WASHINGTON, D.C. —On Dec. 8, 2024, the air was crisp as Kimberly Douglas, of Bowie, Maryland, made her way to her son Bryce’s gravestone in National Harmony Memorial Park in Landover. It had been nearly 18 months since she lost the 17-year-old to a fentanyl overdose.

This day of remembrance is a stark reminder of the urgent need to prevent similar tragedies.

Tracie Gardner, executive director of the National Black Harm Reduction Network, and Daliah Heller, vice president of Overdose Prevention Initiatives at Vital Strategies, wrote about Douglas’ ordeal in an opinion piece for the Washington Informer. 

“The pain of the day Kimberly lost her son is seared into her soul,” they wrote in the piece. “She worked at her home office in Bowie in the early afternoon. Bryce was home early from school and napped in his bedroom, just one room away. 

“When Kimberly found him unresponsive, she frantically searched her home for naloxone, a medicine that reverses an overdose and prevents death. In her panic, she couldn’t find it. It wasn’t until later, through tears of grief and disbelief, that she discovered the naloxone — in Bryce’s pocket. He had it all along.”

The authors note that over the past five years, a staggering half million people died from overdose in the United States, but recent reports suggest a steady upward trend over two decades is reversing. The latest data from the CDC shows a 17% decline in deaths from Sept. 2023 through Aug. 2024. 

Over the past decade, however, deaths have skyrocketed in Black and Indigenous populations, and now overdose rates have begun to diverge by race.

A recent analysis of CDC data from the O’Neill Institute shows that through 2023, in many states, while deaths were leveling off and even declining among White populations, they were still rising in Black and Indigenous populations. 

Kimberly Douglas has started a Facebook group, Black Moms Against Overdose, to share information. “I think it’s super important because there’s such a stigma in Black families with sharing anything that has to do with substance use disorder or mental health, especially around overdose and death,” she said. “After Bryce passed, I tried to immerse myself in this world and inform others about what our children face and how we can save them.” 

Black Moms Against Overdose can be reached at https://www.facebook.com/groups/569231315512728/ or if you are a Facebook member https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=Black moms against overdose

Gardner and Heller assert that now is the time for action. “Local governments should establish and support partnerships with Black community leaders to share overdose prevention information and naloxone resources with local communities,” they write. “Engagement is especially critical now to ensure equitable access to naloxone and reduce disparities and overdose deaths for everyone.”

Naloxone is easy to use and available for free from most local health departments and a growing number of community partners in cities and towns across the country. It is also available for purchase over the counter at any pharmacy. 

The key to saving a life with naloxone is administering it as soon as you recognize any sign of an overdose. Anyone who is in the community with someone who uses drugs —  family, friends, local businesses, neighbors and associates — can be activated and prepared to help.

The post Fighting the stigma: Black moms unite to prevent overdose deaths appeared first on The Cincinnati Herald .

Contributed by Center for Addiction Treatment

Center for Addiction Treatment (CAT) re-launches the Family Education Group featuring a new, evidence-based Community Reinforcement and Family Training (CRAFT) model, enhancing free, public care opportunities for loved ones of those impacted by the disease of addiction. Utilizing a revitalized 12-week curriculum, attendees who participate in this program will be led by a licensed clinician and Certified Peer Supporter to explore communication, positive reinforcement, and behavioral strategies proven to support both the enrollee and their loved one experiencing addiction. The curriculum will guide participants through a range of key CRAFT model tenants, including increasing the concerned significant other’s happiness and functioning while exploring the identified patient’s use and strategies to help said individual seek treatment.

Serving the Greater Cincinnati community since 1970, Center for Addiction Treatment (CAT) provides high-quality, affordable treatment for those impacted by the disease of addiction to drugs, alcohol and/or gambling. CAT’s individualized care model includes medically monitored detox, short-term residential treatment, medication-assisted treatment, an intensive outpatient program, outpatient grief services, a gambling treatment program, family education, a partial hospitalization program, counseling services, peer-based programming, fatherhood-specific services, intersecting substance abuse & mental illness care, and support groups.  

