Transcription
00:00
Once a month we visit with the folks from the McCall Behavioral Health Network McCall Center for Behavioral Health and we cover a variety of different topics and they all really come down to this. It’s the month of August. It’s overdose awareness month. Remembering those we’ve lost, supporting those who are struggling and providing some valuable tips and tools to help keep our loved ones safe. And keep them at their best self and at their best life. Kyle Fitzmourice is his community outreach and partnerships coordinator. Andrew Lyon is director of prevention and family services. Good morning guys.
00:43
Good morning. Welcome. Welcome back to the show. So let’s let’s talk about this overdose awareness month and the broad themes that we look at here. Yeah. So you know with August being overdose awareness month, We know that a lot of people have a lot of thoughts about that. There’s a lot of concerns, a lot of things top of mind. Like you said, as an organization that wants to work with the community, help the community, we also want to make sure the community has all the information that they need to keep their friends and loved ones safe, keep their families safe, and just be secure and be able to give back into the community.
01:22
Unfortunately, at this time, as we’re doing this interview, we have another high profile celebrity who is struggling with substance issues, struggling. With a lot of things, the late actor Hayden Panettiere. And you’ve got to wonder, can we do more? Should we do more? Do we have the right tools? And this is where McCall, I guess, can step in with some advice, with topical ways in which, yeah, we can help protect our loved ones. Absolutely. And I think, you know, right now, especially with it being Overdose Awareness Month, what really comes to mind is, like, the overdose risk. And we’re still losing people, and I don’t think any of that is acceptable. No. And there are definitely things that people can do and what comes to top of mind is really like access to Narcan, otherwise known as naloxone, in a tool called SafeSpot. So before we get to SafeSpot, you know, I think something that’s so important to me is access to naloxone. And I hear often that people, you know, they think they don’t need it because, well, they don’t use drugs or they don’t know people who use drugs. And oftentimes, especially in rural areas like ours, that 911 response could be several minutes lights and sirens.
02:31
And so what it really comes down to is that bystander knowing what to do and being able to handle and respond to an overdose. And naloxone, you know, McCall offers free, fantastic trainings on how to use naloxone, what it is, what it’s not. And, you know, just a small snippet from it, and I think these are really important things to note, is that it’s a safe medication in any situation, even if it’s not an overdose. And so if I give myself naloxone right now, nothing would happen. It only works if someone has Opiates in their system and there’s no abuse potential so this isn’t something that people can like under or overuse you know it’s not going to cause harm out in the community. That’s huge. Absolutely. That’s huge for someone to feel safe and to feel comfortable with being someone’s rescuer. Right. You know I mean the fact that there’s no adverse effect this is designed strictly to counter the effects of an overdose period.
03:26
So it’s safe to use. It’s the same as having an AED anywhere else in the community, right? Those are common. And so naloxone is the thing that we can use to save people and using it if there was a heart attack, it’s not going to reverse the heart attack, of course, but it’s also not going to harm in any situation. So that’s important. The next thing is a, is a, an acronym or CLEAR, and these are the experts in the field too, as part of, again, that community that can help. Yes, absolutely. And I, you know, so I get to work with CLEAR really closely along with Litchfield County Opioid Task Force. And I think CLEAR is like, the best thing that they do is, you know, rather than having just one bucket of like just offering treatment or just Offering one thing, we work with people on a spectrum of use. You know, the police, our police partner is able to refer folks to us. And from there, we work with them. And it’s all about kind of that the community presence, social determinants of health. And it’s about like what that person needs, not what we want from them.
04:19
And we’re able to walk with them and guide them rather than kind of dictate what they should do. But from that comes these wonderful connective relationships where like we have trust and we can have deeper conversations about their health. Speaking of, of and relationships, you guys are both parents. So let’s bring that home to what that means and how we can take these tools and put them to use at home. Yeah, absolutely. You know, as parents, you know, in this line of work, we’re always thinking about, you know, what do other parents think? You know, what are they worried about?
