Test test test 
Good morning.
I am Theresa, and have 
been a member of this committee 
for 3 years.
I work for health and lifestyle 
coaching as a coach.
I would like to welcome you 
today for 
the 2020 virtual Real 
Voices Real Choices conference. 
We hope everyone enjoyed 
yesterday's activities and 
presentations and I 
hope you stick around today for 
more knowledge and fun.
Before we discuss today's 
schedule, we have a
few questions and thoughts for 
you to consider.
Have you found the schedule and 
digital program 
booklet helpful throughout the 
week
?  Has anyone completed 
the Real Voices Real 
Choices word searches and 
inspirational coloring pages?
Share pictures of your 
masterpieces on the 
Real Voices Real Choices 
Facebook page.
How many sessions have you 
liked, loved, and shared?  Keep 
it up.
Your voice matters.
Finally, keep the kind remarks 
for our presenters coming.  Your
words have an impact on us all.
Here is the schedule for today 
following this welcome session.
At 9:30
, Shelah will 
present opioid overdose 
education and Narcan 
training followed by a break.
At 10:40 AM, Jeff
Johnson will present self
-advocacy at the local level as 
a 
recorded session under the 
developmental disabilities 
tract.
Then, we will break for lunch 
and self-care.
Sessions start back at 1:30 PM.
Jean Harris will present [
unclear] seems to be the hardest
words 
under the family and youth tract
followed by another brief break.
Finally, at 2:40 PM, 
Tony Jordan will present "
moving on up" as a recorded 
session
under the substance use disorder
tract.  
The past few days have been 
packed full of incredible 
information.
We hope you have gained some 
valuable knowledge.
The first session starts 
today at 9:30 AM, so be sure 
to tune back in for another day 
of education and fun.
We wish everyone a beautiful 
day.  
Hello, everybody.  Thank you for
that great welcome today.
I wanted to say good morning and
happy Thursday.
We are going to take another 
brief break and get back at.
9 
9:30 for our first 
session of the day regarding 
opioid overdose and Narcan 
training.  Thanks.  
≫ 
≫ 
Good morning.  I am Theresa, and
have been a member of this 
committee for 3 years.  I work 
for health and lifestyle 
coaching as a coach.  I would 
like to welcome you today for 
the 2020 virtual Real Voices 
Real Choices conference.  
We hope everyone enjoyed 
yesterday's activities and 
presentations and I hope you 
stick around today for more 
knowledge and fun.  Before we 
discuss today's schedule, we 
have a few questions and 
thoughts for you to consider.  
Have you found the schedule and 
digital program booklet helpful 
throughout the week?  Has anyone
completed the Real Voices Real 
Choices word searches and 
inspirational coloring pages?  
Share pictures of your 
masterpieces on the Real Voices 
Real Choices Facebook page.  How
many sessions have you liked, 
loved, and shared?  Keep it up. 
Your voice matters.  Finally, 
keep the kind remarks for our 
presenters coming.  Your words 
have an impact on us all.  Here 
is the schedule for today 
following this welcome session. 
At 9:30, Shelah will present 
opioid overdose education and 
Narcan training followed by a 
break.  At 10:40 AM, Jeff 
Johnson will present 
self-advocacy at the local level
as a recorded session under the 
developmental disabilities 
tract.  Then, we will break for 
lunch and self-care.  Sessions 
start back at 1:30 PM.  Jean 
Harris will present [unclear] 
seems to be the hardest words 
under the family and youth tract
followed by another brief break.
Finally, at 2:40 PM, Tony Jordan
will present "moving on up" as a
recorded session under the 
substance use disorder tract.  
The past few days have been 
packed full of incredible 
information.  We hope you have 
gained some valuable knowledge. 
The first session starts today 
at 9:30 AM, so be sure to tune 
back in for another day of 
education and fun.  We wish 
everyone a beautiful day.  
≫ Hello, everybody.  Thank you 
for that great welcome today.  I
wanted to say good morning and 
happy Thursday.  We are going to
take another brief break and get
back at 9:30 for our first 
session of the day regarding 
opioid overdose and Narcan 
training.  Thanks.  
ALM
Professor:   Testing, testing.
Testing, testing, 
Testing, testing, testing, 
testing, 
[Music playing in background.]  
Test test test 
test test test 
Test test test
ALM
[Music playing in background.]  
Speaker:   Good morning.  Today 
we are joined by Sheila 
Mihalick.
She is the program director for 
St.
Louis emprwmnt Center.
She earned Missouri's 
certified peer specialist 
trainer in 2019.
She's a hub team 
member for MO Telehealth 
Network and sits on the advisory
counsel for the MO HOPE project.
She received her PhD in 
experimental psychology 
in 1997 and ser
ves as an adjunct professor for 
Webster University.
Join me in welcoming Sheila.   
Female Speaker:   Good morning, 
everyone!   First session of the
day.  I hope eveyrn has a good 
day.
We're in the session for Opioid 
Overdose Education and Narcan 
Training 
Female Speaker:   Good morning, 
everyone!   First session of the
day.  I hope eveyrn has a good 
day.  We're in the session for 
Opioid Overdose Education and 
Narcan Training.
That was a wonderful 
introduction, thank you very 
much.
That allows me to go straight 
towards the presentation I have 
planned for us.
Feel free to type in any 
questions you have in the chat
.  I will let you 
know that I will wait until the 
end 
of the presentation 
before I am able to get to 
people's questions.
Hopefully we can get to all of 
them.  We'll do our best, 
alright?  
Let's begin our 
ryone
owerment Center.  She earned 
Missouri's certified peer 
specialist trainer in 2019.  
She's a hub team member for MO 
Telehealth Network and sits on 
the advisory counsel for the MO 
HOPE project.  She received her 
PhD in experimental psychology 
in 1997 and serves as an adjunct
professor for Webster 
University.  Join me in 
welcoming Sheila.   
Female Speaker:   Good morning, 
everyone!   First session of the
day.  I hope everyone has a good
day.  We're in the session for 
Opioid Overdose Education and 
Narcan Training.   That was a 
wonderful introduction, thank 
you very much.  That allows me 
to go straight towards the 
presentation I have planned for 
us.  Feel free to type in any 
questions you have in the chat. 
I will let you know that I will 
wait until the end of the 
presentation before I am able to
get to people's questions.  
Hopefully we can get to all of 
them.  We'll do our best, 
alright?  
Let's begin our presentation.  
Narcan Training.  I have already
been introduced.  There you see 
my name in print.
[Showing.
]  By introduction, it's 
important to keep 
in mind, although it seems 
pretty obvious, that dead people
never find 
recovery from substance and 
opioid overdose disorders.
We need to learn to 
educate and equip peers who 
actively use and have recurrence
after recovery.
This session introduces us to 
opioids and how they work and 
how to be safe 
if they continue to use or have 
a 
recurrence and how to reverse an
opioid . . . 
[Audio cut out.
]  
[Stream will resume shortly.]  
[Music playing.
]  
Sheila Mihalick:  Good morning, 
eveyrn.  Pardon me.
We had technical issues with my 
livestream.  I apologize while 
you were waiting.  I was already
giving my presentation.
I do apologize for what 
happened.  I am not sure 
exactly.
So, hopefully, I will be 
able to remain on the live 
stream throughout the rest of 
this presentation.  
So, let me 
thank you for the introduction.
Let's resume or, for you 
watching, see the presentation 
that I have available.
I would like to note that I 
welcome questions.
I will get to them at the end of
this presentation.
If we have enough time and 
answer as many as we can.
If not, I will 
give you my email address and 
you can feel free to contact me 
with questions.  
So, letryone.  Pardon me.  We 
had technical issues with my 
livestream.  I apologize while 
you were waiting.  I was already
giving my presentation.  I do 
apologize for what happened.  I 
am not sure exactly.  So, 
hopefully, I will be able to 
remain on the live stream 
throughout the rest of this 
presentation.  
So, let me thank you for the 
introduction.  Let's resume or, 
for you watching, see the 
presentation that I have 
available.  I would like to note
that I welcome questions.  I 
will get to them at the end of 
this presentation.  If we have 
enough time and answer as many 
as we can.  If not, I will give 
you my email address and you can
feel free to contact me with 
questions.  
So, let's go to the 
presentation.
Hopefully I am sharing the right
screen.  There we go.  
So, yes, this is the Opioid 
Overdose Education and Narcan 
Training session.
Welcome, everyone and good 
morning.  
To begin, I would like to point 
out that dead people never find 
recovery from 
opioid use disorder so we 
need to learn better to educate 
and 
equip pers who use and 
have a recurrence after periods 
of recovery.
This is an introduction to
opioids, how they 
work, and how to be safe 
if they use and how to reverse 
opioid by using rescues 
breathing and Narcan.
The objectives and to 
provide information about 
opioids and opioids overdose, 
background, 
the landscape of the pr
oblem in Missouri, harm 
reduction tips and overdose 
education.
I'll hop off the presentation 
PowerPoint and 
show you the 
elements of what is required to 
reverse an overdose with Narcan.
What are opioids?
We actually have two classes
, opiates are here.
They are drugs that come from 
the 
opium poppy, a plant.
Examples include and aren't 
limited to 
codeine, morphine, and heroin.
Opioids include the opiates and 
any 
other substance, natural or 
synthetic, that 
bind to the brain's opioid 
receptors.
Examples include and aren't 
limited to 
methadone, fentanyl, and heroin.
A good way to remember the 
difference, while 
all opiates are 
opioids, not all opioids are 
opiates.
It's important to 
remember that opiates are 
natural from a 
plant; but it doesn't make them 
less harmful.
Most are legal and prescription 
only.
Commonly used are include, but 
aren't limited to . . .
Here's generics on the left-hand
side and brands on the 
right-hand.
Codeine is Tylenol 3.
Percodan, 
priciest, h
ydrocodone and Dilodid.
Fentanyl and its brand name form
.  Morphine.
There are various brand names, 
mrphbn.
Demerol and methadone, 
also 
known as Methodose in some 
cases.  How do opioids work?  
Opioids attach themselves or 
bind to 
natural opiate receptors on 
neurons in the brain.  We call 
them "nerve cells.
"  I like to think of the 
receptor as a key.
Where are you?
Do you have the slide at all?  
How do opioids work?
Apparently the slides aren't 
advancing for you guys.
Hopefully you can at least hear 
me.
I'm not sure how to correct 
this.
Let's take another minute . . .
I will try to share the entire 
first screen.  Alright.  Okay.
