In partnership with FirstHealth of the Carolinas, the Sandhills Opioid Response Consortium is pleased to welcome 10 new peer support specialists who will help people in recovery.
All the new specialists are people living in active recovery with substance/opioid use disorder, and they are certified through the North Carolina Certified Peer Support Specialist Program. The new specialists include Maxie Gleaton, Evan Coggins, Chrystal West, Kelly Simmons, Stephany Bonds, Franceine Atiebrah, Amanda Kempen, Vickie Grigg, James Smith and Mark Christopher.
“We are so thrilled to welcome these new specialists, and I am confident they will provide exceptional care and support to people on a recovery journey and those seeking treatment and recovery resources,” says Roxanne Elliott, policy director for FirstHealth Community Health Services.
“They all have lived experiences, and they can demonstrate what we know to be true: the possibilities of recovery are limitless.”
Peer support specialists can help people develop a support system, identify goals, create and implement a crisis plan and provide positive feedback to individuals in recovery. They can also guide individuals who decide to use medication-assisted treatment and help connect people to additional resources for support, recovery and harm reduction.
The new specialists will serve people in Moore, Richmond, Montgomery, Lee and Hoke counties.
“The Sandhills Opioid Response Consortium has vigorous goals to combat overdose deaths and overdose emergency department visits, expand treatment access and give more people access to recovery services,” Elliott said. “I’m confident that the new members of our team will make a positive, measurable difference.”
About the Sandhills Opioid Response Consortium
Driven by a shared goal that “all pathways will lead to freedom and survival from opioid addiction and dependence in the Sandhills region,” the Sandhills Opioid Response Consortium is a partnership of more than 25 health and human services organizations in Hoke, Lee, Montgomery, Moore and Richmond counties.
Funded in part by a grant from the U.S. Health Resources & Services Administration, SORC partners work each day to implement activities to address opioid use disorder prevention, treatment and recovery.
Visit FirstHealth.org/recoveryresources for additional information and details on how to help yourself or others.
