ELIZABETHTOWN – Eastpointe will be sponsoring a pair of community meetings next week in Elizabethtown.
Both events are free and open to public, but registration is urged.
The events are:
— Harm Reduction Summit, to be held Tuesday, April 10, from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Bladen County Health Department, located at 300 Mercer Mill Road.
The training is free to attendees. To register, go to www.eastpointe.net — the training calendar is at the bottom of the website homepage. Eastpointe is sponsoring the summit in partnership with the NC Harm Reduction Coalition.
The purpose of the Summit is to join together as a community to discuss strategies to address the opioid crisis.
Training will focus on community partners and collaboratives but will also include consumers and family members to talk about harm reduction strategies that can be implemented in communities.
Harm reduction refers to a range of public health policies designed to reduce harmful consequences associated with drug use, sex work, and other high-risk activities. The vision of Harm Reduction is to bring people who use drugs, engage in sex work, or have histories of incarceration closer to disease prevention, health services, and reduced recidivism; and ultimately to raise the health and safety index of communities.
— Opioid 101 Training for Communities and Crisis Collaboratives, to be held Thursday, April 12, from 10 a.m. until noon at Bladen County Cooperative Extension, 450 Smith Circle in Elizabethtown. The event is free and opn to the public. To register, visit the Eastpointe training calendar on the homepage at www.eastpointe.net.
This training session is for a wide array of focused participants, including the faith-based community, those involved in crisis collaboratives, and especially families impacted by opioid use disorders. This is a course to clarify myths and fallacies that currently exist about opioid treatment and opioid use within our communities.
Donald McDonald, MSW, will lead the training session. McDonald is a former addict who is working to help others overcome their addictions. McDonald has been a leader in the growing recovery movement in North Carolina. He views addiction to drugs and alcohol as a disease that is best fought through prevention, treatment and long-term recovery; and supporting people who have gone through treatment so that they can avoid relapse. As the executive director of Addiction Professionals of NC, he promotes the highest standards of professional development for people working in the field of substance use disorder treatment, prevention and research.