04:51
And this is scary. This is a very scary topic. But one of the things that we want to make sure that people understand is that prevention works. Prevention is incredibly effective. A study that was just released by a federal agency covering this topic showed that from 2021 to 2025, youth substance use rates are down through a lot of the community work that organizations like ours are doing nationwide. One thing that we want to make sure that parents do understand, particularly when talking about when they hear about fentanyl or Opioids is that what we are seeing in schools is that overwhelmingly opioids are not a substance of concern for youth. It is scary but that is not a big concern that we’re seeing with students. That being said, when it comes to prevention, prevention starts well before substances are ever relevant to young people. It starts with To young people.
06:00
You know, it starts with creating conversations, creating spaces for youth, for kids to be comfortable, to talk about things that they’re concerned about, things that they’re feeling, that they’re scared, that they’re stressed about. And one of the most effective prevention strategies, a protective factor for young people is having a safe, secure, supported relationship with an adult. It could be a teacher, it could be a coach, it could be a family friend, but it can also be a parent. And so, you know, some tips for parents about how to create those relationships. The biggest one is to be present and not perfect. A lot of parents think about how am I going to talk about this with my kids? How am I going to talk about drugs and alcohol? And they save up to one big conversation. But we know that that doesn’t work. That talk.
06:53
Exactly. It should be a bunch of little talks. Exactly. And that’s exactly right, Dale. It’s lots of little talks. It doesn’t have to be perfect. The most important thing is to be present. Also, listen just as much as you speak. Really creating a trusting, secure bond with your kid takes time. And it happens over little increments over time so that you can then work with your kid to create plans to keep themselves safe. Tips on how to, you know, if they ever find themselves in a space that they may feel uncomfortable, how can they ask for help from me? How can we talk about the things that you are feeling stressed about or poorly about before it becomes a risk to you? And that’s something that parents can do. Also a big thing is to, you know, kids are smart. They see what’s happening. And so modeling healthy behaviors, particularly with substances, is a big part about helping kids be safe as they grow and they try and learn the world and how to make and you know how to make themselves feel part of it. That whole thing about do as I say not as I do is not a good mantra in the current day.
08:08
Absolutely. Don’t be using that one at all. You know we talk about all these things and still parents you know they we got to let them know that they’re not on an island and that there is support there is resources through McCall. So well said. They need that. Absolutely and yeah so we want folks to know that If any of this is concerning, you don’t have to worry alone. You can give us a call send us an email, reach out to us on our website, and you’ll get a real person, people who are invested in the community, invested in what’s going on, and we’ll talk through it with you. We’ll give tips, we’ll bounce things off of you. That’s what we’re here for. We have prevention specialists, we have the CLEAR team, we have family recovery coaches, we have a wealth of folks who come to work every day, wanting to feed into the community and support members of the community to be healthy, happy, and secure.
09:06
I think just to add to that, you know, like as a parent, like the fierce love that you feel with a new baby, and like as I’m sure it continues as they grow up, obviously, you know, you only have the tools that you’ve been given. And I think that like McCall, we have tools from experts that are evidencebased and people, when they’re, I love that you don’t have to worry alone. And I think when people call us, it is more of like this conversation. We can offer connections. And tools that really, really help. And it’s just building off of the tools that folks already have at their disposal. It’s not, you know, we’re not erasing anything. We’re adding. Speaking this morning with Kyle Fitzmaurice, Community Outreach and Partnerships Coordinator, and Andrew Lyon, Director of Prevention and Family Services for McCall Behavioral Health Network. August is Overdose Awareness Month. Real quick, guys, as we run out of time, we do want to mention the vigil coming up at the end of the month in downtown. Yes, so it is August 31st at Coe Park. The vigil is just a space for people to honor and remember those that we’ve lost to overdose.
10:06
It starts around 5:30 5:30 to 6:45 is the resource fair, and then right at 6:45 we kick things off with the actual candlelight vigil. So please come. All right, and I just want to finish up, give you guys a chance just to wrap it, but it seems as we look at this August Overdose Awareness Month, we’ve never been better equipped with the tools to win than we do today. Absolutely. So we appreciate your. Time today and continue the good work at McCall and all of the partners that you have in the community in this fight.
10:38
Thank you. Thank you so much for having us. All right, that having been said, let’s head back to the newsroom now at 97.3 Here’s Jeff.