County Drug Forum to Take Place March 16 in Mayville

MAYVILLE – Chautauqua County officials are continuing their fight against the continuing problem of heroin and opioid addiction.

On Friday, County Executive Vince Horrigan and County Community Mental Hygiene Services Director Patricia Brinkman announced a Community Forum focused on the continuing prevention efforts to combat drug use will be held on March 16, 2014 at 9 a.m. at Chautauqua Suites Hotel and Expo Center, 215 W. Lake Rd. in Mayville.

The Community Drug Forum will feature experts who will discuss current treatment practices, impacts of drug abuse, and community involvement in organizing efforts to combat addiction. Anticipated speakers include Michael Fox, Allison Sharer and Dr. Robert Meyers.

• Michael Fox, Research Associate from the Begun Center for Violence Prevention Research and Education, will share perspectives and approaches specific to adolescent co-occurring disorders and moving toward risk reduction approaches.
• Allison Sharer, Director of Prevention Programs with Drug Free Action Alliance, will be speaking on community coalition building focused on prevention.
• Dr. Robert Meyers is an emeritus research associate professor of psychology who worked in the clinical research branch at the University of New Mexico’s Center on Alcoholism, Substance Abuse and Addiction for over 22 years. He will be presenting a treatment model that motivates and encourages substance abusers to seek help called the Community Reinforcement and Family Training (CRAFT), which is featured on the HBO documentary, Addiction.

“The Forum will include presentations to guide the community’s role in continuing prevention and treatment efforts including new training models, prevention and community engagement,” said Brinkman. “This is a multifaceted problem facing each of us either within our families, or through our profession and will require innovative strategies that involve law enforcement, treatment programs, crisis services, prevention efforts and funding sources.”

The Community Drug Forum will focus on updating the community about accomplishments achieved since the previous forum in March of 2014. Committees were formed in the spring of 2014 to focus on steering the overall effort, prevention, policy and legislation, law enforcement and treatment. Each committee will be represented and will be reporting their progress since the last forum.

For more information concerning the Community Drug Forum, contact the Chautauqua County Department of Mental Hygiene at (716) 753-4104 or the County Executive’s Office at (716) 753-4211.