I will share the entire screen 
and maybe that will make a 
difference.  
[Stream will resume shortly.]  
au
did.  Fentanyl and its brand 
name form.  Morphine.
There are various brand names, 
Morphabond.  Demerol and 
methadone, also known as 
Methadose in some cases.  How do
opioids work?  
Opioids attach themselves or 
bind to natural opiate receptors
on neurons in the brain.  We 
call them "nerve cells."  I like
to think of the receptor as a 
key.  
Where are you?  Do you have the 
slide at all?  
How do opioids work?  Apparently
the slides aren't advancing for 
you guys.  Hopefully you can at 
least hear me.  I'm not sure how
to correct this.  Let's take 
another minute . . . I will try 
to share the entire first 
screen.  Alright.  Okay.  I will
share the entire screen and 
maybe that will make a 
difference.  
[Stream will resume shortly.]  
Female Speaker:   We're trying 
to figure it out.  
Speaker:   Okay.
We went from having no slides to
having no audio.  
Female Speaker:   Can you hear 
now?  
Speaker:   I can.
You're not talking to me . . . 
Female Speaker:   Let me see if 
I can . . . 
Speaker:   I have a "good to go"
message.  Great to hear.  
Shall I start from the top?
You've now heard and seen my 
slides though not together at 
the same time.  
I am going to, for the 
sake of time, going to move 
forward through the objectives.
I will repeat what are opioids.
Opiates are derived from the 
opium poppy.
Examples include but aren't 
limited to codon, morphine, 
heroin.  
Opioids include all the opiates 
and any 
other substances that binds to 
the brain's opioid receptors.
Examples include methadone, 
fentanyl and heroin.  
While all opiates are opioids, 
not ALL opioids are opiates.
It's also important to remember 
that just
because opiates are natural from
the plant doesn't mean they are 
LESS harmful.  
Most opioids are legal, 
prescription only medications.
Commonly used include the ones 
on this list.  [Showing.
]  It includes but isn't limited
to the 
generic codeine, 
Tylenol three, oxycodone, 
OxyContin, Percodan, prcset.
Hydrocodone in vacation, 
Lorcet and fentanyl or 
Duragesic or Subsys.
Morphine has a brandname of 
Morphabond.
Meperidine is known as Demerol.
Methadone brand name is 
Methadose.  
How do opioids work?
They attach themselves or bind 
to natural opioid receptors 
on neurons/nerve cells in the 
brain.
I like to think of it as a lock 
and key system.
The lock are the receptors on 
the neurons.
The key is the opioid molecule 
that attaches to it.
Once the opioids bind to 
these receptors, those neurons 
send 
signals to the brain which cause
the "opioid effect.
"  This causes, among 
other things, a
nalgesia and blocks pain.
Euphoria, flooding the brain's 
reward system and we feel good. 
The opioid effect causes 
respiratory depression and slows
your breathing down.
It continues to slow down your 
breathing 
depending on quantity and 
dosages
.  Without intervention, 
breathing will stop.
This is how people die from an 
opioid overdose, they stop 
breathing.  
So, in Missouri, we know that 
treatment admissions have been 
on the rise and continue to rise
even more steeply today.  
Same for hospital visits, 
especially 
visits to the Emergency Room
.  u
Unfrntly, overdose deaths 
with some demographics in the 
state are increasing, too.  
What is driving the overdose 
rates are heroin and fentanyl.
Lately, fentanyl is the 
primary overdose death rate.  
As a result, we 
see an increase in overdose 
deaths and one that doubles 
every time.  It's an exponential
increase.  
What is 
Noloxone or Narcan is 
the generic name of the opioid 
overdose rescue drug.
Naloxone replaces opioids and 
the receptors on our brain.
The natural opiate receptors 
that 
lock -
- the opioids we take to manage 
pain or 
substance/opioid use 
disorder, 
fit into the lock loosely.
Naloxone fits the lock better.
When introduced to the body, it 
pops the opioids off the 
receptors because the 
receptor, that lock, really 
wants to have a stronger key 
inside of it.  
Naloxone popping 
the opioids off the receptor 
Menas the opioid 
effects stops and breathing can 
be restored.
This can happen in 2-5 minutes.
Please note that times vary 
based on 
body size, amount, opioids used,
tolerance, etc.  There are many 
factors to consider.
Approximately 2-5 minutes and 
we'll see a 
reverse of an opioid overdose.  
Types or brndnms of 
naloxone are the injectable 
kind.  This is intramuscular.
It can go into and 
names of naloxone are the 
injectable kind.  This is 
intramuscular.  It can go into 
the backside or side.
Those are intramuscular 
locations to inject naloxone.
You can get it in a prepackaged 
nasal spray or Narcan.  
It also comes as an 
audio injectable, brand name 
Visio.
The auto injectable is a bit on 
the pricy side.
However, what is great about 
it is that it actually provides 
out loud instructions on what 
you need 
Evzio.  The auto injectable is a
bit on the pricy side.
However, what is great about it 
is that it actually provides out
loud instructions on what you 
need to take care of an overdose
and talks you through it.  
Naloxone cannot get you high-- 
very important.
Nothing will happen other than 
it will 
pop out any opioids on our 
opiate receptors and it will 
remain on the rece
ptors, approximately an hour, 
give or take, depending on body 
size, etc.
Know when naloxone is on the 
brain 
receptors, the opioid molecules 
are still in our brain.  
Therefore, two things will 
happen.
One, when a person is 
revived with naloxone 
and breathing is 
restored, the person is in 
immediate 
withdrawal and they want to stop
the bad 
physical feelings that accompany
withdrawal.  
We want to try our best.
It's not up to you in terms of 
physically 
preventing people, but,
if you can inform people that if
they go use right away, 
BMM
When we talk about engage in 
ing in treatment, there's the 
overdose treatment paradox.
When a person engages in 
treatment for opioid 
use disorder, the individuals 
will 
either reduce or completely 
eliminate their 
use of opioids, and that 
decreases their risk.
However, when that happens, 
over time, the brain has built 
up a 
bunch of receptors to 
accommodate all of the opioids 
that are being consumed.
When an individual has reduced 
or 
eliminating their drug use, then
their tolerance becomes lower.
Their brain trims back those 
receptors that are no longer 
being used.
As a result, individuals who 
have been in treatment, 
when they come out of treatment,
their 
tolerance is much lower than it 
was before going into treatment.
People tend to consume the 
same or similar quantities of 
substances that they did before 
treatment, and if that happens 
in an individual 
with lower tolerance, then it 
increases the risk that they 
might overdose.  
How can we help an individual 
decrease their risk?  These are 
harm-reduction tips.
This is not 
advocating that people support 
the 
use of opioids other than 
what a doctor may prescribe, but
we do know that people are going
to use them.
Just from a health 
perspective and harm-reduction 
perspective, it's important to 
never use alone.
If you use alone, there's no 
opportunity for anybody to 
revive you or 
call someone, call EMS 
to revive you from an overdose.
If you have-- 
if the person is using wi
th a partner, stagger your use. 
One person goes first.
The other person waits for a few
minutes to 
see whether or not p
erson number 1 might need an 
overdose reversed.
Staggering your use is one way 
to reduce the risk.  Never use 
behind a locked door.
I know people will go 
into public restrooms, private 
homes.
Because they don't want people 
to see what
they're doing, they will lock 
the door.
If you lock the door with an 
overdose event, nobody can get 
into where you are and treat 
you.  
Also, start low, go slow.
If you're getting your 
substances from the streets and 
not from your 
doctor or if 
you're misusing 
prespr
rescription opioids, start with 
the lowest dose and take it very
, very slowly to the level 
you're accustomed to using.
We don't always know the 
potency of the substances you 
might get on the street
.  Some might be much, much, 
much 
more deadly than others, and 
so a harm-reduction tip would 
then to be just make sure you 
don't start off with a big dose.
You don't know what the content 
is.
It's typically ph
fentanyl and others that 
multiply the danger.  Start low,
go slow.  
Always have naloxone and 
make sure everyone knows how to 
use it.
We're here to learn how to use 
it.
You're already engaging in some 
harm-reduction right now.  How 
can you tell if someone's 
overdosing?
You might hear some gurgling or 
deep snoring sounds that comes 
from deep inside.  This is known
as the death rattle.
If you hear it (
I hope you don't ever hear it), 
you will know it.
The skin will become blue or 
grayish.
Usually, your finger tips and 
lips 
begin to lose the oxygen which 
causes that blue/grayish skin.
In Caucasians, blue/
grayish lips is one way to tell.
Some African Americans, their 
lips 
may turn a white
ish or yellowish color 
depending.
If you see any of those signs, I
would 
look at lips and fingertips.
If they are not getting oxygen, 
they will turn those blueish and
whiteish colors.
They are probably in an overdose
situation.  The skin gets cold 
and clammy.  You might be 
sweaty.
They will definitely be on what 
we call a
heavy nod, so they will be very 
out of it.
If they are overdosing, in fact,
they will not 
respond to any stimulation-- 
even a painful stimulation.
If you like took your middle 
knuckle 
and rubbed it on a person's 
breast
bone or into 
the side of the arm firmly, 
that's a little bit a painful 
stimulus.
If the individual is not 
responding and also has 
these other signs of an 
overdose, 
you will notice that their 
breathing will either be very 
slow, very irregular, or has 
stopped all together.  
Finally, you can look at the 
person's pupils.
Pinpoint pupils is pretty 
literally what happens 
when someone is using opioids.
The pupils do not dilate and get
bigger.
They contract to the size of a 
pinhead.
All of these are signs that 
someone is in an opioid 
overdose.  What do you do when 
someone overdoses?
First, check to see if the 
airway is obstructed.  You've 
just come upon this individual.
What's most important, because 
breathing has stopped, 
is giving the individual 2 
rescue breaths.
In the age of COVID, that might 
sound scary.
We do vhave, believe 
it or not, protective equipment 
that can help you give those 
rescue breaths
.  I will show this to you at 
the end of 
the PowerPoint when I 
demonstrate the Narcan.  
See if the airway is obstructed.
Give 2 rescue breaths.
We don't know how long the 
individual has been without 
oxygen.
Then, if you have a Narcan 
package, you have 2 units.
After you have given those 2 
rescue breaths, 
you will take one of the units 
of 
naloxone or Narcan and 
administer it.
Narcan is a nasal spray.
You plunge the plunger and 
naloxone gets to where it needs 
to go.
