Opioid abuse and mental/behavioral health are recurring topics within the health professional realm. Some may think that they are mutually exclusive of one another; however, in today’s world they are not. In order to shed light on this public health emergency, the HCOP team, held its 2ndAnnual Opioid Abuse and Mental/Behavioral Health Panel. The panel consisted of local healthcare providers, mental health professionals and organizations whose goal was to better prepare our HCOP students for scenarios they will deal with as healthcare professionals as it relates to opioid abuse and mental/behavioral health. More specifically, the panel included the following experts:
James Holt, LIMHP
Center for Holistic Development, Inc.
Licensed Mental Health Counselor
Jude Connelly, LMHP, LCSW
Project Harmony – Connections Program
Director
Gwyn Williams, BS
Collective for Youth
Program Director
Paul Price, PharmD, BCPP
Creighton University – School of Pharmacy and Health Professions
Senior Associate Dean
Carey Pomykata
Coalition Rx/Dillon’s House
Executive Director/Co-Founder
Donna Polk, PhD, LIMHP
Nebraska Urban Indian Health Coalition
Chief Executive Officer
It was an incredible opportunity for HCOP students and staff to delve more into what’s fueling such a crisis and pose hard questions to our panelists such as, “What is the prevalence of opioid use disorder among persons with behavioral health conditions?” and “Why is it important to understand the risks of overprescribing opioids?”. And to top the morning off, each of our panelists brought along several resources from their host organizations i.e. pamphlets, pocket guides, business cards, infographics, and our absolute favorite were the prescription drug/medication lockboxes from Coalition Rx.
Check out a few pictures below:
