While Kevin Ford appreciated the wide range of information available at a recent opioid-related conference, he was especially moved by one presentation.
Ford is director of the Substance-Use Disorder (SUD) Program at The Center for Counseling & Consultation, 5815 Broadway. He attended the conference that was sponsored by the Foundation for Opioid Response Efforts (FORE) in Washington, D.C., late in September.
“The most moving aspect of the three-day event was learning from a Sesame Street project designed for young children who have parents that use drugs and alcohol,” Ford said. “Through the voice of a therapist, a Muppet named Karli interacts with a child.
“The child’s sweet, innocent voice says things such as ‘my mom used drugs. I thought it was my fault. Now she is getting better.’ This is an awesome way for kids to open up when they don’t have anyone they can talk to.”
The Sesame Street program is called “Karli and Me” and can be found on YouTube. Ford and his colleagues are exploring ways to incorporate this into their treatment of children.
“Another conference topic was parenting classes for people with substance-use disorder (SUD),” Ford said. “I had thought about this earlier but the conference has made me want to enhance our efforts in this direction. It’s also important to refer kids of SUD clients to our children’s programming whenever appropriate.”
Overall, the FORE conference focused on community-based programs, education and prevention with many discussions about what is working, as well as the pitfalls.
“We also discussed harm reduction,” Ford recalled. “The goal of this is keeping people alive long enough to get clean and sober. One avenue is encouraging individuals to keep Narcan nearby. You don’t need a prescription and it can save the life of someone who has overdosed.”
FORE’s goal is to foster innovative solutions to ending the nation’s opioid and drug-overdose crisis, its website says. It is an independent, private, national grant-making organization.
Grants have been awarded in many states and The Center is the only grantee in Kansas. FORE is a funder of the SUD Program at The Center and financed the trip to Washington.
The Center for Counseling & Consultation, a Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic, 5815 Broadway in Great Bend, serves Barton, Pawnee, Rice and Stafford counties. Professionally trained personnel offer: individual and group therapy; marriage and family counseling; community-support services; community-based services; psychosocial rehabilitation; peer support; and medication management. The confidential 24/7 crisis hotline number is 800-875-2544.
