Prevention Meets Harm Reduction: How Community Collaborations Work Across the Continuum

Part One
Tuesday, June 28th, 2022
1:00 pm – 2:30 pm* Eastern
(12 pm Central / 11 am Mountain / 10 am Pacific)
Register: https://umsystem.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_BYba-QByRpKjT5Nbj12-Vg

Part Two
Thursday, June 30th, 2022
1:00 pm – 2:00 pm* Eastern
(12 pm Central / 11 am Mountain / 10 am Pacific)
Register: https://umsystem.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_NDByLxDYTE-PNRrv-KAAxw

Series Description:

How can prevention coalitions work across the continuum of care to maximize impact and sustain systems-level changes that promote wellness for everyone? This virtual series will provide a framework for understanding harm reduction strategies by sharing the history and pillars of harm reduction as a social movement and examples of various types of harm reduction strategies. Participants will explore how the goals and values of prevention intersect with harm reduction and how we can work together through community collaborations to address overlapping goals. Finally, we will explore how the knowledge brought from those with lived experience can enhance our implementation strategies across the continuum of care.

Series Objectives:

Upon completion of this virtual learning experience, participants will be able to:

Identify the history and pillars of harm reduction
Explore how prevention efforts intersect with harm reduction efforts through overlapping goals and common values
Learn how the knowledge of lived experience can enhance our strategies across the continuum of care

Webinar Presenters:

Dr. Orisha A. Bowers holds a BFA, MA, MEd, and PhD in Interdisciplinary Studies, a graduate certificate in Women and Gender Studies and a certificate in Complementary Alternative Medicine. She has more than 15 years of experience in social services, nonprofit leadership, grants management, program design, and civic leadership. Dr. Bowers uses scholarship and vocation to do healing work in communities of color in reproductive health, women’s issues, and communities of faith. Additionally, she is an ordained minister through the Universal Life Church and combines a spiritual focus with the therapeutic disciplines of mindfulness dancing to offer the dynamic Dancing Mindfulness and other healing practices across the U.S.

Jeff Hill serves as the Executive Director of the Wilson County Substance Prevention Coalition. His passion to reach the community with prevention tools and methods comes from his own lived experiences. As Executive Director, Jeff oversees several local, state, and federal grants that have allowed the Wilson County Substance Prevention Coalition to supply the community with medication lock boxes, medication disposal kits, naloxone kits, and prevention education for the community. Jeff also oversees various programs such as Wilson’s local recovery center (RC3) and the county’s treatment access point known as the Hope Alliance Initiative.

Jimmy McGill is the State’s Recovery Manager for the Arkansas Department of Human Services and was the state’s first Peer Recovery Peer Supervisor (PRPS). His lived experience has allowed him the chance to lead the development of recovery support services throughout Arkansas. He has assisted in the training of over 330 peer recovery support specialists, and designed and developed the Peers Achieving Collaborative Treatment program, also known as the P.A.C.T Project. Jimmy was the founding member of both the Arkansas Peers Advisory Committee (APAC) and the Arkansas Peers Achieving Recovery Together (A.P.A.R.T) coalition. Currently, he sits on the SAMHSA Region 6 Peer Support Committee, and he is one of the founding board members of the National Peer Recovery Alliance. Jimmy also recently released his first book, From Prison to Purpose.

Dr. Zili Sloboda is currently the President of Applied Prevention Science International. Dr. Sloboda served on the faculties of John Hopkins University, the University of Illinois School of Public Health and the University of Akron and worked for twelve years at the National Institute on Drug Abuse in several capacities, finally as the Director of the Division of Epidemiology and Prevention Research. She is an expert on the prevention of substance use and has broad experience in research related to at-risk youth and to the evaluation of treatment and prevention programs. Dr. Sloboda was a founder of both the Society for Prevention Research in both the U.S. and EU and has published broadly in the field of substance use epidemiology and prevention. She has initiated a book series with Springer Publishing, Applying Prevention Science, with her latest book in this series being Prevention of Substance Use (2019).

Nevada Certification Board Approved

This learning series has been approved by the Nevada Certification Board for all certifications.