Give one more rescue 
breath before 
turning the person on the 
rescue position on their side 
with one arm
reaching over to touch the floor
so that the face 
and body are tilted in the 
recovery 
position in case there is 
vomiting that occurs during 
revival while you're calling 
911.
We want to make sure they don't 
aspirate 
or breathe in that potential 
vomiting.  
Then, you call 911, and then 
immediately 
return to the individual and 
continue rescue breathing 
for about 2 minutes or so.
If they have not been revived 
after about 2 minutes, give the 
second dose of naloxone.
Then, just continue breathing 
for the individual 
until emergency services 
arrives.
It's important for us, for 
all of us in Missouri, to know 
how well Narcan is 
saving people's lives so that 
they are able to find recovery.
As so, we ask that if you do 
reverse a opioid 
overdose with Narcan or naloxone
of any kind
, please report that to
-- there is a form that you 
can fill out at the MO Hope 
Project page.  The link is here.
MOHopeProject.org/ODreport.  
Where can you get naloxone.
In Missouri, there's something 
called a standing
order that was written by
a physician that 
essentially enables anybody to 
get 
naloxone without a prescription.
Pharmacies will stock naloxone.
There will be some pharmacies 
that don't 
believe in stocking 
naloxone or Narcan.
Call ahead to see if they stock 
it.
Ask to speak with a pharmacist 
specifically about naloxone.
They will likely sell it to you.
The cost may be around 100-150 
dollars.
It's possible that the pharmacy 
might be 
able to bill your insurance for 
that cost 
even without a prescription.  
You can try.
You can get naloxone 
without a prescription at 
pharmacies across the state due 
to this 
standing order that's a blanket 
prescription.  
Limited supplies of free 
naloxone can 
be received from several places.
You can get info at 
NCADA [unclear].
org or go to MOHopeProject.
org/resources/
getnaloxone.
The There are 4
recovery centers in Missouri.
The 
MONET, they can 
provide free naloxone 
and other harm-reduction 
activities.  
Healing House in Kansas City 
also has free Narcan.  We, at 
the St.
Louis Empowerment Center, 
have free Narcan available, and 
the 
Springfield Recovery Community 
Center
-- again, you can get free 
naloxone from any of these 
community centers.
I recognize that many people do 
not live 
in these metropolitan areas, so 
if you are unable to get 
naloxone locally, perhaps your 
pharmacist or pharmacy has 
declined to stock the naloxone 
and you're unable to access it 
through your 
local public health department,
you may be able to get it mailed
by going to visit 
naloxoneforall.
org/more
sourcesyesnow.
That's the 
URL in order to determine if you
can get naloxone mailed to you.
This is the slide of sources 
that I have used for this 
presentation.  
Now, let me see if I can unshare
my
screen and get my face back into
view
so that I can go through how to
-- or what you're going to see 
with the Narcan and how to use 
it.
Give me just a minute.  
Hopefully, you can see my face 
now.
Can anybody not see my face?  
Please let me know.  Okay, very 
good.
Most Narcan units
, at least the ones we have at 
the Recovery 
Community Center, the ones that 
EMS might provide to people if 
they stop 
to assist with an overdose, they
might leave behind some 
naloxone, and they come in 
little bags.
They might be black or might be 
red.
If you get your Narcan that way,
you will have one of these in 
the bag.
There is a bunch of a
literature on additional 
harm-reduction tips, 
treatment options, other 
recovery options, and additional
resources.
Also in the kit, if you get one,
there will be a tiny little 
plastic package, okay?
It has a blue thing in it.  It's
tiny.
However, when you open it up, 
what we have 
is a face shield that s
is a one-way breather.
If you see, on this side, 
this valve that is poking 
out is what you would put into 
the mouth of the individual who 
is having the overdose.
This side has a flat valve.  
It's a one-way valve.  You 
breathe into that valve.
The plastic covers the rest of 
the face
, and your 
breath will go into the 
individual, but the individual's
breath or other 
exhalations will not move into 
your mouth, okay?
In the world of COVID, this 
serves kind of like a mask does.
There's no guarantee.
I don't want to say that this 
will 
be 100% effective at stopping 
any potential spread, but it 
will serve as a 
mask and a barrier for you 
to get the breaths while 
not 
inhaling whatever might be 
coming out of the individual.
After you have given those first
2 rescue breaths, you open up 
the package.  Mine happens to be
open.
There are 2 units that come in 
little packages.  They have a 
foil back.
-- easy to peel.
Inside is the Narcan or the 
naloxone.
There is naloxone in this little
nasal spray.
It's very, very easy.
You don't need to push the 
plunger to prime it or anything.
Please don't do that.  You will 
use up the naloxone.  Take it.
You put it up the individual's 
nose
.  After it is in the nose, then
you push the 
plunger and get the naloxone up 
into the system.
Then, remember we want to give 
one more rescue breath.
Put the person in the recovery 
position on their side with 
their arm down.
Call 911 and ask for EMS.
It would be helpful for EMS to 
know that you suspect an opioid 
overdose.  Then, return to the 
individual.
Continue to breathe.
If the person hasn't come 
around, you have your second 
dose of Narcan.
Rip open the package and use it 
the same way as you did before.
It's okay if you use the same 
nostril.  Maybe try the other 
nostril.
Either one, as long as it gets 
into the person's body.  
That concludes my presentation.
It looks like we have a few 
minutes to answer questions.
I don't believe I see all of the
questions.
Perhaps 
we can have some of the 
questions 
pop up on the live stream that I
see?
Yes, you will get a copy of this
PowerPoint, Regina.
I sent a copy to the 
Real R
Voices Real Choices team.  Oh, 
here we are with the response.
Yes, you will get that.  
Let's see what other questions 
we might have.  Hmm.
I cannot-- let's see.
How can a person overdose on 
Tylenol 3?  What happens to 
help?
Well, a person can overdose on 
Tylenol 3
if, for example, 
they have a really low 
tolerance.
Perhaps they were in treatment 
or 
perhaps they were 
incarcerated and their tolerance
was lowered but they still have 
OUD behaviors.
They might consume a large 
quantity of Tylenol 3.
That will produce the opioid 
effect that we discussed 
earlier.
Hopefully, that answers your 
question.  
Michelle, thank you very much.  
I appreciate the complement.
Christina Pullman has 
asked if I have successfully 
used Narcan before.
I personally have not used 
Narcan to revive a 
person in overdose, but I know 
many, many people who have.
It is successful 
, so it is successful.
I personally have had not 
not had to use Narcan on an 
individual.  I do carry it with 
me.  
As a side note, when you carry 
it, do 
not leave it in extreme 
temperatures, extreme heat or 
extreme cold.
It will degrade the product, but
I carry 
mine with my personal bag, okay?
All right, everyone, it looks 
like
we're coming up at 10:25
despite our technical glitches 
at the beginning.
It looks like we managed to make
it through.
I really appreciate everyone who
is attending, listening, 
watching livestream
, and hopefully, 
this information you will find 
useful and practical in your own
daily lives.
≫ Thank you so much for that 
powerful presentation.
I know that's good information 
for all 
of us to have in our arsenal.  
Thank you for presenting that.
We are now going to take another
quick break.
We will see you back at 10:40 
for the next
presentation which is self-
Self-Advocacy at the Local Level
by Jeff Johson.
See everybody soon.  
[Conference on break]
ALM
[Music playing in background.]  
[Count down timer.]  
Female Speaker:   Today we are 
joined by Jeff Johnson, 
who lives in Columbia, who has 
been 
married for 21-years and share 
children and grandchildren.
He has worked as an advocacy 
specialist for the Department of
Mental Health and served on the 
planning 
committee for Real Voices Real 
choices.
Since it began in 2008.
Please join me in welcoming Jeff
Johnson.  
Speaker:   Thank you for the 
great welcome.
Glad to be here C
hoices since it began in 2008.  
Please join me in welcoming Jeff
Johnson.  
Speaker:   Thank you for the 
great welcome.  Glad to be here 
today and share my presentation 
with everyone.
Sorry we couldn't all be 
together today.
We all hope to see each other at
the next Real Voices and Real 
Choices conference.  
I will start with starting with 
People f
First in Boone County, 
promoting dignity in life and 
work 
for people with developmental 
disabilities.
What do we mean by "People 
First"?
We may have a disability, but we
are people first.
Think of us as people not as the
disabled.  Okay, good.  
Now, what do we mean by 
"promoting dignity.
"  Well, we mean that people 
with disabilities 
deserve 
respect and live life free of 
labeling, name-calling, and 
abuse.  
Also, people with disabilities 
have the right to be supported 
in the community free 
from 
segregated institutions, nursing
homes and have the right to work
in regular jobs.  
Next slide, please.  
About People First of Boone 
County.
We established in 1998 and 
affiliated with People First of 
Missouri.
Officers and members are 
dedicated to self-advocacy 
movement.
As you can see, 
that's our flag with the united 
diversity and the officers 
below.  
Go ahead, Cristina.  
People First of Boone County and
our mission statement.
We promote social equality for 
all 
people and work to ensure people
with disabilities 
to get 
exercise their right and 
responsibility in the community.
We support each other in 
speaking up 
for ourselves as people, first 
and foremost.  
Next slide, please.  
The history of the self-advocacy
movement.
It began in 1960s around 
the theme "we can speak for 
ourselves.
"  It spread to Canada in the 
1970s.
It was brought to the United 
States of America in 1973.
People First established a local
chapter in 
Kansas City, MO in 1983.
People First was established 
in 1990 and has many chapters 
across the state of MO.  
How does People First work in 
this movement?
We provide training about People
First language.
As you can see with the 
pictures.  
Next slide, please.  
We also help recognize 
and employ people with 
disabilities.  Next slide, 
please.   
We relate to l
egislature and other 
decision-makers about issues of 
importance.
There's a picture of myself and 
other self-advocates talking 
with a legislature.
On the left side there . . . 
It says "Nothing about us 
without us" at the bottom of the
slide.  
Next slide, please.  
We also hold special events for 
outreach to others and have fun.
Self-Advocacy at the Local Level
you can see
This is a fundraiser we put on 
with Parks and Rec.
We celebrate our 10 
Anniversary there with the big 
2017 cake.  
Next slide, please.  
We also hold annual walkathons 
and rollathons for people of all
abilities.
This is one of our other 
f
fundraisers, the Rollathon.
We also help other People First 
chapters get started.  
As you can see in this picture, 
we worked with 
Lexico, Missouri to start their 
chapter.  
Next slide, please.  
We also participate in local 
parades to raise awareness.  We 
don't have pictures there.
