Hello and welcome to A Path Forward a podcast that discusses the substance use crisis and the work being conducted in Otero, Crowley, Bent and Conejos counties. The funding for this podcast is provided by the Health Resources and Services Administration or HRSA, a Department of Health and Human Services as part of a Rural Communities Opioid Response Program (RCORP) Implementation grant. 

In this podcast, Kristin Carpenter, Dr. Heidi McNeely and Dr. Steve Wright discuss stigma as it relates to the use of medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD), language choices and some functional actions people can take to reduce stigma. This includes discussing person first language, SAMHSA's Four Pillars of Recovery: Health, Home, Purpose and Community and recovery friendly workplaces.  

Dr. Heidi McNeely is a nurse researcher with over 23 years of experience. She has been focusing on the opioid crisis for the past 5 years. She has been a pedicatric clinical nurse specialist who worked on drug diversion prevention in healthcare settings. 

Dr. Steve Wright is a residency trained family physician board certified over 40 years ago. He has been practicing addiction medicine for 34 years and medical pain management for 20 years. His interests include opioid prescribing, opioid use disorder (OUD), policy and systems of care related to addiction treatment and the prescribing of benzodiazepines. 

Kristin Carpenter is an External Relations Strategist with the Colorado Consortium for Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention serving the SE Region of Colorado. 

Terri Schreiber is your host. She is the CEO and founder of The Schreiber Research Group (TSRG), a Colorado-based nonprofit. They are a team of experts  who evaluate interventions to improve outcomes and fill knowledge gaps concerning public health policy and management through community outreach, consulting and research.