bianca McCall: gosh. And when you say hold hands, I think about, a lot of our logos and things like that. Like if we would just maybe act like our logos.

Cheryl Nixon: Right?

Bianca McCall: Holding hands and creating the safety net. And I love, again, you reinforcing the need to put the ego aside. And it's not about, us as professionals, in somebody else's recovery. I do believe, you know, and I think it's been, this sentiment has been echoed, you know, throughout the panel today, that it does start with us in our own recovery, in our own healing journeys, and in our own self care. Right. And self acceptance, but it takes that type of healing to get to a place to where we can then. And then remove the ego, and collaborate. Right? make connections in the community and collaborate, to kind of hold hands and create this safety net. And so, thank you so much to the panelists for fielding, those deep, questions. And I know that each of you could have taken 20 more minutes, probably each question, to really dive into that. I'd like to go back to the chat. And so Jamie, it looks like we've got some time to respond to maybe two or three questions and comments. so if you, if you. And I want to let everybody know too, if we don't have time today, to get to your question or your comment, we're going to address those remaining items in our follow up podcast episode. So I'm going to do a shameless plug for our podcast platform, the Nosy Dose. so that features that will feature the champions that you heard from today. All of the panelists will be in our upcoming episodes for the no Dose. And if you're not already subscribed to the no Dose podcast, please do so directly following today's listening session. In fact, I'm going to ask that we drop the link to subscribe to the no Dose in the chat. but the no Dose and Fun Fact is currently the top mental health podcast and I recommend. And if that is as intriguing of a stat to you as it is to me, then please subscribe today and hear more from our panelists that you've heard from today.


 

so I want to, before we go to the chat, I want to quickly give our panelists each a minute or two to share any final thoughts on what I'd like to call the mic drop messages before we close. and then we'll go to the chat and, and take two or three questions or comments. The panelists, let's start with you on final thoughts. I'm going to start with Rhonda.

Bianca McCall: Sorry I couldn't get to my mic.

Bianca McCall: No problem. Before we unmuted.

Bianca McCall: Yeah, I already dropped my mic, sorry. final thoughts. education. Talk to people. Talk about, about, talk about. So I am a, abs. I work in abstinence based program and that's what worked for me. But I am open to any other program that, that and I will support you and I will help you find support. So keep an open mind, educate and and stay true to who you are too.

Bianca McCall: Right?

Bianca McCall: It's okay to be abstinence based based. It's okay to use mat medications. It's okay to love Jesus and it's okay to love Buddha. Like it's all of. It's okay. Right? We want, we want to be open to everyone so everyone can recover from this.

Bianca McCall: Yeah. Thank you so much.


 

And next I'm going to go to Teresa. Final thoughts.

Teresa Sands: M I would say for a final thought, you know, if you're in a room and you're making decisions for a vulnerable group of people, make sure there's a person in that room that represents that group. Right. If you're making decisions for people that use drugs and you look around and there's not one person in that room that uses drugs, you may want to re. Evaluate the room. So just making sure that you have representation for the people that you're serving.

Bianca McCall: Yeah. Gosh, thank you so much, Theresa. I see hearts and claps. I myself respond well to cheers and claps. And so, I hope that that, is a reflection of just what you've contributed to today's conversation. I hear education from Rhonda. I hear representation from Teresa.


 

Daniel, I'd like to go to you next with your final thoughts.

Daniel Fred: Yeah, I just want to reiterate. I think what came up earlier that stood out a lot to me was this concept we talked about as shame. we work here at nrap. We have folks not just in different pathways of recovery, but different modalities. In this, this last year, we have a lot of students in recovery from, you know, disordered eating and self harm and substance use disorders. And even though the, the types of recovery and they have different groups may be different, the commonality we found is same is shared across the board. And whether you're, you're doing, whatever your type of recovery is or what got you in the do if you have 30 days or, you know, 10 years, I think shame is, is still the, the thing that lingers. And so just a reminder that no matter what, I think that we talked about that of, of speaking life, you know, of, of being positive, of reminding people of, of, their value and their worth, even if they have a lot of years. And speaking that to yourself, you know, we, we get into this and we get the work and we're the hardest on ourselves, man. And this is, this is. There's a lot to work to do as, as advocates. And we can be hard on ourselves, you know, sometimes of, of that. We're, we've come a long ways and so be good to yourselves.

Bianca McCall: Thank you so much. Be good to yourself. Absolutely. I love that.


 

And Cheryl, any final thoughts or comments for today?

Cheryl Nixon: Yes, I, I'm, taking a little bit from each one. Daniel. My takeaway is the fun. You know, I always talk about connection, connection, connection, connection. I forgot about fun. So, you know, I'm gonna put that in my own life so that I learn how to Give it to others. The fun. and Teresa, I, I, the language. I, I so often forget about the language that in my own personal life, I use a recovery language language, but everybody don't identify. So fun and language for me.

Bianca McCall: I love that. Thank you so much, Cheryl. And you see what just has happened here that we're able to have this conversation. And we're taking bits and pieces from each of the ones that contributed to this courageous conversation. I'd love to now go to the chat. Jamie, if we've identified maybe two or three comments, or questions that we can respond to, and when we're, when it's asked, unless it's, directed towards a particular panelist, I'm going to just open it up to any of the panelists, to respond to this question or comment.

Teresa Sands: Thank you.


 

Dr. Krista Hales: Bianca, we had a question from Christina. Christina says, I work with EMS and the fire department, and I've advocated for introducing Suboxone and treatment resources to someone who experienced an overdose to help them down that path of recovery. It's met with a lot of resistance and illuminates that gap between the medical model and behavioral health. They don't want liability with map, but we are going to see people continue to die without the right help, not just Narcan. And see you later. How can we, how, what can we do to take this one step further and gain buy in? This is really on the wave of the front lines, but it's hard to get buy in on my side on why this is beneficial.

Bianca McCall: That's a, that's a big question. And, Rhonda, I see you picked up the mic that you dropped, and, I'm going to respond to this one. Thank you.

Bianca McCall: I just, I have a little bit on this one. we tried to get into the hot, into the emergency rooms when I was working at bhd, and what we were told was that we. It has to be policy for them, right? It has to be part of their protocol. So nurses and doctors and EMTs and all, they will do whatever the protocol is. So how we get it in is above them at the, at the board level, at the policymaker level, where it gets written into the protocol, and then they will do it. I don't know how to do that. But, but that's what, that's what we were told, that we had to go, you know, to get it written into daily protocol calls.

Bianca McCall: Yes. Thank you so much. and now adapting from what, some of my experiences from Zero Suicide Framework and talking about still on the continuum of violence, Violence gets self, in the zero suicide framework, the culminating kind of activities, as it starts with leadership, is also to go to those protocols, to the policies and procedures, because we all know in our space cases, if we don't document it, it doesn't happen. Right. And if we don't have documentation to reference, then likely it's happening without that level of accountability that's necessary in this just culture, even in the recovery culture. Right. And so, thank you so much for that, Rhonda. Going to protocols, changing and adapting policies and procedures is absolutely necessary. does any of the other panelists have anything to add to that response?


 

All right, Jamie, what else we got in the. In the chat?

Dr. Krista Hales: We actually have a couple of questions that were submitted to us in advance of today's presentation that I wanted to make sure we got to. And the first one says, what is the most difficult thing about being a peer recovery support specialist? And do you have any advice for other peer recovery specialists?

Bianca McCall: Wonderful. So I'm gonna. I'm gonna eyeball through, this zoom window. I'm gonna eyeball Cheryl and Teresa and see if, we can't get a response to that one.

Cheryl Nixon: one of the difficulties for me is work life balance. Work life balance. and not taking things so personal, personal. protocols, policies and procedures, things that Cheryl know that works, that everybody else doesn't think that works. and carrying my voice respectfully. We were talking earlier about, you know, sometimes you want to get just mad. and sometimes that's. I call it passion, not mad. but the hardest thing is work life balance. And just because someone else is not doing good or, you know, have multiple reoccurrence, that has no reflection on me or the work that I do.

Bianca McCall: Right, right. Yeah. We talked about giving back. Right. And. But. But how are we managing that give back? Sometimes it's. It's, you know, know, it's aligned with those, those cultural rules and roles of service before self. But that comes at the sacrifice of self. Right. Because we're. We. We don't have that management, you know, underway of. Of how much we're giving. And so I love that you bring up balance. I think that's on everybody's goal list. Right. And. And Teresa, did you have anything to add to that response?

Teresa Sands: Yeah. So to piggyback off what Cheryl said, of course, there's the burnout aspect. again, feeling like you're the first in line with the client, you know, of Yourself in that client, they resonate in you and vice versa. So making sure there's firm boundaries. And then also I want to mention it's unpopular opinion, but people should be paid for their lived experience. I think peer support specialists are one of the lowest paid, on the staff. So making sure that peer support specialists are being compensated fairly and not being taken advantage of, I saw one.