We plan on putting 
more pictures there to replace 
the old ones.  
Next slide.  
We presented to the Boy 
Scout troop and pledged to not 
use the "R-.-word.
"  We'll use other pictures 
there, too.  
We have chapters in Columbia, 
MO's annual cleanup event.   
Next slide.  
We have members participate in 
PFBC self-advocacy movement.
This is due to the fact that 
most
individuals with 
intellectual disabilities-- we 
felt that people with 
disabilities won't be able 
to go to STIR self-advocacy 
movement.  This is due to the 
fact that most individuals with 
intellectual disabilities-- we 
felt that people with 
disabilities won't be able to go
to college for what 
it feels like in a classroom on 
campus.
We decided to hold Project STIR 
Training there.  
Next slide, please.  
We worked with a county 
commissioner 
to help with 
Disability Awareness Month.
We advocate for better 
transportation and assessable 
local community.  
Next slide.
We participate in local 
community gardening.
Some of our 
advocates participated and 
helped out
in the local community and did 
other things besides gardening. 
We do other things as well.  
Next slide, please.  
We also participate in statewide
committee meetings and state and
national conferences.
As you can see, People First is 
a local 
organization that is under the 
umbrella of the state.
We also have a national, called 
"
State 
self-empowerment movement.
"  Today, we have a big 
conference in Colorado.
Next year, People First of 
Missouri will have its 
conference, too.  
Next slide, please.  
People First of Boone County 
meetings on the 
second Thursday of each month at
5 PM in the Friends Room at 
1209 East Walnut in Columbia.
For more information, 
contact Jeff 
573-441-
6273 or Mark at 
573-874-1995.   
This is the People First website
that people can 
go to and see what we do through
self-advocacy.  Any questions?
, ext. 154.  
This is the People First website
that people can go to and see 
what we do through 
self-advocacy.  Any questions? 
Female Speaker:   Yet another 
fantastic presentation by 
one of our awesome presenters.  
Thank you for the presentation. 
We'll now break for lunch.
We'll see everyone back here at 
1:30.  
[Break for lunch.]  
Test test
Test test 
≫ Good afternoon!
I hope you had a good lunch time
together and are ready for our 
presentation.
Today we are joined by Jim h
Marshall.
He is a 38 year on
has taught for 38 years.
He has done 8 years of 
prsnttesentatersestations.
resentations.
Please join me in welcoming Jim!
≫ Thank you.
I appreciate the opportunity 
to talk to you today within this
conference.  This is new for me.
I have been speaking for 9 years
since I retired from education.
I have not had a virtual 
situation yet.  It is odd to me 
to say the least.
But, any time we have the chance
to talk a 
little bit about our youth I am 
not going to pass on it.  I am 
going to jump on that.  
Today we want to talk about the 
scenarios that we have with our 
youth.
The title of my topic is the 
struggle The Struggle Epidemic.
I really believe we 
have in this scenario and with 
COVID
, we have the largest struggle 
with our youth.
We have youth struggling with 
mental 
health, suicidal thoughts, 
substance abuse and everything 
else.  It is overwhelming.
Today I want to tell you about 
where 
I came from background wise 
and why I am doing what I am 
doing.
I want to connect all three of 
those 
topics and explain how suicide, 
mental health issues and how 
substance use scenarios are all 
intertwining with one another.
What we have been missing and 
what we 
can do to improve these 
scenarios.  
My net I j
The name of my nonprofit is 
Cody's Gift.
I missed lost my son September 
25, 2011.
I grooved 
rieved over my son and I kept 
thinking about what I could have
done.
We started delving into the 
topics of mental health.
Cody was as normal of a young 
man as you could potentiliy 
have.
opotentially have.
It didn't make sense and I didn
't understand it.
I started talking about 
the topic with friends and 
others.
I started researching the topic.
I spoke with people in recovery 
centers 
and when you add that all up, it
made me 
feel like I needed to share what
I learned with other people.
Not only was it a coping 
mechanism 
for me since it allowed me to 
talk about my boy some more and 
keep him in 
my brain, but it also allowed me
to 
help people understand the 
sickness and scenarios that they
had.  
I generally speak at schools.
I do 90-100 schools per year.
I have spoken a lot the last 
four or five months.
I am hoping to get back to that.
Today I will share some stories 
of kids that come up and talk to
me after this.
Sometimes I spend an hour to an 
hour and a half talking to kids 
individually as
they pour their stories and 
situations out to me.
There is a stigma with mental 
health issues and substance 
abuse scenarios.
A lot of our kids don't feel 
comfortable to share these 
stories with school employees or
even their family.
I didn't understand that kids 
would share their stories with 
me.
I provide a couch and a comfort 
zone in my talk.  
Cody was nineteen when he 
started using right out of high 
school.
He was working in a factory 
at age nineteen and trying to 
figure out life.
Not a lot for a nineteen year 
old to do in central Missouri.  
He worked all night.
He came home, slept a lot, and 
worked a lot again.
A lot of his friends were in 
college.
In the midst of being depression
and 
an already anxious man to 
start off with, he started self 
medicating.
A lot of our young people are 
self 
medicating today for mental 
health scenarios.  
1 out of 3 college kids take a 
prescription that is not 
prescribed to them.  It is 
pretty common today.
I believe part of that has to do
with the 
medical industry and big 
pharmaceutical companies.
If you watch television, you see
tons of 
commercials every night on pr
rescription pills and synthetic 
pills that 
can provide you with some 
solution to your problem.  I 
don't know what we do about 
that.
We are quick to remedy most of 
our 
issues with our kids in a 
pharmaceutical way.
It is backed up in stats.
I believe the biggest one we 
have to use is that 90
% of all painkillers made
in the world is used in 
good 'ol United States.
Either we have a monopoly on 
pain 
or medical issues in the 
greatest medical 
country in the world, or we are 
abusing painkillers.  I believe 
it is the latter.  
Cody got hooked on prescription 
pills because of this fact.
At the time that he was 
suffering, I took him to the 
doctor and a twenty
matinee inute talk with the 
nurse practictner led to him 
being prescribed Zoloft.
He wasn't required to go to any 
counseling.
He wasn't to see any p
sychologist, it was just 
there was a bottle of pills to 
fix your problem.
We misdiagnose a lot in America.
When you misdiagnose depression 
or 
bipolar or anxiety that deal 
with mental 
health scenarios, there are no 
MRIs.
It is a listen and here we go 
and this is what we do 
situation.
I could go on for a day talking 
about what we need 
to do in the medical field to 
change the situation.
But to start off with, we really
don't need 
family physicians openly 
prescribing benzoates 
and opioids when that is not 
there specialty.
You wouldn't go to an oncologist
for something non related 
with a thyroid issue like a 
thyroid issue.
This was a kicker in Cody's 
scenario and I hope we do more 
screening and counseling 
suggested situations.  
Cody moved on from the Xanax and
Zoloft he used and eventually 
moved to heroine.
80% of all 
heroine users started with a 
prescription pill addiction.  A 
lot of people don't know that.
I think there is a 
misnonmr people 
think that young people start 
taking fancy heroin and that is 
where they start.
Nobody starts with dynamite.
They start with the firecrackers
and when 
they can't afford that, they m
ove to the dynamite.  My.
My boy got put in the corner and
the resources he needed to buy 
his prescription pills.  He 
could no longer steal.  He got 
in trouble with the law.
He moved to heroine.  It was 
cheaper.
Sadly enough, this has a lot to 
do with 
the opioid epidemic 
because of the prescription e
pidemic they start with.
It is an interesting topic here 
in Missouri.
Missouri has a prescription 
monitoring program and 
we are the only state in the 
United States that does not.
Four months feature he a
fter he moved to heroine, Cody 
overdosed.
He survived three days on a 
ventilator until he had no 
blood flow to his brain stem.
We lost Cody September 25, 2011.
We did have some mental health 
scenarios.
I do not blame the choices that 
he made on the family physician 
scenario.
I do understand where we are 
missing our connections at here.
That being the e
xplanation of how I got started 
and what 
happened with my son, let's talk
about the three 
rings to mental health
, substance use and suicide 
going on with our youth.
The first question I get asked 
by people 
my age like baby boomers or 
older parents.
Here is what I get asked.
"Coach, what is wrong with our 
kids today?
"  Like we all of a 
sudden started producing kids 
that had something wrong with 
them.
Like they were all born with a 
birth d
fdefect.
None of these children are born 
with ADHD
or born with a genetic predsp
isposition to be an addict or 
wanting 
to commit suicide.  They are 
influenced.
nfluenced by what is going on 
around them.
Whether it is social media, the 
cellor edia.
Did you know depression has 
tripled since the cell phone has
come out?
Did you know that suicide has 
tripled since the cell phone 
came out?
These are environmental factors 
that contribute to mental health
issues.
1 out of 
of 3 kids have had a traumatic 
event happen to them that is on 
the 
traumatic chart of a 7 or above.
1 of 5 will have a 
post traumatic stress disorder 
before age nineteen.  
Think of how many kids that 
means in a school of 1,000 kids.
1 out of 5 kids.  We have one 
counselor in each school.
Sometimes Right 
now the average student 
counselor rate is 1 to 400 kids.
If we are talking about 1,000 
person school and we have 50 to 
100 kids 
that are severely traumatized.
"Coach, what type of trauma are 
we talking about?"  
We can't list all the traumas.
I will tell you one that I had a
child walk
up to me at age nine tell me 
about.
He came up She 
came up and asked if she could 
talk to me.
She said 
can we aid, "can we go over to 
the corner?
"  She said, "you know you 
talked 
about Cody self medicating with 
Xanax 
and Zoloft and eventually 
heroine.
iI self medicate.  It takes away
some of the pain.
I cut Myself"myself."  She 
showed me her arm.
She had five or six bad cuts on 
her arm.
I asked her why she did that.  
She 
said, "It washes away some of 
the 
pain and I feel better.
"  I told her the only way she 
could get better is to talk 
about this issue.  
We don't think of kids harming 
themselves as self medication.
I believe that self medication 
is labeled to every one of those
areas we talked about.  Suicide 
is self medication.
I refer to it as a permanent 
self medication for a temporary 
problem.
Don't take a permanent solution 
to a temporary problem.
wWe have tons of kids 
cutting themselves and thinking 
about suicide.
The age group from 10-14 has
years old has tripled .  We have
ten year olds looking for a 
rope.
I never thought 
I was an educator for 38 years 
in the school.
chools.
