Episode 8: The Power of a Mother's Love

For this episode of Beyond Substance we will hear from two inspirational women who each lost a son to a drug overdose event. Justin and Alfie have channeled their pain into helping people with substance use disorder and their families resulting in additional programs, resources, and advocacy.

Guests:

• Justin Phillips, MA and White House Champion of Change for Advocacy, Prevention and Treatment is the Founder and Executive Director of Overdose Lifeline, Inc. (ODL) ODL is a non-profit dedicated to reducing the stigma of substance use disorder and preventing deaths resulting from opioid overdose. Justin holds a Master’s in Clinical Addition Counseling and a Master's degree in philanthropic studies and nonprofit management. Justin is also certified in the Grief Recovery Method.® Justin is a featured speaker on the national, regional, and local circuit.
• Alfarena T. McGinty, MBA (Alfie) has been with the Marion County Coroner’s Office for over 25 years and has served as Chief Deputy for 17 years. As Chief Deputy Coroner, she is responsible for the agency operations, including overseeing over 4000 death investigations annually. Alfie was responsible for alerting officials at the start of the opioid epidemic and has maintained a passion for identifying the ever-changing unfortunate trends and working to decrease deaths by working with various agencies to address prevention efforts. Alfie serves on the board or directors of Overdose Lifeline, Mental Health America, Indianapolis, and the International Association of Coroners and Medical Examiners. Alfie is an adjunct faculty member at IUPUI, teaching Death Investigations. Alfie is married with 5 children. Alfie lost her son Jimmy in July 2021 of a fentanyl overdose.

Resources:

• Overdose Lifeline offers a variety of programs for substance use disorder help and prevention
• Marion County Coroner's Office Grief and Loss Resources
  • If you recently lost a loved one to overdose text "mental" to 317-435-5281 [attach flyer sent on 3/7]
• Be Well Indiana
• Indiana 211
• Talk To Someone Now : Lifeline (988lifeline.org)

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