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Welcome to the e-Newsletter from Barnstable County Regional Substance Abuse Council. This newsletter is designed to provide timely information on substance abuse and other related topics for people living and working in Barnstable County.
This publication will be sent out periodically to our mailing list. Please forward this newsletter to your friends and colleagues who may be interested in this information. If you are not on our mailing list, you can join by clicking on the button to the left.
If you have information you would like included in future e-newsletters, please follow the submission instructions outlined at the bottom of this page.
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| NATIONAL PREVENTION WEEK | |
 National Prevention Week is a SAMHSA-supported annual health observance dedicated to increasing public awareness of, and action around, substance abuse and mental health issues. National Prevention Week 2015 will take place May 17-23.
Do you want to plan an event for Prevention Week?
Click here for more information and access a free toolkit to get started!
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| SHEDDING LIGHT, SHEDDING SHAME |
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Wednesday, May 27 - 7:00 PM
Wellfleet Preservation Hall
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| MASSACHUSETTS HEALTH COUNCIL | |  Local Approaches to the Opioid Overdose Epidemic: How Massachusetts Communities Are Responding TodayThe Massachusetts Health Council released a report today after talking to local groups trying to curb the addiction problem statewide.
The new report is recommending strategies to fight the state's staggering opioid abuse problem, from providing startup grants to encourage community substance abuse prevention activities to increasing treatment options including more detox beds. Recommendations in Friday's report include enforcing the state's prescription drug monitoring program, releasing community level data on fatal and non-fatal opioid overdoses quickly, developing prevention education programs for students of all ages and parents, and discouraging the legalization of marijuana. To read the full report, click here. |
| Mental Health and Law Enforcement Conference | |  Focus on Special PopulationsFriday, June 6th, 2014
8:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Fitchburg State University
The Massachusetts Department of Mental Health Presents the 4th Annual Mental Health & Law Enforcement Conference: Focus on Special Populations. This conference is for Police and First Responders, Emergency Service providers, Department of Mental Health, NAMI, Legislators, and other interested parties. This is a free conference, but there is limited space, pre-registration is required. For more information, please email COStaffDev@Massmail.state.ma.us.
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| COMMUNITY FORUM | | Combating Cape Cod's Substance Abuse Epidemic
Wednesday, June 10, 2015
7:00 - 9:00 PM
Centerville Library
A non-partisan, FREE, public information forum, "Combating Cape Cod's Substance Abuse Epidemic: What's working? What's missing? What can we do?" will be held on June 10, 2015 from 7:00-9:00 PM at the Centerville Library, 585 Main St., Centerville.
Topics will include: Prevention, Intervention, Treatment, Recovery, & Support. Please RSVP to Gerry McGowan at cgmc88@comcast.net or 508/428-5960. Sponsored by the Barnstable Democratic Town Committee |
| DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES | | |
 Barnstable County Behavioral Health Web Portal
A key feature of the new portal is a comprehensive Service Directory that enables consumers to easily locate the local programs and services they need most. If your organization isn't listed in the Behavioral Health Service Directory yet, it's easy to include your agency's information. If your organization is already included but you would like to tweak or update the information currently listed, it is an easy change.
To learn more about editing or adding your organization to the Behavioral Health Service Directory, view this quick online tutorial or contact Jessica McHugh at (508) 375-6630 or email jmchugh@barnstablecounty.org to set up a group tutorial or for questions.
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| LOCAL HEADLINES | |  Variety of Programs in Place to Help Smallest Victims of Opiate Crisis - from CapeCod.com
From Sunday Journal, hear Cheryl Bartlett and Dr. Jean Talbert speak about substance exposed babies born on Cape Cod and the programs available for them.
5 Investigates: War on heroin forgoes traditional policing - from WCVB Boston
News coverage of the Yarmouth Police Department's approach to dealing with opiate overdoses in their town.
County Holds Focus Groups on Solutions to Substance Abuse - from CapeCod.com Vaira Harik from the Barnstable County Human Service's Department speaks about the work of the Regional Substance Abuse Council and discusses some of the findings from the recent Baseline Analysis report. Gosnold distributes drug that reverses overdoses - from Cape Cod Times Gosnold on Cape Cod will distribute Evzio to first responders and police departments, free of charge. Evzio, which uses naloxone to reverse opioid overdoses is a drug similar to Narcan. |
| NEWS FROM GOSNOLD ON CAPE COD | |  Upcoming Events
Pre-Prom Assembly - As part of their effort to reduce substance use among young people, Gosnold on Cape Cod will be holding a Pre-Prom Assembly on May 14 at 6:30 PM at Falmouth High School.
The assembly is open to parents who have children attending prom activities. An estimated 9.3 million underage youth drank alcohol last year making the need for educating our young people a top priority for Gosnold's prevention team.
Gosnold's Spring into Summer Clean up & Cookout - On Saturday, May 9th at 1:00pm, friends, family and Gosnold alumni are invited to help in the Spring cleanup and garden preparation at the Miller House. The cleanup will be followed by a cookout and concludes with a recovery community meeting. Click here for more information.
The Rogers & Grey Charitable Foundation: Comedy for the Community - In support of Gosnold on Cape Cod, the Rogers & Gray Charitable Foundation will hold a comedy night at the Wequassett Resort and Golf Club on May 14th. The evening includes live music, a live auction and laughs with 2 world-class comedians.
For more information, click here.
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| NEWS FROM SAMHSA | |  Take Action Against Hepatitis C
May is Hepatitis Awareness Month. SAMHSA's Take Action Against Hepatitis C: For People in Recovery From Mental Illness of Addiction is a consumer booklet that provides guidance about hepatitis C for people in recovery from mental illness or substance use disorders.
Topics include screening, vaccination, treatment, liver transplant, behaviors for avoiding viral hepatitis infection, and living with hepatitis C disease.
Treatment providers can share individual pages with clients to support their hepatitis-related educational needs.
To download or order the booklet, please click here.
 Building Faith in Recovery: SAMHSA's Faith-based and Community Initiatives
Recovery can also be helped by having faith in something greater than us. In fact, research shows that spirituality, one of the eight dimensions of wellness, helps improve our mental and physical health and can offer a path to important social support.
That's why faith-based communities play a key role in prevention, referral to treatment, fostering resilience, and supporting recovery-especially in under-served communities and racially/ethnically diverse populations. This means that faith leaders are often first responders, and knowing how to respond to these situations can make a huge difference in how the individual, family, and community copes and heals.
To learn more about resources available for faith communities, please click here.
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| FROM THE CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL | |  Advancing Alcohol Screening and Brief Intervention in Primary Health Care Settings: Building Partnerships
Risky drinking leads to a wide variety of problems. People who drink too much suffer health and social problems at higher rates.
Because the impact of risky drinking is so widespread, it will take widespread collaboration among many types of organizations-both public and private-to address the problem. One effective solution is to promote services in medical settings to identify and help risky drinkers as a routine part of standard medical care.
Alcohol Screening and Brief Intervention for Better Health Alcohol Screening and Brief Intervention for Better Health is an initiative to make alcohol screening and brief intervention (SBI) a routine element of health care in all primary care settings to identify and help people who drink too much. |
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BARNSTABLE COUNTY REGIONAL SUBSTANCE ABUSE COUNCIL
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The next meeting of the Barnstable County Regional Substance Abuse Council is scheduled for:
Thursday, June 4, 2015 - 4:00 - 5:30 PM
Harborview Conference Room in the Barnstable County Complex, 3195 Main Street, Barnstable Village
These meetings are open to the public. Meeting agendas are posted publicly on the Barnstable County website, in front of the Barnstable Superior Courthouse, and are available upon request.
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| ANALYSIS OF SUBSTANCE ABUSE ON CAPE COD: A BASELINE ASSESSMENT | |
The Barnstable County Regional Substance Abuse Council has completed an Analysis of Substance Abuse on Cape Cod: A Baseline Assessment. View the Full Report here, and the Executive Summary here.
The purpose of this report is to provide a snapshot of substance dependency, and the related costs, for Barnstable County, Massachusetts. It has been created to inform programming and policy needs to be defined by the Barnstable County Regional Substance Abuse Council. The Council's goal is that Barnstable County will have a coordinated and comprehensive regional approach to substance abuse across the continuum of prevention, treatment and recovery, harms reduction and law enforcement.
If you have questions about the report, please contact Vaira Harik.
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| E-NEWSLETTER ARCHIVE | | |
Did you know that a full archive of the previous editions of this e-Newsletter are available on the Barnstable County Human Services Department website?
View past editions of the Regional Substance Abuse Council e-Newsletter and the Human Services Department e-Newsletter at www.bchumanservices.net and click on "E-Newsletter". |
| MUTUAL SUPPORT GROUPS | |  Learn to Cope
Learn to Cope is a support group for parents, family members, spouses, and caregivers who have a family member who is addicted to opiates, alcohol, or other drugs.
Learn to Cope offers experienced facilitators, resources, informational material, guest speakers (in long term recovery or professionals in the field), overdose education, and Narcan enrollment at all weekly meetings.
Weekly meetings are held on Tuesdays 7:00-8:30 PM at the Yarmouth Police Station, One Brad Erickson Way. For more information call (508) 738-5148 or visit their website.