For more information on treatment for alcohol, drug, or gambling addiction visit www.catsober.org.

Feature Image: Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on Unsplash

The post CAT launches free care program for families affected by addiction appeared first on The Cincinnati Herald .

By Tim Curtis

Communications Director,

tcurtis@citygospelmission.org

City Gospel Mission in Queensgate kicked off its yearlong Centennial Celebration with an open house on January 24.

City Gospel Mission was founded in 1924 to serve those suffering from homelessness, addiction, hunger, and poverty. James N. Gamble of Procter and Gamble originally funded the organization and was its first chairman of the board.

It operates a homeless shelter, and programs for residential addiction recovery, job training and placement, underresourced youth, and Christmas and Thanksgiving assistance.

Jonathan Brown has been leading City Gospel Mission since January 2023, when he became the first Black president in the organization’s history.

“City Gospel Mission helps people who are homeless and hurting break the cycle of poverty and despair … one life at a time,” said Brown. “We engage, equip, and empower those in need with the spiritual, emotional, mental, and physical skills and resources to achieve long-term life transformation and self-sufficiency. Our proven programs and services are centered on caring, personal relationships.”

A big goal of Brown’s this year is to make a push into the urban core to let people know about City Gospel Mission’s free services and how it might partner with leaders in the business, civic, education, nonprofit, and faith communities.

Other plans for the yearlong Centennial celebration include participation in the Reds Opening Day parade in March, a Gala event in May, and an original ballet to be performed by the girls in its youth program Princesses Ballet at the Aronoff in December.

“City Gospel Mission provides Christ-centered life transformation to people facing hunger, homelessness, poverty, unemployment, and addiction,” said Brown, who is the pastor at Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church in Walnut Hills. He spent 32 years in education before becoming the organization’s President.

After five mergers, the organization has become a regional presence with the help of 2,500 volunteers and 350 churches and organizations. Its cause areas include:

Food and Shelter

Up to 74 men each night stay at the shelter. More than 42,000 nights of shelter are provided each year, and more than 96,600 meals are served ministry-wide. The public can get a meal to-go every night at 7 p.m.

Additionally, City Gospel Mission offers shelter guests 3 meals a day, life skills classes, personal case management, help getting housing and a job, and faith-based support.

Its Jobs Van offers panhandlers and homeless a day’s paid work cleaning up the city as a means of connecting them to its programs and other community services that can help long-term.

The organization also operates shelters for women and children, and men at Hope House Mission in Middletown.

Recovery

Up to 36 men and 52 women are served in the long-term residential recovery program for addiction and other life-controlling circumstances. A typical stay is 8-12 months, but the program is goal-oriented, not time-oriented. The program includes transitional housing and aftercare.

Key components of the program include goal setting, accountability and support, spiritual development, inner healing, health and wellness, job readiness, personalized case management, and life skills.

There is also a walking/running program called Step Forward. Volunteer runners aid those in recovery by training alongside them for races in the Flying Pig Marathon and Queen Bee Half-Marathon.

Jobs

City Gospel Mission offers a job readiness and placement program for people who have limited work histories as well as people who do not, and those who have legal challenges. It also has programming in 8 area high schools, helping students plan for life after graduation, whether it’s in the workforce, secondary education, or the military.

Youth

The organization impacts more than 3,500 underresourced youth all over Greater Cincinnati with programs that span the cradle to career. Programs include tutoring, mentoring, summer camps, Hispanic Outreach, ballet, an early learning playspace, high school success and college readiness, college scholarships, and teen outreach.

The goal of each program is to pair a child with a caring adult mentor to help foster spiritual, emotional, and educational development.

Holidays

The organization provides more than 450 families with food at its Thanksgiving Exchange and helps 250 low-income families afford to buy gifts for 840 children at its Christmas Store.