I would have Nevenever 
imangd magined that we had an 
average age of starting 
substance abuse at age 12.
I would have nevefr v
have never thought there were 
ten year olds looking for a 
rope.
When we study people that have 
been in 
recovery and been through severe
addiction, 
the average age they started 
was 12 years of age
.  We know that the brain of a 
12 year old is nowhere near full
size first.yet.
What chance does 
your brain have to function 
properly when
you are using at age 12 with 
half a brain to use?
We know the brain does not 
finish developing until age 25 
years old.
Here is the silver bullet in 
this.
Studies show that if kids do not
use 
or abuse substances until the 
age of 18
, there is a 90% chance they 
will never develop an addiction.
Me your mMy question to you and 
educators is how do we get kids 
to abstain until age 18?  That 
is a million dollar question.  
I wish I had an answer to that.
I know that one thing we can do 
is to educate our kids in these 
areas.
I hear people speak on mental 
trama 
and its influences on our kids 
today.
I had one workshop 
where the gentlemen spoke on 
mental trama and 
rauma and said when you have a 
kid traumatized 
with PTSD they are a rear brain 
thinker.
They don't use the front part of
their brain to 
rationalize or figure out an 
emotional focus on how to 
control their emotions.
They are theThey are 
reactionary.
You touch them on the shoulder 
and they want to fight.
You have a kid that works on 
fight or flight.
We have not figured out in 
education how to help these 
people through this trauma and 
through these mental health 
scenarios.  
There is nothing wrong with our 
kids.
It is wrong with our environment
and our culture.
We have got to learn to 
recognize when we have 
traumatized 
kids and figure out the 
environment that can 
provide them with the 
opportunity to recover.
That is what I believe and 
the mental health scenario we 
have to look at 
when we are dealing with 
substance abuse
, suicide and mental health 
issues.  
Let's talk about the substance 
abuse category.
Our number one gateway for kids 
getting started is prescription 
pills.  You will have people 
debate that.
But time and time again, when I 
talk to kids 
who have dealt with the opioid 
issue or family members, I 
cntnontinually hear that the 
start was a prescription pill 
scenario and the opioid 
epidemic.
Synthetic opioids are basically 
painkillers.
PercoctPercocet, Vicodin, and 
oxycontin.
It has changed our country.
This is how your country has 
changed with 
substance abuse as a result of 
it being a self medicator first.
We have thirteen million 
children raised by their 
grandparents.
Grandparents were not equipped 
to raise a second generation,
but they are doing it because 
thirteen 
million kids have parents that 
cannot 
oprrperate and function.
We have lost two years because 
of over
JJJ
Professor:  Our mMale Speaker:  
Our life 
exptectancy has gone from 79 to 
77.
Neonatal opioid withdrawal 
syndrome.
Every 15 minutes, a baby 
is born with opioid influence, 
with seizures, shakes, and 
terrible reprcercussions.
We haven't send the end r
esult 20 years down the road 
because the epidemic hasn't been
along that Lonround that long.  
How many people will be 
influenced b
y this and the result of having 
neonatal issue.
Grandparents are raising 
grandkids.  
The painkiller syndrmome we 
have?
We have to try to move way from 
the pain cr
ircumstances solving our 
problems.
When it comes to the substance 
issues, 
we can look at legalization, 
alcohol influence, and potential
situations 
regarding what we should do with
the pharmacy industry.  
I think we should educate kids 
about the dangerous 
of substance use when they are 
in elementary school.
We have to help our kids u
nderstand that the healthy way 
to cope 
isn't to use medications to feel
better.
I believe substance use 
has increased because that has 
been the #
1 coping skill of kids who are 
damaged.  
We have to find a way to 
educate our kids and find ways 
to put 
them in a better scenario.
The war on drugs has been part 
of the scenario.
We have found out that the war 
on drugs have only made issues 
worse.
We have drug courts to help 
people 
recover and get their lives back
on track.
We have to address the 
mental health needs of our 
incarcerated population.  
When people go into a 
prison with a mental health 
issue, there are 
3x more likely to use when they 
get 
out of jail than jthey were when
they went in.  
If that isn't the worst result 
you 
could hope for in trying to rid 
our streets of drugs . . .
that what we're doing with them 
causes 
them to go out and use three 
times more than they were when 
they went in.
Why does that happen?
60% of people that are 
incarcerated with a substance 
issue have a mental health 
issue.  
When we work on 
recovery and drying them out and
we don't 
attempt to work on the mental 
health issue, 
we end up missing one of the 
tires 
that was flat when we ent in.
We still have a flat tire of 
depression, anxiety, bipolar 
disorder, or whatever.
Because of the mental health 
scenario, it contributes to them
using again.
We have to work on the criminal 
justice scenario.  
I did mention coping skills.  
What are we doing at home?
How are we rising ouraising our 
kids?
After being an educator for 28 
years, I believe we haven't done
a good job 
teaching kids gcoping skills.  I
think we have gone backwards.  
We have made things easier.
When you lesson the degree of 
difficulty required to obtain a 
certain 
goal, you fail to push kids out 
of their comfort zone.
You fail to push them to a high 
standard or accountability 
levels.  
As far as this problem with 
coping 
skills being lacking in kids
, we have become lawnmower 
parents.
This has replaced the term "
helicopter parents".
"  That is when mom and dad 
swooped down to 
protect Johnny from the 
consequences of his choices.
Lawnmower parents do the same 
thing.
They just hit the obstacles down
before they them.
We don't put johnny in an AP 
class 
because we don't want him to get
a B instead of an A.  
aAs educators, we l
esson standards so kids don't 
fail.  Everyone kids.  Metal.
mmMedal.
No child left gets a medal.  No 
child left behind.
We should push our kids out of 
their 
comfort szone.
We can force them to do things 
they are uncomfortable with.
We have to get back to Magik 
making life a little difficult 
offer our for our kids.  It's 
OK.  It's healthy.
Kids cope when they learn how to
fail.  That's true for kids and 
adults.
We learn to cope through failure
and unfair situations.
We can't make the lives of our 
kids fair all the time.
We can't fight for unfair 
circumstances all the time.
A lot of gen Y and Z 
kids think life should be fair 
every day.
When they do fail in college or 
find
life to be difficult, they 
want to fall back on the 
experiences where they only 
succeeded?  Then they are 
struggling.
They don't have a toolkit with 
coping schools.
They'll use a Xanax or 
Oxycotin to deal with the 
circumstances.  Why?
It's easier than telling Ousmane
elling someone your problems.
It's easier to do this 
than to be potentially 
stigmatized.
It is easy to understand why 
people 
don't ask for drpssn
epression, or why they don't ask
for 
help when they realize they have
a depression issue?  
They will be labeled or 
stigmatized.
It is easier to smoke or take a 
pill than to confront your 
issues.
We have to teach kids that that 
isn't your 
first problem when it comes to 
coping.
We have to teach them that 
exercising is a helping coping 
mechanism.
If I was a superintn
tndendent in 
Missouri, I would make sure our 
kids 
got 2-3 recesses every day.
Kids can't sit for six hours in 
class every day.  We never 
could.  We have all these 
curriculum.
We want our kids to 
pass classes, but they have to 
exercise and 
emotionally control themselves. 
They have to learn to problems 
solve.
Those are all part of learning 
to cope with life in a serious 
way.
Have you heard that our 
grit rate with our 
youth is as low as it has ever 
been.  Even at Westpoint.
They have a high quitting point
, even if that was their dream
.  oOur grit factor is low.
We have to let our kids fail 
more.
We have to teach them to learn 
to cope.  
Most people that were 
successful?
It isn't because they were the 
smartest people in the room.
They were people that new how to
fail, 
et get up, and respond to 
difficult situations.  They 
didn't run.  
I tell parents in 
parent groups to sit with their 
kids and talk 
about unhealthy and healthy ways
to cope.
Talk about self-medication and 
what that means.
Encourage them to speak and 
communicate.  Communication 
isn't this.  
Our kids think this is how you 
communicate now days.
They spend an average of eight 
hours a day on this thing now.
All that does sis 
create mental health problems 
and anxiety.  
I tell kids to not base their 
self-worth off of what they read
on a phone.  Get outside.  Do 
things you enjoy.
Maybe we have to get back to 
actually talking about what 
healthy coping is.  Play music. 
Do something you enjoy doing.
When you get in a bad place, 
talk to people.
Talk to people about your 
problems.  We aren't talking.
It seems like we have become a 
mute society.  
We have substituted the 
phone, social media or 
other operations for 
communicating.
With some of the kids I have 
talked to, you 
would be amazed at how many kids
this is happening to.  
Down at the school of jthe 
Osage, I had five kids that came
up to me out of the 40 that 
waited in line.
They all said they had tried 
suicide.  
I had a young man that came up 
to 
me in North crlCarolina.
I He told 
me he had a friend that self-
medicates.  I told his parents. 
He 
I asked him if they were still 
friends?  He said no.
"So you threw out 
your friendship to help your 
friend?"  "Yes.
"  Well, we need more people to 
help you.
We have to have people speak up 
and h
elp their friends out.  
I have jrethree other stories. 
to share.  I know I'm running 
out of time.  
Christina was a 2008 
graduated I coached here in Jeff
City.
She was our class valedictorian.
iShe had a 34 on their ACT.
I had only taught 
about jtfive kids who had scored
that high ever.  She was special
academically.  She was a leader 
too.  I never thought she had 
anxiety.
She was a happy-go-lucky kid.  
She went to Mizzou.
She wanted to be #1 in her 
class.
In three years, she graduated 
from a 
five-year program
.  She went into her master's 
program and it got tougher.
She started using Xanax on 
the suggestion of her medical 
friends.  
She gradually moved to higher-
powered drugs including some 
opioids.  She moved to heroine.
In 2012, her parents found 
her non-responsive 
on her a
partment floor six months away 
from being a doctor.
She self-medicated because of 
the stress and pressure.  It was
the common trend.
19 other friends of hers were 
doing the same thing.  
Remember, I told you that 1/3 
out of 3
college students take a 
prescription pill not prescribed
to them.  What is the #1 pill?  
Adoral derall.
ADHD.  That's a label.
The kid that can't 
sit still, that has talking 
issues, etc.  
What if that kid was the kid who
was cutting?
I didn't tell you the whole 
story on that.
She told me she cut because of 
what grandpa did to her at age 
five?
Let's say that is the kid who is
the 
f
gity gity kid?
We put a PTSD 
kid on Adderall 
and readlineRitalin.
Do you think that lines up with 
their problem?
