This is a recording from the WHI Opioid Project's monthly meeting on December 15th, 2020. The presentation recaps the expansion of the Recovery Opiate Overdose Team (ROOT) in Washtenaw County. This is presented by Sara Szczotka and Brianna Dobbs from Home of New Vision.

Sara Szczotka, Juan Marquez, and Senator Jeff Irwin give the opening remarks for the 2020 Washtenaw Opioid Summit. The opening remarks are followed by the morning keynote address by Adreanne Waller. Titled "It's About Time", the presentation dives into the documented health inequities in Washtenaw County and how these inequities are also seen in the Opioid Epidemic.

COVID-19 has had a drastic effect on how we teach and educate our youth. Over-night schools switched to remote learning and have continued with this trend into the new school year. With the biggest focus on the logistics of virtual learning, educational institutions have not had the bandwidth to adequately implement access to support services that students have typically relied on while attending school in-person. These changes will affect the emotional and physical well-being of our youth across Washtenaw county. In this session, we will examine how these changes will directly affect our youth. In doing so, we hope to begin a conversation on how we as a community can mitigate the negative effects of these changes. It is our hope that this conversation can help draw attention to these efforts as we try to limit the effects to the mental health and well-being of our youth. Panelists Include: Dr. Diedre Hurse - Oakland University Medical School Chardae Korhonen - Ozone House Alice Hudson - Ozone House Samiah Eaton - Ozone House

The negative stigma associated with Substance Use Disorder is a major barrier that people with SUD encounter on a regular basis. Organizations across the SUD and recovery spectrum have consistently stressed the importance of reducing this stigma to provide hope to people struggling with SUD. In these advocacy efforts, we must not forget to help individuals address the internalized stigma that many people experience as they begin their journey to recovery. Today, we are joined by a number of individuals that witness first-hand, the role internalized stigma plays in the recovery process. It is our hope that by the end of this session, you will be able to identify the barriers internalized stigma creates, recognize when internalized stigma is affecting people with SUD, and explore ways that we can reduce the impact of internalized stigma. Panelists Include: Dr. Mark Weiner - SJMHS, Ann Arbor Dr. Brendan Sullivan - SJMHS, Ann Arbor Tim Shewcraft - Home of New Vision Dr. Sheba Sethi - Packard Health

The COVID-19 Pandemic has created unique challenges as it relates to substance use. During the height of the pandemic, emergency departments were flooded with critical COVID-19 patients, while behavioral health services were forced to scale back outreach services, migrate to “virtual” support platforms, and contend with over-burdened healthcare system. This pandemic has yet again highlighted the need for expanded access to harm-reduction services for people who use drugs. By building a support landscape where people are given the resources needed to use safer, we can lessen the burden on emergency medical services while at the same time engaging and supporting people who use drugs. In this session, we hope that participants can recognize the need for essential harm-reduction services, understand the current support services that are available, identify the barriers to service expansion, and recognize the importance of harm-reduction advocacy. Panelists Include: Brandon Hool - MDHHS Lamont Gore - UNIFIED HIV Health and Beyond Dr. Robert Redwood

With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, jails and prisons across the country were identified as a major concern for COVID-19 transmission and spread. As a response, law enforcement agencies and other criminal justice related organizations enacted policies to divert people from our jails and prisons. Many non-violent offenders that would normally be incarcerated, were diverted or released from these facilities for the sake of public health. For many years leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic, advocates have championed criminal justice diversion. In this session, we will explore Washtenaw county’s current efforts to divert people away from the criminal justice system. We will also examine the changes made since COVID-19 and discuss how we envision the path toward criminal justice reform going forward. Panelists Include: Lisa Gentz - Washtenaw CMH Aaron Suganuma - Washtenaw County Sherriff's Office Lauren Velez - Avalon Housing

COVID-19 brought about policy changes that seemed to be implemented over-night. Specifically related to substance use disorder, changes included: • Expansion of telehealth services for SUD treatment and support • Loosening of restrictions for how providers can initiate and sustain MAT • Increased efforts to divert individuals with non-violent SUD related offences out of jails and prisons to limit exposure to COVID-19 Many of the changes that happened so quickly had been a focus of advocacy groups prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. In this session, we hope to explore how policy related to SUD is coordinated between the various levels of government. In this exploration, we will examine how we can build on the lessons learned from COVID-19 to sustain momentum in enacting policy that expands access to services that support SUD recovery. Panelists Include: Paige Fults, MPA - Michigan Health and Hospital Association Joe Coyle - MDHHS Seth Eckel - MDHHS Andrea Taverna - MDHHS

The afternoon keynote presentation at the 2020 Washtenaw Opioid Summit, titled, "From 'in the rooms' to 'in the Zooms'. A look at mutual support meeting moving online. Presenter: Dr. Onawa LaBelle, University of Windsor