Bianca McCall: Heart and you know what I'm going to do and I see some claps. I'm going to do a heart to that too. I'm going to see if I could figure out how to do some hearts to add to. People should be paid for their lived experience. I, love that there's this kind of unspoken hierarchy, isn't there, with peer support, ah, specialists, being on the level of hierarchy where it's more of the kind of the grunt work that is undesirable. it's some of the admin pieces, the transport pieces, things that typically, typically get low to no reimbursement otherwise, but rather the lived experience, the value of said lived experience, should be in partnership in tandem with the clinical practices with, every aspect, honestly, every aspect in every space throughout the continuum of care. And so, I hear a little bit of acting activists, in you, Theresa, there's this fight for equality, this call for equality as well. Thank you so much.


 

And Jamie, you said you mentioned we had a couple of questions before the session. Do we have another?

Dr. Krista Hales: I, think this one's a good one to wrap up on. It says how can I become connected with the recovery community or become one in that recovery space.

Bianca McCall: I love that any of our panelists have any ideas on how to increase connection. Connection. And Jamie, perhaps this is also why we're giving our panelists the time to give kind of a thoughtful response to this. Maybe it's a great time to plug, all of the Nevada Opioid center of Excellence, initiatives, training opportunities and things that can be found@nvopioidcoe.org so definitely.

Dr. Krista Hales: I dropped our link in the chat to our podcast as well as how to subscribe to our email list. We send all of our upcoming podcast episodes and events such as this one out to that email list. So that's a great way to stay connected with us. And what's going on with, the Nevada Opioid center of Excellence.

Bianca McCall: Wonderful, wonderful. And I saw Daniel and Rhonda. You both came off mute. Do you want to also add to how can people remain connected?

Daniel Fred: You go ahead, Rhonda. You go first.

Bianca McCall: Thanks, Daniel. any recovery community organization in northern or southern Nevada. So places like foundation for Recovery, Tin, High Shameless, Plug, any recovery community organization, they usually have all the resources or know where a lot of the recovery stuff is going on in the community.

Bianca McCall: Yes. Thank you so much. It's not shameful to plug, the wonderful work that you all are doing and the organizations that you're working with. Daniel.

Daniel Fred: Same. I was going to say it depends on where you're located because in the south there's a lot of, of a lot of recovery kind of community orgs and stuff like that. In the north, we're a little, a little sparse. sparse, sparse. What's the word I'm looking for? but, I think there's some that's around and connected, but I think NOCE has a lot of the connections about kind of what's here. and then YPR obviously is like a national org that's got some branches and stuff like that. and so in the Phoenix, like there's some that has some like national orgs to get connected as well. And you can reach out to any of us too. And we'll all connect you to anybody, no matter where you're at too.

Bianca McCall: That's right. And we will provide again, some resource slides that all of the panelists have created for you. So we'll distribute those, as well as the contact information for our panelists. And please don't forget that we've got the NOCE Dose podcast episodes that'll be releasing in the upcoming coming weeks, where they will share even more resources and more about themselves. So thank you so much to the panelists for joining us today and for offering your messages of inspiration and of hope and thank you for all that you do in our communities.


 

And the final words that I would like to leave you all with are not my own, but rather a poem from the poem We Rise by Amanda Gorman. I'd, just like to, to leave you with these words today. when day comes we ask ourselves where can we find light in this never ending shade? The loss we carry and see we must wade. We've braved the belly of the beasts We've learned the quiet isn't always peace and the norms and notions of what just is isn't always just is. And yet the dawn is ours before we knew it. Somehow we do it, Somehow we've weathered and witnessed a nation that isn't broken but simply unfinished. We, the successors of a country and a time where a skinny black girl, descended from slaves and raised by a single mother can dream of becoming president, only to find herself reciting for one. And yes, we are far from polished, far from pristine. But that doesn't mean we are striving to form a union that isn't perfect. We are striving to forge a union with a purpose, to compose a country committed to all cultures and colors and characters and conditions of man and Woman's, Month. National, Women's Awareness Month. And so we lift our gazes not to what stands, but between us, but stands before us. We close the divide because we know to put our future first, we must put our differences aside. So that's just an excerpt from, Amanda Gorman's poem, We Rise. One, of my favorite parts to leave you with to inspire hope, to inspire change, to inspire this continuous, connection and acceptance. Acceptance of ourselves and of the communities that we serve. So thank you so much for joining us for today's listening session. Thank you again to our panelists, thank you to our participants, and we'll see you on the next one.


 

Thank you for listening to the no Dose, 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 form training, and offering technical assistance to professionals and community members alike. 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 Fund for Resilient Nevada.

Bianca McCall: CASAT Podcast Network.

Bianca McCall: 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.