That kid will eventually crash, 
won't they?
They will eventually be a kid 
that sleeps all day in class.  
We take him back to the doctor 
now.  "This kid isn't hyper.  
They are non-responsive."  That 
is what I thought Cody was.
He was laying in bed all day 
long.  I thought he was 
depressed.
We take them to the doctor and 
the doctor gives them depression
medication.
The real issue is that they have
been treated too long for PTSD.
Depression medication doesn't 
work for PTSD.  
Let's say the kid is up one day 
and down another.  What diagnose
will they get there?  Bipolar.
Again, PTSD and bipolar aren't 
the same things.
We can't medicate PTSD with 
bipolar medication.  This is 
happening a lot.  
The next two people I dedicate 
my talks to?
jJessica was a 
runner of mine who went to 
Missouri S&T.
She was a full ride scholarship 
runner.  She had a car accident.
They put opioids on 
her plate because of the pain to
her back.
sShe was also on 
anti-anxiety medications for
an abusive boyfriend and trauma.
She was taking opioids for 
back issue and taking b
nzds enzoids for her anxiety 
issues.  
She eventually moved to 
heroine and went to rehab 
several times.
She seemed to be clean.
Two years ago, we 
buried Jessica because of 
herooin addiction.
It was a mental and physical 
dependence.
Taylor was a friend of my 
daughter.
She suffered from depression 
starting around age 12.
I said this was the average age 
for starting substances.  
Mom started to move them to a 
problem school.
Mom tried to She 
sdid everything she could do.  
He took him to doctors.  He was 
on medication.
Taylor ended up becoming 
dependent on 
opioids 
and developed a heroin 
addiction.
Remember, 80% of all opioid 
addictions started with eheroin.
Parents did everything they 
could.
He woke up from an 
overdose and shot himself in the
head.
He w
When I talk about overdose 
deaths 
because that was the jthe way 
my way my son 
died, and by the way 
someone dies of an overdose 
every eight minutes.
We have 800,000 people in the 
world that die of suicide.
I know we are all sick of the 
pandemic called COVID.
COVID has not taken nearly the 
amount of people that suicide, 
mental health and substance 
abuse has taken.  We call it an 
epidemic.
That means it is only a problem 
in the in a region.
The whole world has been 
affected by 
this substance abuse, 
suicide, and mental health 
issues for 
as long as human beings have 
been alive.  We can't call it a 
pandemic?
We have to acknowledge that what
I am talking about is ten times 
as dangerous as what
COVID could be or is.
I wish we would spend more time 
talking about it in schools.
I have offered to talk to 
educational departments and 
states.
We continually talk about what 
we need 
to do with our damaged kids but 
we do very 
little once we get past the 
talking points.
I talked to a 
superintendent 
a few years ago and asked 
whether they had driver's ed.  
He said, yes, we are saving 
lives.  That is our long range 
goal.  Safe drivers can save 
lives.
I said, "what are you doing in 
your middle school 
to deal with substance use, 
education 
knwolnowledge and the mental 
health traumas.
Are you increasing the number of
counselors and 
behavioral interventsts
nterventionists?
What are we doing to help the 1
in 3 kids that have a family 
full of Addiction?"  addiction?
"  We have classes.
Pull out the health curriculum.
We have one chapter that we 
cover in 7th grade health.
We bring a drug free youth group
and 
they do their skits and talks 
about substance use.
Sometimes if we have our law 
enforcement people available we 
do the .D.A.D.A.R.E. program.
That adds 
up to eight days from age 12
-18 years old on 
substance use coping skills and 
mental health scenarios.
We have to do a better job than 
that.
As I told that s
uperintendent when I finished my
talk, the curriculum that 
my boy went through and what he 
learned in 
middle school and high school 
isn't help 
him very much right now at r
esurrection Resurrection 
Cemetery.
The one person that dies every 
eight minutes 
in this country from substance 
abuse is a kid.
42,000 people will die this year
of an overdose.
We don't know how many of those 
overdoses 
are suicides because once they 
inject that needle or take that 
heroin, 
we don't know whether their 
intention was to die.
I really believe a lot of our 
overdoses
are what I call involuntary 
suicide.
That means they didn't really 
try to die, they didn't care 
either.  
I want to thank you guys for 
giving me the opportunity to 
tell Cody's story.
I hope it opens up eyes to the 
traumatizing scenarios that our 
kids are going through.
Not every kid takes a pill 
because they are traumatized.
But I think we need to 
understand that there is more 
trauma that goes into our kids 
using substances jthan we 
realize.
We have to make sure that we are
doing something to 
teach them how dangerous that 
world is.
What other roads can they take 
to cope with the problems that 
they have now?
I know a lot of you my age are 
saying, 
you make it sound like our kids 
have it ten times tougher than 
we did.
They don't walk two miles to 
school in the snow.
As a matter of fact, they get 
snow days on one inch of snow, 
don't they?  I am not talking 
about that.
I am talking about what their 
environment does to them and how
tough their environment is.
I am talking about what they 
have to go through today
with the u
nfeeling environment and 
cultures they are in.  They do 
have it a lot more rough.
Bullying in my day we had a 
bully who you dealt with maybe 
walking home from school.
It was over once I got h
ome whether I had gotten in a 
fight or I ran fast enough to 
get away.  Bullying is never 
over now.
The cell phone and social media 
allows 
bullying 24/7.
I know most of you don't let 
your kids walk to school 
anymore.
But they live in a sick culture.
Our culture is much sicker and 
it has a 
lot of people who are out in the
world that are dangerous.
We need to understand that our 
kids face dangers.
There is good reason for them to
be traumatized.
You know how many school 
shootings we had in 
ad when I was in school?  Zero.
Now there is one once a week in 
this country.
I can't imagine how they help 
these 
kids recover from this and how 
they keep 
them from dropping to the ground
every time they hear a loud 
sound.
It is a harsh world and our kids
need to be helped and walked 
through it.  
Do not bubble your kid in a 
comfort zone.  You have to push 
them and drive them.
You have to help them experience
failure and help them deal with 
that failure.
I will take some questions now.
I hope the awkwardness has been 
excusable.
This virtual stuff has put a low
tech 
guy in a high tech world.
I will look at some of the 
questions 
.  I see a comment that says 
school shootings so sad, I 
agree.  It is horrible.  Any 
other questions?
I see some thank yous on that.  
When I started doing this, I c
ried a lot.
I hide my emotions a little more
now since I have been doing it 
for so long.  It is not fun.
I talk to the kids when I am at 
school and 
I say I don't do this fooey or 
entertainment.  It is like 
taking a knife to your gut.
I am watching your guts roll out
on the floor.
You say everyone
tell everyone that is a stranger
that you are mad.
When you have these children 
telling their stories, 
they are realizing they are not 
a freak show.  It happens to a 
lot of people.
I think my talks help kids 
figure out that their parents 
weren't bad people.  They 
suffered a disease.
Its a disease that is hard to 
beat.
Maybe that is why I continue to 
do it.
The kids tend to see this as 
something that explains 
something they don't understand.
Cody passed away September 25th.
That will be a hard day.
When you walk into your househ
old and you find your boy with 
no breath and you 
did CPR and watched him hooked 
up
to tubes for three days, it gets
tough.
I didn't do well for a long 
time.
I will tell you the first couple
of months I went to my job.  I 
was coaching at college level.
I came home everyday and I slept
all night long.  I was not 
coping very well.  This is my 
coping mechanism.
It doesn't make things better, 
but it helps.
I tell kids that I am self 
medicating when I do this.  This
is my heroin.  This is my meth.
This is how I cope and survive.
If I could this with what I 
experienced, you can do the same
thing.
Being a coach and educator, it 
fits right up my alley.
For 38 years I told kids to take
negatives and make positives out
of them.
When you do that, you make 
yourself and other people 
better.
The best coping skill I left out
when I talked to you guys is 
giving to other people.
When you give to other people, 
you learn to cope well.  I hope 
that is your approach to life.
Whenever you help, you get 
better, too.
What way can we educate 
the doctors and 
that prescribe students that 
medication?
There is nothing wrong with 
taking them to a family doctor.
I would also take jthem to a s
pecialist.
Take them to a psychologist or c
ounselor to go along with our 
family doctors.
I would be okay with our family 
physicians 
prescribing these opioids if 
they required 
them to go to counselors to get 
their medication.  That is how 
we heal people.
They need counseling and 
therapy, not just medication.
If you have people in your 
family struggling with it.  Get 
second opinions.  Get 
specialists' opinions.  Treat it
like it is cancer.
You kIt is gdangerous and 
deadly.
Get more than one opinion and 
get more 
help then you think your family 
doctor can give you.  What 
What advice would you give to 
someone that can't wear a mask?
COVID has given us a whole new 
level of anxiety.  That is a 
tough one.
I would say maybe you.
Need a pHyou need a 
physical exception from your 
scenario form rom your doctor.
My grandaughter has 
asthma and allergies and it 
makes her cough and snotty.
People probably think she has 
COVID.
I don't have any allergies or 
any issues and they drive me 
nuts.
What to do if you have done 
everything and they don't want 
to listen?  
Well, I don't have a magic 
bullet for that one.  Never give
up.
I tried to get my son into 
circumstances that would make 
him healthier.
The decision still comes down to
that person 
in gettin etting help and 
admitting they have a problem.
When they are beyond 18 years 
old, they can do what they want.
But never give up.  People do 
recover and they do get better.
They are getting better at it 
everyday 
with the recovery 
scenarios and harm reduction 
situations that we have going 
on.
Any other questions?  
I appreciate all who said sorry 
for your loss.
I hope that my loss is 
somebody's gain here .  That is 
what we hope.  We learn that 
people learn a few things.
The most important things we can
take from all that you have 
learned .
earned is to share this 
information and have dialogue 
with your loved ones and family.
dDon't hold this knowledge you 
have now within yourself.
I feel guilty that I am not at 
the schools sharing information 
that I have 
that may help somebody make a 
proper decision or choice to not
go down that road.  Let's have 
dialogue.
I tell the kids when I talk to 
them that 
I want you to go home and share 
what 
you heard today with your 
parents and have a dialogue.  A 
dialogue is talking and then 
listening.
It may even be more listening 
than it is talking.
Please have that dialogue with 
your kids and family members.  
Give them the knowledge that you
have.
For goodness sake, when people 
struggle don't give up on them 
no matter how bad the situation 
is.
I went through the hurricane, 
too.