City Gospel Mission is faith-based, although anyone can take advantage of its programs. It believes with faith as a foundation that lasting life-change is possible.

If you or someone you know needs help, or you want to volunteer or get your church involved, City Gospel Mission welcomes you to visit citygospelmission.org, email contact@citygospelmission.org or call:

• Administration: 513-621-2873

      • Shelter: 513-345-1060

      • JobsPlus: 513-241-1800

      • Recovery: 513-345-1086

      • Youth: 513-345-1021

      • Volunteer Questions: 513-345-1025

      • Donation Questions: 513-345-1027

The post City Gospel Mission kicks off Centennial Celebration appeared first on The Cincinnati Herald .

By Susan Tebben

Ohio Capital Journal

As participation in the labor force went down, working-age Ohioans still face rising death rates, a new report shows.

Research from the Health Policy Institute of Ohio showed a 9% decline in the labor force participation rate for the state from 2007 to 2022, according to data collected for a 2023 Health Value Dashboard, which analyzes Ohio’s viability in categories from infant health to adult death causes.

The labor force participation decrease ran parallel to discouraging data on deaths among working-age Ohioans, which went up 51% between 2007 and 2021. The institute pointed to the two data points as proof of the connection between economic conditions, health, and labor force participation.

“Improved health of Ohioans leads to greater participation in the workforce and higher earnings, which increases opportunity for better health,” researchers at the HPIO said in spotlighting the two data points.

The health value dashboard report acknowledged that policy changes have “led to improvements in access to care, but new efforts are needed to improve outcomes and control spending.”

“Deaths among working age Ohioans are increasing, driven by addiction, violence, suicide and chronic disease,” the institute found.

The institute found that Ohio performs worse than other states when it comes to drug overdose rates, adult smoking, and youth e-cigarette use. Along with an increased adult depression rate, behavioral health in Ohio is straining under the weight of need.

“Ohio’s behavioral health workforce is not large enough to meet rising demand,” the HPIO stated.

Household income and depression rates are connected as well, according to 2021 data used in the health dashboard, with 42% of those with adult depression in Ohio earn less than $15,000 per year, with 32% making $15,000 to $24,999, and another 26% falling in the $25,000 to $34,999 income range.

A Kaiser Family Foundation analysis found that drug overdose deaths in the state rose well above national rates from 2011 to 2021. CDC data showed that Ohio had 48.1 deaths related to drug overdose per 100,000 residents in the ten-year period.

The United States had a rate of 32.4 deaths per 100,000 people, according to the CDC and the Kaiser Family Foundation.

The National Alliance on Mental Illness found that 19% of adults with reported anxiety or depression were “unable to get needed counseling or therapy” as of February 2021.

“Of the 537,000 adults in Ohio who did not receive needed mental health care, 35.4% did not because of cost,” a NAMI report stated.

With Ohioans three times more likely to be “forced out-of-network for mental health care than for primary health care,” NAMI also found that more than 2 million people in the state “live in a community that does not have enough mental health professionals.”

That impacts everyone from high school students with depression, who are two times more likely to drop out than their peers, to homeless individuals, 1 in 5 of which live with a serious mental illness, according to the alliance.

By strengthening community-based primary care, mental health, and addiction workforce recruitment and retention and even career technical education could help increase workforce numbers, but also keep Ohio workers healthier.

“With strategic investments in vocational education and work supports, more Ohioans can join the labor force and increase their earnings, which will reduce poverty and improve health,” HPIO stated.

The post Labor force decreased in Ohio as working-age deaths increased appeared first on The Cincinnati Herald .

Dr. Anisa Shomo,

Herald Beauty Contributor

May is Mental Health Awareness month. Here is a great reminder/read from Dr. Anisa Shomo of Health is Love. Please remember to take care of your inner beauty too!

