Voices of Recovery: A Panel of Individuals in Recovery
This panel, comprised of individuals who are actively in recovery, are coming together to share their stories and experiences throughout their journey to raise awareness of issues people face when seeking or in recovery from substance use disorder. Presenters will share their powerful stories of transformation and hope.
Moderated by Carolyn Delaney who is the heart and soul behind Journey, an inspiring new magazine devoted entirely to the Recovery Community in Maine. As founder and publisher, she leads a diverse team of 20+ volunteers who are called to take positive actions to combat the current climate surrounding substance use disorders – keeping the content hyper-local by sharing local stories, resources & services.
How to best Navigate Jobs and Transportation during Recovery
Speakers
David Mara currently serves as New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu’s Advisor on Addiction and Behavioral Health. He has 30-plus years of law enforcement including work as a prosecutor, sergeant, lieutenant, patrol sergeant, and police officer in the Manchester Police Department. He’s served on numerous boards and commissions, most recently the city of Manchester Task Force on Immigrant and Refugee Integration, the New Hampshire State Advisory Group on Juvenile Justice, and the city of Manchester Task Force to End Homelessness.
Donna M. Kelley, LCSW is the President and CEO of Waldo Community Action Partners. Prior Donna was the Administrator of Program Development Housing and Homeless services. Donna holds a Bachelor of Science in Biology and Master of Social Work.
State Prevention Services: Opioid Task Force Update on Substance Use Prevention and Control Program
Provides 101 of Primary prevention of Initial Use, Specific Strategies at the State and Community Levels, Prevention Resources as well as ways to engage in Prevention.
Mary Herman works closely with Gordon Smith, Director of Opioid Response, to shepherd and staff the Prevention Task Force envisioned in Governor Mills' Executive Order #2 creating that office and encompassing Governor Mill's priorities in addressing the Opioid and related substance use disorders crisis. The task force is researching successful prevention strategies focused on school-age children in Maine, nationally and internationally.
Christine Theriault is the program manager for the Tobacco and Substance Use Prevention and Control Program with the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention (ME CDC). Ms. Theriault has a Bachelor’s Degree in Behavioral Science and a Master’s Degree in Social Work and holds a Maine Certified Prevention Specialist credential. She has over 11 years of experience in working in child welfare specifically working with families affected by substance abuse, mental health, and other co-occurring conditions. Ms. Theriault has practiced macro social work for over 9 years in the field of behavioral health treatment and prevention.
Building Public Health Infrastructure: Needle Exchanges, Naloxone Distribution, and Safe Injection Sites
This presentation will explore harm reduction as a philosophy and the importance of community connection. With an emphasis on opioid use disorder, attendees will learn techniques to help reduce the harms associated with injection drug use. Additionally, the speakers will explore implicit biases, stigma-reducing practices, appropriate language and how to have positive and effective interactions with people who use drugs.
Speakers:
Zoe Brokos has been working in harm reduction since 2009. She is a Community Health Promotion Specialist with the City of Portland’s Public Health Division and oversees the daily operations of the Portland Needle Exchange Program. Zoe is a co-founder of the Maine Harm Reduction Alliance and chaired the education committee for 5 years. She is part of the National Opioid Safety and Naloxone Network and is secretary of the Maine Association of Recovery Residences Board of Directors. Most recently, she has been working to expand needle exchange services and naloxone distribution across the state.
Gordon H. Smith, Esq. was appointed by Governor Janet Mills as the Director of Opioid Response and is responsible for coordinating and directing the various aspects of Maine’s response to the opioid crisis, including prescriber education and reduction of opioid prescribing, prevention and treatment of substance use disorder and harm reduction strategies. He graduated from the University of Maine with the highest distinction in 1973 and from the Boston College Law School, magna cum laude. He previously served as Executive Vice President of Maine Medical Association and has served as Chairman on several Associations and a former board member to many organizations. He graduated from the University of Maine with the highest distinction and from the Boston College Law School, magna cum laude.
Additional Presenters: Jamie Cotnoir and Kenny Miller
Improving Access to Medications for OUD: Engaging more Clinicians to Offer Treatment
This session will offer insights, best practices, and practical tools for engaging more clinicians to offer treatment for opioid use disorder (OUD).
This panel will be moderated by Dr. Lisa Letourneau who serves as Senior Advisor for Delivery System Change for the Maine Department of Health & Human Services (DHHS) where she provides leadership and support for a range of efforts working with health care providers to improve the quality and costs of care. She previously served as the founding Executive Director of Maine Quality Counts, a regional health improvement collaborative, where she provided leadership and support for several statewide improvement efforts. Dr. Letourneau is a graduate of Brown University and the Dartmouth-Brown Program in Medicine and is a board-certified internist who practiced emergency medicine for seven years before beginning her work in clinical quality improvement. She holds a Master’s degree from the Harvard School of Public Health.
Dr. Kendra Emery became a family medicine physician, who has been practicing in Maine since 2011. She has taken on a leadership role in her organization around the implementation of treatment for opioid use disorder in the outpatient setting. Over the past year she has further served her passion for community work on the board of the Penobscot Bay YMCA and is also a founding member of the Knox County Recovery Collaborative. More recently she has also spoken at her local high school on the topics of substance use disorders, and the dangers of e-cigarettes.