I went home and saw televisions 
missing, keys missing, cars 
missing, and stolen credit 
cards.  It can get bad.  It does
get bad.
I have hard wonderful recovery 
stories.
Hang in there when you are 
dealing with people in these 
situations.
I just had a woman that said 
they recovered and 
that is why they vhaven't given 
up.
When it comes to the 
this, you have given a second 
lease on life.
You are a miracle and you need 
to share that miracle with other
people.
God bless you and I hope you 
share 
your story with others that are 
struggling so they have faith 
and hope that they can recover 
themselves.  God bless you.  
Another comment.
My cousin who I was very 
close to killed himself January 
22, 2018.
IIt is becoming common.
I think the kids kind of 
expect it and are not shocked 
when they hear kids taking their
lives.
I thank you Jeff, on your 
compliment on the presentation. 
I am not a scientist.
I am not a doctor.
I don't have cool letters after 
my name.
I am more of a tell it like it 
is guy.
Try to relate things to what 
people are living with today and
.  I am not a D.A.R.E. program 
guy.  It wasn't around when I 
was young.  It is gone now.  I 
know it had good intent.
I don't think you can give kids 
facts and tell them to not use 
and do drugs.
I think you need to give them 
information, 
be straight with them and be 
sincere with them to get them to
listen to you nowadays.  
Alright.  Any other questions?  
Thank you guys.  It is a strange
world we are living in.
Thanks for standing here and 
listening to jthis old guy.  I 
appreciate it.  
≫ Thank you so much, Jim for 
being here today and presenting.
I know they enjoyed it as much 
as I did.
I learned a lot and I am super 
grateful you came here today.  
We apologize for yesterday.
I am glad we are able to make it
happen for Jim today.
We will take another quick break
and then we will be 
back here at 2:40 for our next 
presentation.  Thanks, guys!  
[End first presentation.]  
[Music playing.
JJJ
Female Speaker:  Today we are 
joined by
Tony Jordan who is a 
recipient of multiple awards 
since being in recovery.
She is authentic and genuine for
peers.
She is a phenomenal presenter, 
motivational speaker, mother, 
and grandmother, and 
is well known in the ability of 
mental health
.  She has been in 
recovery for 16 years .
She loves to motivate others to 
move along in the recovery 
process
.  Please wlmjoin 
me in welcoming tTony.
Female Speaker:  Hi.  Welcome to
moving on up.
This presentation is presented 
by 
me, Tony Jordan.
I'm a certified specialist in 
addiction.
I worked for criminal justice 
ministers and run the 
program called "le'tt's start." 
"Moving on up.
"  This is a presentation that 
will be 
presented to you that is geared 
towards 
recovery, especially for those 
that have substance disorders.  
I'm going to talk about 
addiction and how it can steal 
your motivation.
I chose the name 
Moving on Up because when you 
are motivated, you're moving 
forward.
The revery definition is 
overcoming our health and 
wellness 
and living a self-
directed life, living to our 
full potential.  
Addiction is a chronic disease 
that has 
the ptotential 
to negatively effect a affect a 
person's life and health.
I am in recovery and have been 
for 16 years.  
My addiction took over my life 
for 20 years.
I was not motivated.
I was motivated to do more and 
sink deeply into my active a
ddiction.
It was there that my addiction 
took 
priority over my life, my 
family's life, etc.  
Anything that played a role in 
my life before I started drugs 
was dead.
The only thing that mattered was
getting the next hit of dope.
Addiction is a chronic disease 
that has the 
potential to negatively affect a
person's life and health.  
Addiction makes it difficult to 
manage.  I didn't have a job.
If I did, I didn't have one for 
more than three months.
My priority was to be part of 
the 
streets, being part of where 
drugs were prevalent.
I wanted to take part in that.  
It consumed my whole day.
I wanted to get on drugs and 
stay numb to the things that 
happened to me.  
This made it difficult to manage
my family.
Relationships of any kind 
weather 
intimate, fmamily, etc.
It was difficult for me to 
manage or even be a friend.
I didn't know how to be a friend
to myself.
I didn't know how to have 
relationships.  
It also made it difficult on my 
health, my physical health and 
mental.
It took a great toll on me 
mentally.  I stayed depressed.
I didn't whatnot a
want to feel feelings of d
epression that kept me high all 
the time.
I wanted to stay on a mood-
altrering drug so I 
didn't have to experience my 
true feelings.  
It affected me physically.
I stopped taking care of myself.
I didn't go to the doctor to 
check on my health and wellness.
I needed to take control over 
things.
When I was coming out of 
recovery,
I came with a lot of health 
issues - high
blood pressure, diabetes type 
II, high cholesterol, and it was
bad.
I would lose 
weight, gain wight 
ight eight and back and forth.
When I'm not on the drugs, I 
want to eat everything.
I feel my addiction would go 
towards that.  
Addiction can be anything - 
food, gambling, or drugs.
You have to be aware and 
conscious 
of your choices when you know 
that you have that addicted.   
brain.  
Now 
when I entered treatmnt
ent, I mostly did that because I
was running from my PO.
I went into treatment because I 
didn't want to go to prison.  
That didn't work all the time.
jThere were t
imes where I didn't stay in 
treatment even to get treatment 
for my addiction.  
It was hard to admit I had a 
problem.
Everyone around me had a problem
with drugs, but I didn't.
Everyone around me made bad 
decisions, but not me.
It takes strength to ask for 
help and faith to walk into a 
treatment center.  I was afraid.
I didn't want to be locked up or
locked down.  I did that.  
The last time when I 
had true feelings of wanting to 
recovery, it took courage.
It took courage for me to admit 
I
had a problem that I used 
everyday that was consuming me 
every 
phsyclyhs
hysically, mentally, and 
emotionally.  
I didn't want to ask for help.
I didn't want people to think I 
was needy.  It took strength to 
ask for help.
It took faith to go into the 
treatment center and give up my 
priority.
It took faith to know that I
could do it stay there for 
however it took my life to get 
in order.  
It took those three main things 
- courage, strength, and faith.
Why should you enter treatment?
Entering treatment stems from 
several motvivating factors.
There are several things jj
that can motivate negatively or 
positively.  
My negative mtotivating 
factors were that I did have 
some traumatizing events.
Things kept happening to me.
I didn't know what traumatized 
meant till I got in the mental 
health arena.
I spoke to therapists is 
counselors that wanted to help 
me.  I wanted to help myself.  
Things had happened to me.
Loss of a family member can be 
that.
Loss of children, which happened
to me 
due to my addiction.
DSS came and took my children 
and put them in someone else's 
home.  
Traumatizing events - these can 
be anything to anyone.
Whatever that person might be 
traumatized with might not 
effect 
affect me the same as it affects
that person.
wpPeople can 
be traumatized by anything - a 
car
accident, a natural 
disaster, witnessing somen s
omeone being harmed or shot and 
killed.  That's traumatizing.
You can also have self-referral 
into a program.  
Experiencing the pain with a p
rogressive disease that causes 
suffering can be a determining 
factor for an individual to 
enter treatment.
That is the main thrust of 
why some of us can be so 
sick and tired of ourselves.
It is the pain that we have 
endured.
It is pain that pushes you up 
against 
the wall and makes you want to 
make a positive change.
That is the pain that I 
experienced.
I would let the drug numb me so
I didn't feel the pain.  
Now the drug isn't there 
anymore.
The pain comes back up to the 
surface.
It caused me to realize I needed
to do something different.
It brought motivating powers to 
me.
I wanted to make positive 
changes improve my health and 
wellness.
It was experiencing the pain 
that helped 
move on to a better space 
It pace.  
It caused me to take every part 
of 
me, every thought of me, and 
everything 
it took in me to enter 
treatment, 
be honest in treatment, and 
receive the care and help that 
was there for me.  
Again, I said you have to be 
sick and tired of being sick and
tired.  Not of people, but of 
yourself.
I was sick and tired of being 
sick and tired of being me.
My name might be Tony 
Jordan, but I was tired of 
the monster that was pretending 
to be Tony.
I had to find myself in 
recovery.
I was tired of being the monster
I
was when I got to the point 
where the pain 
kicked in 
.   I had pained my children, 
husband, family members, and 
neighbors.  I was sick and tired
of that.  
Things will push you to one 
spectrum of being positive, or 
you will continue in the 
mud xand dig a deeper hole for 
yourself.
I always tell people that coming
into 
recovery and finding motivation 
is an inside job.
rRecovery is inside and works 
its way out.
Recovery for me took deep 
cleanses.leansing.
I had to be motivated to find 
the strength to do this.  
People would say I was a strong 
woman.  I downplayed that.
I learned that when people give 
you compliments, you receive 
that.  People say I'm strong?  
Let me be strong.
Let me find this the 
strength within me to overcome 
picking up drugs.
I becmae sick and tired of being
the person I was.  
Without personal motivation, a 
person wouldn't make j
the decision to fight their 
addiction.  It is a fight.
It is like having a kung fu 
fight!
It is like being on a 
battlefield 
and being at war in Iraq where 
people are fighting for their 
lives.
With addiction, people fight for
their lives.
Some people don't make it to 
recovery.
People die before we get a 
chance to get there.
I had to fight to get to where I
am today.  
Staying motivated is the key
that helps maintain sobriety 
long enough to reach a life of 
recovery.  That's where I am 
today.
If god doesn't bless me more 
than where he was already, then 
I am at a great place in life.
I appreciate all I have been 
blessed with.  I am good here.  
I love what I do.
I love taking part in this 
conference.  I love being here. 
I hope that someone needs to 
hear what I'm saying in this 
presentation.  I love to present
information.
Maybe someone is somewhere 
that you wanted to motivated for
your treatment, but hasn't 
started yet.
I am hoping that I am 
speaking to the people who need 
to be 
motivated to keep moving on or 
whether you want to 
get into the steps of recovery.
Living a life of recovery 
leads to happiness.
Motivation is the key to that.  
People think happiness comes 
from 
external things - money, a 
significant other, and children.
Happiness comes from inside.
You need to find happiness 
in yourself before you can 
find it in anyone else or 
anything else.  
Finding happiness is an inside 
job.  Be happy with yourself.
That will help you be a better 
person in the recovery process.
Mentioning recovery is critical.
This is a lifelong job.  
If you or a p
erson has a s
ubstitute disorder, then you 
know this job takes daily 
preference over our jobs.  It is
a life long journey.
It is human nature to avoid 
discomfort.
rRecovery is 
uncfmrtble,ncomfortable, but 
possible.  
I had 16 years of recovery.  
