In this episode, we feature Dr. Michael Parker, a pharmacologist and our education lead on our FL Blue Opioid Grant.

Jennifer Wills is the Network Partnership and Expansion Lead for Care Connect. She started as a Social Service Worker in 2008 and have since been working closely with young people and families within the community in various roles. In this episode, part two of her conversation with us, we talk about the BRAVE Summit, an event aimed at addressing stigma surrounding mental health among youth.

Jennifer Wills is the Network Partnership and Expansion Lead for Care Connect. She started as a Social Service Worker in 2008 and have since been working closely with young people and families within the community in various roles. This episode, part one of her two-part episode with us, she talks about her own lived experience.

Listen to Rohith Ganjam, an undergraduate student in NSU's 8 year DO program, as he advocates heavily for a more "empathetic" style of care for people struggling with substance abuse. Mr. Ganjam continues his work in substance abuse at NSU as a part of the NSU MD Youth Opioid Initiative, as well as starting his own club "ICANNARCAN" at NSU undergrad.

She holds an Msc. in Clinical Mental Health Counseling, a Bsc. in Social Work and over 20 years of experience working with children, youths and their families. Listen as Clinical Mental Health Counselor, Marlo Bloomfield, shares her perspective concerning youths, addiction and substance abuse.

In this episode, we are joined by Misty Eyez Alicea, the Director of Transgender Services, Women’s Healthy Living & LGBTQ+ Training/Education at SunServe in South Florida. Listen in as she speaks on the impact of substance abuse on the LGBTQ+ community, and shares insight on exercising sensitivity when engaging with marginalized populations.

Dr. Arkene Levy, the principal investigator (PI) for the Florida Blue NSU MD Youth Opioid Initiative, joined us to speak on the issue of substance abuse and the timeliness of the work being done in the project. She highlighted the importance of community engagement and collaboration and discussed plans for sustaining the work beyond the life of the grant.

TJ Ward, the North Florida Director of Advocacy for Project Opioid, is back with us for Part 2 of the conversation about the complex issue of experimenting with substances, and ways that parents can intervene to ensure their child's safety. His work with the ANYTHING BUT OBVIOUS campaign has been a success in raising awareness of the risks and deadly impacts of synthetic opioids. You can learn more about the campaign by visiting: anythingbutobvious.com

Tune in for our conversation with TJ Ward, the North Florida Director of Advocacy for Project Opioid, a collaborative focused on convening key leaders across the region to confront the overdose crisis. He has spent over 25 years of his professional life in the nonprofit sector, where he helped start and successfully grow two large organizations from the ground up. In this episode, he talks about ANYTHING BUT OBVIOUS, a social media campaign that has been making a significant impact in raising awareness of the dangers of experimenting with drugs. For more information about the campaign, visit the website: anythingbutobvious.com

Listen to Part 2 of the conversation with Dr. Jesus Sanchez from Nova Southeastern University Barry and Judy Silverman College of Pharmacy as he expounds on the current epidemic.