WSCA Podcast Series: ”It Takes a Village” - Addiction Prevention & Recovery on the Seacoast

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WSCA-LP Portsmouth Community Radio is a proud media partner of two Portsmouth mental wellness coalitions – Greater Portsmouth Recovery Coalition and the Greater Portsmouth Youth Wellness Coalition. In support of these initiatives, WSCA has launched a 24-episode podcast series to put a spotlight on the community’s efforts for addiction prevention and recovery. The series will feature a vast lineup of guests to speak about prevention, treatment, recovery, and re-entry into the community. The podcast series will be recorded, engineered, and produced at WSCA’s Podcast Lab, and will be distributed via all popular podcast playing services including Spotify, Apple iTunes, and Amazon Music. The series is produced co-produced by Mark Lefebvre and Cantey Smith, and engineered by Robbie McCluskey, Miles Bebbington and Lou Spinnazola. The project is made possible by the generosity of Newburyport Bank, Pinetree Institute, and the Ouellett and Furbush Family Trust read less

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Episode 10: Step Up Parents

Episode 10: Step Up Parents

Step Up Parents is a pioneering non-profit in Portsmouth, NH that offers financial support to kinship caregivers - grandparents, uncles and aunts, and other loved ones who care for children impacted by substance use disorder. In Episode 10, we speak with Step Up Parents founder, Denyse Richter and executive director Jessica Parker about their history and vital services they provide to families across New Hampshire and southern Maine.

Episodes

Episode 10: Step Up Parents

Episode 10: Step Up Parents

Step Up Parents is a pioneering non-profit in Portsmouth, NH that offers financial support to kinship caregivers - grandparents, uncles and aunts, and other loved ones who care for children impacted by substance use disorder. In Episode 10, we speak with Step Up Parents founder, Denyse Richter and executive director Jessica Parker about their history and vital services they provide to families across New Hampshire and southern Maine.

Episode 9: Seacoast Youth Services

Episode 9: Seacoast Youth Services

Sarah Fetras and Janine Richards from Seacoast Youth Services (Seabrook) join Mark Lefebvre for an in depth conversation about behavioral health and substance use disorder services for youth and adolescents. Of particular note in this episode is the conversation about the pioneering work SYS is doing for high school kids facing suspension.

Episode 8: Family Recovery from Addiction

Episode 8: Family Recovery from Addiction

Episode 8 features a courageous interview with producer Mark Lefebvre and his wife Vivian as they share their journey of recovery as a couple and as a family. As so-called "affected others" family members are often reluctant to come forward to share their struggles with addiction as the fear of stigma is profound. Mark and Vivian, who recently celebrated 40 years of marriage, have committed to their individual recovery as well as the hard work of couple's recovery.

Episode 7: Drug (Treatment) Court

Episode 7: Drug (Treatment) Court

WSCA is pleased to release Episode 7 of It Takes A Village: Addiction Prevention & Recovery on the Seacoast. Our guest for this episode is the Honorable Judge Tina Nadeau, retired NH Superior Court Judge. The focus of the episode is NH’s Drug Court program, also referred to as treatment court, (which she pioneered), re-entry challenges for justice-involved individuals with a SUD, and recovery housing. Treatment court provides a diversion from incarceration that requires the participant to commit to a multi-year SUD treatment program.

Episode 5: Stigma

Episode 5: Stigma

Episode 5 features Brittany Reichmann, a woman in long term recovery with a criminal record. She is also a mother and a professional who has encountered barriers to employment, housing and medical care as a result of her history. In this episode, Brittany shares her experiences dealing with stigma and offers a compassionate approach to overcoming these barriers.

Episode 6: The Greater Portsmouth Youth Wellness Coalition

Episode 6: The Greater Portsmouth Youth Wellness Coalition

Episode 6 introduces Amy Michaels, Pinetree Institute Director of Prevention, and Meghan Stewart, Pinetree Institute Program Coordinator, to discuss the Greater Portsmouth Youth Wellness Coalition and the Drug Free Community Grant. The coalition members provide trauma-informed programming and services to the region's youth and families with the goal of breaking the transgenerational cycle of adverse childhood experiences. The Greater Portsmouth Community (Portsmouth, New Castle, Greenland, Rye, and Newington) is the beneficiary of a 10-year federal Drug Free Community Grant, the first ever on the Seacoast.

Episode 4: Greater Portsmouth Recovery Coalition

Episode 4: Greater Portsmouth Recovery Coalition

In this episode we meet Molly Louison-Semrow, Director of Community Engagement at Pinetree Institute. In this role, Molly leads the Greater Portsmouth Recovery Coalition which in many ways, is a case study on building and maintaining a Recovery Ready Community. Molly can be reached at molly@pinetreeinstitute.org.

Episode 3: Understanding Addiction

Episode 3: Understanding Addiction

John Iudice, NH MLADC and clinical director at Addiction Recovery Services in Portsmouth, NH explains the brain science of addiction and co-occurring disorders. In this episode you will learn about the impact of alcohol and drugs on the brain's reward system and the human response to withdrawal. The hope is that this episode will help to de-stigmatize drug use and dispel the myth that addiction is a moral failure.

Episode 2: Building Community Resilience

Episode 2: Building Community Resilience

Here in Episode 2 we interview Dr. Larry McCullough of Pinetree Institute, and discuss Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and the impact of childhood trauma on behavioral health and substance use disorders (SUD). You will learn about the history of the Greater Portsmouth Youth Wellness Coalition which is a program funded by the federal government through a Drug-Free Community grant, and the coalition's goal of preventing SUD and behavioral health issues. You'll also learn about the Greater Portsmouth Recovery Coalition which addresses barriers facing individuals and families seeking services for SUD and co-occurring behavioral health.

Episode 1: It Takes a Village Series Introduction

Episode 1: It Takes a Village Series Introduction

In this episode, the WSCA podcast production team discuss the series objectives, introduce the topics to be covered and share a bit about their own perspectives on substance us disorder, mental health, and the barriers to finding help.