Mental health has been an important theme in my life because I have a family history of mental health issues that include addiction, anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, and more. As a family medicine physician, I understand this from a greater perspective because I treat these conditions daily. Most people do not have this perspective and they feel like they are the only ones with mental health problems. They are unaware that 264 million people worldwide suffer from depression according to the WHO. One of my hardest jobs is helping patients understand that depression is as common and treatable as Diabetes and High Blood Pressure. The treatment options for depression vary in the same way that Diabetes treatment varies. For some people we may recommend diet and exercise changes. Others may need therapy. Medication may be necessary if those options are ineffective or if the problem is severe and you need to act quickly. I speak about mental health often because, if I had not overcome my own issues with depression and anxiety, I would not be here to speak about anything. Our minds are so powerful that we can literally, will ourselves to live extra years and months just by having hope that tomorrow is worth it. The beauty of mental health is that, with the right help, the transformation can be amazing. This is what inspired my husband to become a psychiatrist. I wish for everyone to know what I now understand about mental health: 

1. You are not alone.
2. Your brain cannot always be trusted to have your best interest in mind.
3. Mental health treatment can be life changing and beautiful. 
4. Healthy coping skills are necessary. 
5. Talk to your family doctor and/or find a therapist near you online via blackfemaletherapists.com 

May is Mental Health Awareness Month so take some time to check in with yourself about how you have been feeling. Do not be afraid to ask for help. Do not feel ashamed about needing help. We need you in this world. Do not give up.

The post The beauty of mental health appeared first on The Cincinnati Herald .

508 residents die annually of overdoses

By Bridget Doherty

Hamilton County Commission

Hamilton County Board of County Commissioners adopted a resolution ensuring Hamilton County employees and their families receive the resources and support they need to engage in and recover from substance use disorder. Commissioners voted to lead by example with the Recovery Friendly Hamilton County Initiative and encourage Hamilton County businesses and organizations to provide addiction and recovery resources. September is National Recovery Month, a time to educate on prevention and celebrate those in recovery.

Since 2015, an average of 508 Hamilton County residents die of drug overdoses each year. The National Drug Intelligence Center estimates drug abuse costs the country more than $120 billion per year in lost productivity.  Conversely, an employee in recovery saves their employer an average of $8,500 per year.* 

“We are changing the culture in Hamilton County to a more welcoming and inclusive County,” said Denise Driehaus, Hamilton County Commissioner and Executive Chair of the Hamilton County Addiction Response Coalition. “These evidence-based recommendations came directly from the business community themselves to provide support to employees on the road to recovery.”

In 2019, the Hamilton County Addiction Response Coalition added a Business Subcommittee to analyze a variety of strategies to help businesses utilize their existing resources and networks to create workplace solutions to combat the opioid epidemic in Hamilton County. The Business Committee focused on how local businesses can proactively tackle such workplace challenges as absenteeism, health care costs, workplace safety and wellness.

“By taking action to become a Recovery Friendly Workplace, this Board commits to standing with our employees and our residents on their recovery journey,” said Commission President Stephanie Summerow Dumas. “Providing a safe and healthy work environment that addresses addiction head on sends a strong message that prevention and recovery work.”

“The business toolkit is a great resource for businesses who want to be recovery friendly, but don’t know exactly how to do it,” said Commission Vice President Alicia Reece. “We are pulling all of our partners and resources together on this- from Public Health, to Reentry, to Hamilton County Addiction Response Coalition- asking employers and employees to foster a recovery friendly environment.”

If you’re interested in joining Recovery Friendly Hamilton County or would like to request more information about the initiative, please contact us at recoveryfriendly@hamilton-co.org or 513-801-6205, or https://workforceinnovationcenter.com/news-and-update/recovering-citizens-rfhc/

*Information from 2020 research by NORC, University of Chicago, the National Safety Council and recoveryfriendlyworkplace.com.

The post Hamilton County declared recovery friendly workplace appeared first on The Cincinnati Herald .