News: BEST to Recognize Impact on Bristol Community with A Story of Hope Celebration on August 11th
| Date Published |
Author |
| 8/3/2022 12:00:00 AM |
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BEST to Recognize Impact on Bristol Community with
A Story of Hope Celebration on August 11th
Bristol, CT – [August 3, 2022] – Bristol Eliminating Substance Use Together (BEST) is excited to invite community members to the 1st Annual Celebration: A Story of Hope on Thursday, August 11th at 5:30 PM.
“The Celebration will recognize community members and youth who have been supportive of BEST’s mission, the Coalition, and worked to help prevent substance misuse. It is also a great opportunity for us to share all of the things the coalition has accomplished over the past few years and allows us to share future projects with the Bristol Community,” explained BEST Project Coordinator, Jenelle Howard.
Guest Speaker, Zachary Green (MSW, RSS, RYT), will join BEST to share personal and powerful life experiences that lead him to harm reduction and long term recovery. Zachary has worked at UConn as a recovery coach supporting students in recovery, as well alongside the DMHAS' Opioid Services team. Zachary received his Master’s in Social Work from the University of Connecticut's School of Social Work where he focused on clinical treatment methods in treating adolescents who have substance use disorders and other co-occurring mental/behavioral struggles and disorders. Zachary was motivated to make a change from his 10 year professional career as a chef as he developed an opiate use disorder as the result of prescription pain medication. Using the harm reduction model working with trained medical professionals in 2015, Zachary was able to find success in his recovery by utilizing harm reduction as a tool to help him feel confident about his direction in life.
The BEST Celebration provides an opportunity for community members passionate about preventing substance use in Bristol to come together and share their ongoing experiences with like minded passionate individuals, organizations, and local leaders.
Parks, Recreation, Youth & Community Services Community Engagement Coordinator, Erica Benoit, expressed her excitement, “BEST is working to de-stigmatize substance use prevention and I think wanting to celebrate that is a really fresh perspective and commend their efforts. The topic of prevention and recovery deserves a seat at the proverbial table and we’re excited to invite community members in to acknowledge the long standing efforts against substance misuse in Bristol.”
The Celebration will take place at the Elks Club, located at 126 South Street in Bristol from 5:30 PM to 8:00 PM. Tickets are $20.00 per person and include dinner from Gnazzo's, Raffle Prizes, and local participant recognition and awards.
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