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Maine EMS SUD Response Program

Equipping Maine's First Responders to Combat Compassion Fatigue Maine Emergency Medical Services (EMS) are trained to respond to different types of service calls. They are often first on the scene of an overdose-related event. In just September 2023, EMS responded to 276 suspected opioid...

Maine’s Newly Launched RFW Certification

In a society that is increasingly recognizing the importance of self-care and wellness, a new trend is gaining momentum—the Recovery-Friendly Workplace (RFW). Originally launched in 2018 by New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, the program is now in place in more than 25 states. In Maine,...

The Growing Power of Connection for Maine’s OPTIONS Liaisons

On a rainy morning in Bangor, Ashley Roberts, OPTIONS Liaison for Penobscot County, is meeting up with a public health nurse and other members of the behavioral health team at Community Health and Counseling Services. They head out together weekly to provide mobile...

Josh Colwell

On Fire for Recovery Josh Colwell’s favorite thing to talk about is recovery. He is a husband, a father, a harm reductionist, and an active recovery worker and advocate. Josh is currently employed by a treatment center in New Hampshire,...

Are You Willing to Go to Any Lengths?

A question that’s been posed to people in recovery for many decades now is this daring call to action, “Are you willing to go to any lengths?” Any lengths? Some of us come into recovery pretty ambivalent, some come rushing or...

Fibers in the Threads of Community

Like so many Mainers, I live in a small rural community. For some this community is a source of strength, an anchor in life’s storms. For others it can seem at times that the long memory of community can make it hard to make...