Voices From the Field: Centering Lived and Living Experience in Overdose Prevention

The complex and ever-evolving drug overdose epidemic has increased the need for comprehensive, evidence-based prevention strategies and prompted local and state health departments to increase their efforts to better serve communities impacted by drug use and overdose.

Many health departments are seeking ways to involve more people with lived and living experience (PWLLE) with substance use in overdose prevention work. PWLLE have life experience that is essential to effective overdose prevention and response programming. Health departments, collaborating with community members and organizations, can expand how they engage with PWLLE as valued partners.

Join us Monday, July 29, at 2 p.m. ET, for a webinar that will include insights and strategies on successfully centering PWLLE in overdose prevention work through health department and community collaborations.

Presenters include:

• Anne Siegler, DrPH, National Council for Mental Wellbeing
• Yarelix Estrada, MSPH, Drug Checking Manager, Bureau of Alcohol and Drug Use Prevention, Care and Treatment, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
• Terrell Jones, Community Engagement and Advocacy Manager, OnPoint NYC
• Brad Finegood, MA, LMHC, Strategic Advisor, Public Health — Seattle and King County, Wash.
• Thea Oliphant-Wells, MSW, Harm Reduction and Fentanyl Testing Program Manager, Public Health —Seattle and King County, Wash.
• DeAunte Damper, Community Organizer at VOCAL-Washington, Project Manager for Council of Expert Advisors on Drug Use (CEADU)

During this webinar, attendees will:

• Review key considerations from the series of tools “Ensuring the Inclusion of People with Lived and Living Experience in Health Departments’ Overdose Surveillance and Prevention Efforts.”
• Discuss the successes and challenges experienced by field experts in collaborations between health departments and communities.
• Examine notable methods for supporting, valuing and prioritizing PWLLE in health department overdose prevention programming.

Interested in learning more about how health departments can meaningfully include PWLLE in overdose surveillance and prevention efforts? Keep an eye on our webpage for our new tools to be released at the end of July!

This webinar is supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of a financial assistance award totaling $248,980 with 100% funded by CDC/HHS. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement by, CDC/HHS or the U.S. Government.