Milford Conference Brings Together Substance Abuse Experts

MILFORD, MA — The Crystal Room in Milford was packed with people from all lines of work, police officers, social workers, rehab facility directors, all with the same connection: working with people suffering from substance use disorders. This was the 7th year of the event and it was put together by Community Impact, a community mental health practice that also offers help with substance use disorders, and the Juvenile Advocacy Group.

The event was meant for professionals dealing with mental health and addiction to not only network but build camaraderie. One of the rallying forces behind the event was Milford police and fire dispatcher and Recovery Coach, Lisa Turas. Helping people on the other end of emergency calls every day wasn't enough for Turas — she decided a year ago to become a recovery coach with Community Impact and for her, like many others in the room, it's personal. "My father, brother and ex-husband are all in recovery," she said. All three are doing well on their journey to recovery, she added, and she wanted to do more to help people in the same position.

Being a dispatcher for Milford for almost 20 years, Turas said she's seen the nature of the calls change. "I take the calls first hand," and overdose calls have increased over the years, she said. "We had overdose calls before but not the way we have them now," Turas said, looking shocked thinking about the number.

Several organizations were tailored to youth in and outpatient mental health programs including Milford's Wayside Youth and Family Support Network, Riverside Community Care and Washburn House. Wayside's Judi Earnest attended the event with her coworker, service dog Gilbert. Earnest works in Waysides trauma and intervention center and started as a volunteer in the organization and turned her passion into a profession with the organization. Gilbert is trained as a service dog and can accompany youths in court to help them through the nerve-wracking process.

Working with youths and addiction or mental illness means understanding the culture and trends — with the opioid epidemic reaching towns all over the nation, many assume that would be the biggest obstacle for these services, but one organization argued that marijuana is much more prevalent. Stephani Manzi is part of Motivating Youth Recovery (MYR), the only recovery and detox facility tailored for teens 13-17 in the state. Manzi said the opioid issue has always been prevalent, but she's seen more kids come in with an attachment to marijuana. "You can't find a kid who comes in who isn't smoking it," she said. The real danger is that many of the youths using marijuana don't realize the high THC levels it may contain, "They don't know what they're taking," she said.

The event offered a brief presentation as well which talked, in part, about compassion fatigue for the professionals who deal with delicate situations each day. "If you're not okay, no one else is okay — we need to take care of ourselves," said Amy Leone, owner of Community Impact and chair of Juvenile Advocacy Group. Leone urged people to network, not just for professional reasons, but because many of the people in the room could uniquely relate to the struggles they feel. "There are 80 people in this room you can call, don't let yourself burn out," she said.