Dr. Alane O’Connor, DNP, is a faculty member of Maine Dartmouth Family Medicine Residency and is on the medical staff at MaineGeneral Medical Center. Her clinical work focuses on addiction medicine and the management of opioid use disorders using buprenorphine. She developed an integrated medical and behavioral health treatment program that has served hundreds of opioid dependent pregnant women over the past ten years. Through her role as co-chair of MaineGeneral’s opioid steering committee, she also works to expand access to medication assisted treatment in the primary care setting by mentoring other clinicians and practices. She coordinates the residency’s addiction medicine education and has academic appointments at Dartmouth Medical School and Vanderbilt University.
Kristen Silvia attended UMASS Medical School and then completed her residency in Family Medicine at Maine Medical Center in 2006. She worked as a family physician at Scarborough Family Medicine until 2016. During her 10 years as a primary care provider, she treated over 100 patients with opioid use disorder with buprenorphine. In 2016, she transitioned from primary care to being the Primary Care Champion for the Maine Medical Partners IMAT program. She also serves as the Primary Care Director for the MaineHealth Opioid Initiative which is developing a system-wide response to the opioid epidemic. In 2018, Dr. Silvia earned board certification in Addiction Medicine. She is currently the Program Director for Maine Medical Center’s Addiction Medicine Fellowship.
Law Enforcement and its Role of Bringing Hope to Recovery
Officers interact with those with opioid/substance use disorder (OUD/SUD) frequently, sometimes it’s a situation leading to arrest, other times it’s just an observation. We in law enforcement are in a unique position where we can make a substantial impact in a positive way with those suffering from this disease, potentially saving lives and bringing hope to recovery. This concept is not being soft on crime, it’s being smart on crime.
Bob MacKenzie is a 31 year veteran of law enforcement, currently serving as Chief of Police with the Kennebunk, ME Police Department. Chief MacKenzie began his law enforcement career in 1988 with Kennebunk PD and rose through the ranks, being promoted to Chief of Police in 2008. Chief MacKenzie is a graduate of the 243rd FBI National Academy in Quantico, VA, and holds a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice degree through Husson University. Chief MacKenzie is the producer of the “Point of No Return” a 30 minute movie which depicts the consequences of underage drinking and has been shown in 34 states. Chief MacKenzie is a Past-President of the Kennebunk Rotary Club in which he has served for the past 11 years and is the Chair of the Rotary District 7780 Recovery Initiative and serves on the Board of Directors for Milestone Recovery.
Data to Action: Harnessing Information to Tackle the Opioid Crisis
A panel to discuss how to enable government officials and others to use key sources of data to make fact-based decisions on investment to most effectively take on the Opioid Crisis.
Speakers Include:
Shaun T. Alfreds is the Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of HealthInfoNet. There, Shaun works with the HealthInfoNet community-based Board of Directors and a seasoned team of technical, clinical and programmatic experts to assure that interoperability services continually meet the needs of the health care community across Maine and beyond. Shaun holds a faculty appointment in the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. He received an MBA from the University of Maine and is a Certified Professional in Health Information Technology and Electronic Health Records & Health Information Technology.
Joel Johnson is a data analyst with a background economics and statistics. He currently manages the Rapid Health Information for Maine (RHIME) system at the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
Bruce Ottomano, Director of Business Development for Abilis Corp, Bruce develops and implements data management and business intelligence solutions for organizations of all sizes. Part bridge builder, part dot connecter, Bruce focuses on understanding the unique needs and challenges of organizations in order to deliver innovative technical solutions that will help organizations get value from their data. Bruce holds an MBA from Boston University and a BS in Biomedical Engineering also from Boston University.
Marci Sorg is a medical and forensic anthropologist specializing in health policy, particularly as it concerns public health, public safety, and the investigation of death and injury. She directs the Center’s Rural Drug and Alcohol Research Program, which monitors epidemiological indicators of substance abuse, particularly drug related deaths. Sorg is a board-certified forensic anthropologist, serving the state offices of chief medical examiner in Maine, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island in the recovery and examination of human remains. She also assists museums and other public sector organizations in evaluating skeletal materials.
The Power of Community Coalitions
Every Maine community has been impacted by the opioid epidemic, and each community has responded in its own way. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to sparking the power of community coalitions, but we can learn from each other. In this workshop, four community coalitions will share their stories, outcomes, and lessons learned as they have moved from community conversation to focused action. Participants will receive tools and guidance for creating a new community partnership or activating an existing coalition.
This panel will be moderated by Carol Kelly, Pivot Point Inc. Carol has spent almost two decades helping groups get organized, get on message, and get to work. She is a veteran of many public relations campaigns and policy change efforts at all levels of government. She earned her BS in Economics from the University of Southern Maine and has been a small business owner since 1985, working in the construction trades and then as an executive director, project manager, facilitator, mediator, and communications specialist.
Welcome: Brian Frutchey, Machias community leader and Recovery Coach
Knox County Community Health Coalition: Connie Putnam and Knox County Sheriff Tim Carroll
Lakes Region Substance Awareness Coalition: Dani Mooney and Bridgton Police Chief Richard Stillman
Healthy Acadia: Elsie Flemings and Clem Deveau (Aroostook Mental Health Center)
Emerging Threats: Current and Predictive Trends based on Analysis of Data from Law Enforcement, PDMPs (Prescription Monitoring Programs), Monitoring of Illicit Drug Uses, and Public Health Sources
Speaker TBD