Parents Supporting Parents  Parents Supporting Parents is a group of people who have come together as parents and family members coping and dealing with children/loved one's addiction.
Their mission is to support, strengthen, and educate one another as they share their lives. Their goal is to help their loved ones find and live in recovery, and for all members to live a healthy lifestyle.
Weekly meetings are held on Monday 6:30-8:30 PM at Mashpee TV, 168 Industrial Drive, Mashpee, MA 02649. To learn more, view the Parents Supporting Parents Facebook page. Mothers Helping Mothers
Mothers Helping Mothers is a support group for women struggling with the emotional difficulties associated with addiction and recovery during the pregnant and postpartum phases of life.
Free childcare is provided during the meetings by The Children's Study Home. Anyone planning on attending the meeting and needing childcare is asked to call ahead. All ages are welcome.
Weekly meetings are held every Tuesday 7:30-9:00 PM at the John Wesley Methodist Church in Falmouth at 270 Gifford Street and every Monday 5:30-7:00 PM at the Federated Church in Hyannis at 320 Main Street.
For more information, contact Deborah at (774) 392-0446 or Danielle at (508) 209-7533.
 |  Alateen
Alateen is a fellowship of young Al-Anon members, usually teenagers, whose lives have been affected by someone else's drinking.
There are two regular meetings run by Cape Cod Alateen:
Wednesday - 7:00-8:00 PM in S. Dennis: Church of the Nazarene, 209 Upper County Rd.
Friday - 7:30 - 8:45 PM in Cataumet: Cataumet Methodist Church, 1091 County Rd.
For more information, call 508-394-4555 (M-F 10AM - 3PM) or visit their website at www.capeteens.com.
Nar-Anon
Nar-Anon Family Groups is a twelve step fellowship that offers a recovery program for those affected by someone's addiction. The only requirement for membership is that there be a problem of addiction in a relative or friend.
Nar-Anon is adapted from Narcotics Anonymous and uses Nar-Anon's Twelve Steps, Twelve Traditions, and Twelve Concepts.
Weekly meetings are held Friday nights 6:00-7:00 PM at St. David's Episcopal Church in South Yarmouth. For more information, visit the Nar-Anon website.
Gosnold Family Support Groups
The Gosnold Reaching Out program is a resource for family members and loved ones affected by addiction. It assists the family at all stages of addiction through education, intervention, and support.
Information and Education Forums help family members gain a basic understanding of the signs and symptoms of addiction, treatment options, and stages of recovery. An educated and supportive family has a positive impact on treatment outcomes.
To learn more about these groups, view the Weekly Family Support Group flyer. New contact information: Mary Fisher, 844-558-4357, mfisher@ gosnold.org.
Other Resources
Al-Anon - The primary purpose of Al-Anon is to help families and friends of alcoholics. Members of Al-Anon learn to live happily whether the alcoholic continues to drink or not. We learn that alcoholism is a disease and that we are not alone.
Alcoholics Anonymous - Alcoholics Anonymous is an international fellowship of men and women who have had a drinking problem. It is nonprofessional, self-supporting, multiracial, apolitical, and available almost everywhere. There are no age or education requirements. Membership is open to anyone who wants to do something about his or her drinking problem.
Narcotics Anonymous - NA is a nonprofit fellowship or society of men and women for whom drugs had become a major problem. We are recovering addicts who meet regularly to help each other stay clean. This is a program of complete abstinence from all drugs. There is only one requirement for membership, the desire to stop using.
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| MASSACHUSETTS SUBSTANCE ABUSE HELPLINE | | |
For tens of thousands of Massachusetts resident struggling with alcohol and other drug related issues, (800) 327-5050 is an important number.
The Massachusetts Substance Abuse Information and Education Helpline provides free and confidential information and referrals for alcohol and other drug abuse problems and related concerns. The Helpline is committed to linking consumers with comprehensive, accurate, and current information about treatment and prevention services throughout Massachusetts.
Services are available Monday through Friday from 8:00 am to 10:00 pm and on Saturday and Sunday from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm. Language interpreters are always available.
For online service and more information, click here.
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E-NEWSLETTER ARTICLE SUBMISSIONS
| | To submit materials, please contact Samantha Kossow at SAC@barnstablecounty.org and include the following information:
- Descriptive Title
- Brief Description of the Content
- Relevant attachments, submitted in PDF or text format
- Website link if available
- Contact information of the person submitting the information the contact person for the event
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Posting of articles submitted for publication in the Barnstable County Regional Substance Abuse Council E-Newsletter is at the discretion of the Department. All articles must be submitted in text format to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. To request this newsletter in alternate formats, please call Kathie Callahan at (508) 375-6628 or TDD at (508) 362-5885.
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