It's not easy.
People in recovery can be 
complicated, but the job is 
simple.
If I can do it, anyone can 
do recovery processes.  You have
to let go.
Let go of people, places, and 
things.  That was a challenge 
for me.
I was a people plseasure person.
I didn't want to hurt anyone's 
feelings.
If I saw someone that I knew 
wasn't 
healthy for me and I was getting
an icky feeling about jthem but 
I still wanted to hang around 
them?  That's bad.
Trust your intuition about to 
whether something 
is a good space for you.  
I was ignoring what was going on
with 
my body and the anxiety I was 
having 
when I was doing things with 
people and being places I 
shouldn't have been.  I had to 
let those places go.
Once I began to love me, I 
began to love all of me, my 
mind, body and soulu.oul.  I 
began to let those people go.
I began to not care
about their feelings if I told 
them no.
I told them I wouldn't be doing 
something or that I was a person
in the recovery.
I would try to hide those things
thinking that would help.  
I am pleased with where I am, 
who I am, and who I hang with 
today.
You also have to trust the 
process.
You have to let go, trust the 
process, and within the process,
there is a power.
Some people believe in a God.  I
do.
Some people believe in a light 
fixture.  Trust the process.  
Let someone that has a better 
understanding 
of where you are going to guide 
you throughout that.  That's 
what I do.
I let my 
understanding drive me so I 
don't get in the driver's seat.
I took myself to avenues I 
didn't 
want to go down and don't want 
to go down again.
I sit on the 
passenger's side and allow god 
to take over.  I trust the 
process.  
Stay Stay involved in your local
recovery community.  I love 
being involved.  
You meet wonderful people and do
amazing things.
I would be at this real 
voices real choices Real Voices 
Real Choices 
conference unless I was in the 
cmmn
I am sad that I won't see all 
those 
happy faces doing all those 
great things we had done before.
But we still here!
We still want to provide you 
with some awesome information 
and have some fun times as well.
I am really glad that we could 
still 
present some presentations to 
you and have a 
good time and keep this 
conference going.
2020 ain't be the same as 2019 
and 
previous, but we are hoping for 
a better year in 2021.
Motivation is the key to 
sustaining your sobriety!  
Being motivated is a strong 
factor in 
having a successful recovery 
outcome.  Motivation is an 
inside job.  Ya'll heard me.  
You will hear it more than once.
You.  Need to hearYou need to 
hear it.
Even though you may put the drug
down or you go 
xand you got on nice
clothes and things and are you 
looking good on the inside.
The job is taking care of the 
inside of your.our mind and 
heart.  Those things bring about
change.
Motivation helps bring about 
change.
I am sure you also heard about 
mtotivation of interviewing.
It is another way that people 
that work with people 
with substance use disorders 
help bring about change.
Asking those questions that help
you to 
deal and find out who you really
are.
I was an ugly person.  I don't 
want to be like that no more.
I want to treat people like how 
I want to be treated.
I don't want to bring harm to no
one and I 
don't want to put out
any feelings that I would have.
Again, motivation is an inside 
job.
It its kis healing 
from the inside out and what 
makes you internally happy.
I found that happy place.  I am 
happy today.
In spite of what is going on 
around me, like this pandemic is
going on.  I live in St.
Louis and there is a lot of 
violence going on.  I still need
to find me a happy place.
It keeps me mentally sane.
Being mentally in a 
good place is having me in a 
good place.
You always have to find you an 
internal happy place.  Okay?  
Studies have shown that people 
with more intrinsic 
motivation for or 
overcoming addiction are more 
likely to succeed.
Intrinsic motivation like health
issues, 
getting their children back, or 
primary care
giver for a family member are 
factors that help people to 
motivate people 
to succeed overcoming their 
addiction.
I have five beautiful daughters.
At the time I had begun using, I
had only one daughter.
I used with the next four of my 
daughters.
As I was pregnant and going 
through 
trimesters, I was continually 
picking up
a drug and using that drug not 
even 
thinking jthe harm that I was 
doing to those children.
I believe in my 
process of being selfish and 
doing the things I wanted to do 
also 
affected my children's mind from
growing.
My children began having issues 
and I believe my drug 
usage caused that to my d
aughters.  You have to be 
motivated.  
When I did want to find 
recovery and get recovery, it 
was my children 
that was a great motivator to 
stay in this process and this 
race.
No matter what happened, I 
wanted to stay in the race.
I also wanted to stay in my 
freedom.
My past and active 
addiction sent me to prison and 
jail multiple times.
I didn't want to go back to 
those places.  I like having my 
freedom.
I love being able to eat when I 
want to eat 
and put on clothes that I 
choose, 
shoes that I choose, and doing 
things that I would like to do.
It was a lot of motivating 
factors that kept
me to want to stay in this 
recovery process.
Those are things you would want 
to find 
.  Things that would keep you 
and that you would want to be in
this recovery process.  Okay?  
Tips for staying motivated in 
recovery.  Anybody know some?
I wish I was in person with you 
and we 
could have this conversation and
talk about some tips for staying
motivated in recovery.
But I will give you some tips I 
have.  
Celebrate!
Celebrate big and small 
accomplishment is I
don't care if you have stayed 
clean 
for 
abstained from active usage and 
you are new 
in the recovery process and you 
have 
put down the drug and you have 
not actively used and this is 
your first 24 hours.  Celebrate!
It is the small jgsj things that
make up the big things.
I don't ever want you to not 
celebrate .  Celebrate getting a
job.
If it was a tough time or you 
didn't stay 
employed while you were in 
active addiction, celebrate when
you get a job.  I did!  I was 
excited for myself.
Celebrating those 
accomplishments is helping you 
to stay motivated in this 
recovery process.
For some of us it was 
challenging for us to get jobs.
I didn't have no degree.
I had to go to a fast food 
restrnts
aurant, hotels, working as a 
housekeeper or Landry laundry 
rooms and different low jobs 
like that.  I learned how to sew
in prison.
I worked at MDE
that landed me a 
job after prison.
I used to tell God to take these
hands from me.
I don't ever want to pick up 
anything that would land me back
in prison.
I am so glad that God don't 
listen to our demands.  I 
wouldn't have no hands.
God saw fit for me to have these
hands and 
I made wonderful dance work for 
them.
There are times that I jI
just laugh for the things that 
I asked for.
I was making wonderful dancewear
for kids that wanted to dance 
one 
.  I began to enjoy making 
items for people and knowing 
what they was doing with it.  
Build a healthy support system.
That is a great motivating 
factor for being motivated in 
recovery.
Having a healthy support system 
and somebody 
that is going to be there and 
encourage you and motivate 
you and keep pushing you and 
letting you know that you are 
doing a great job!  Keep going! 
I needed to hear that.  I didn't
hear that at home.
I don't know if my family was 
afraid to 
say anything thinking that I 
might 
fell off the horse, but when I 
went to support groups I 
would be with these women 
and I soaked up things that was 
being said in that group.
iI began to role model recovery 
and take the suggestions that 
they were saying.
I had me a healthy support 
system 
in that it kept me coming back.
It kept me wanting to know more.
Addiction cannot be overcome 
alone.
You can't do this process by 
yourself.
This is not a single individual 
program.  It takes many others.
It takes many people to help us 
in this recovery process.  It is
okay.  It is the healthy people 
that you choose.
If you don't know what 
healthy and unhealthy is, you 
need to know that 
those unhealthy people are the 
people that ain't 
going to celebrate with you or 
help you do the right thing.
Those are the people you may not
want to be with.  Those are the 
healthy people.
I had to learn what was healthy 
and unhealthy.
People who wanted to keep 
picking up that dope, and I know
if I pick up.
p the dope it will have me all 
on 
another book that I don't want 
to be in.
You have to know what your 
support system is.  
Take one day at a time.
Even if it is taking one hour at
a time
, one half hour at a time.
Whatever it takes for you to 
stay in this recovery process 
and stay motivated, you do just 
that.
Maintaining recovery from a
ddiction is a big goal.  That is
the biggest goal.
You want to go years and years 
with that.
I can't look f
orward and wanting to be clean 
in 2025.
That may be a;my big goal.  But 
I have to focus on the present.
That can only be reached by 
breaking it down into smaller 
steps.
So, if we stay within the first 
24 hours waking up today that I 
am thankful today that God woke 
me up and brought me to carry 
out whatever he 
wanted me to carry out in this 
day 
and living up to whatever I had 
to do just in this 24 hours.
I can't worry about tomorrow or 
what happened yesterday.  
Yesterday is gone and tomorrow 
is a mystery.  I don't know if I
will be here.  I will stay in 
the present.  You have to learn 
that.
Whether it is staying in the 
whole 24 hours and having those 
days 
planned out, or whether it is 
living by the hour.  Whatever 
works for you.  Recovery is not 
individualized.
You have to do what you got to 
do for you.
Recovery comes in many pathways.
It can come from church and 
being part of a church family.
Celebrate recovery is out there.
NAA, and such.  You have smart 
recovery.
There is different paths to 
recovery.
I don't ever want you to feel 
there is only one way.  You have
to create structure.
That is something I had to bring
in my life.  Having some kind of
a structure.  I was all over the
piece.lace.
I was a person that didn't have 
no boundaries or structure.
I had to do and learn these 
things to stay in this recovery 
process.  I took suggestions.  
Create and maintain a schedule 
of new and healthy habits.  My 
mind kept going.  It seemed like
it never shut off.
I went to bed thinking of what I
would be doing the next day to 
support my addiction.  I 
probably dreamed of it.  I woke 
up thinking about it.
You have to create a new 
schedule 
to what that healthy day will 
look like.  What will it look 
like for you?
It wasn't just getting up, not 
taking 
care of my body, not washing up,
not 
brushing my teeth, not combing 
my hair.
Half the time I would leave out 
the hosue
ouse to go make a run and go to 
the store.  I will do all that 
later.
I wasn't going to do that later.
Now it is all about taking care 
of Toni first.  I will brush my 
teeth.
I will take care of me f
before I will be able to take 
care of anyone else.
I had to c
reate and form these new 
structures in my life to live a 
healthy life.
It motivated me to wake up 
everyday.  I didn't have extra.
It seemed like being in 
addiction brings about extra.  
Thats.  The That is the job.
I sodale old to support the 
habit.  I lied, I cheated, and I
manipulated.
It takes more.
Just living a life of recovery 
is being me and who I actually 
am.  Being honest and living day
to day.  It is nothing more I 
would rather do.  Okay?  
I am going to ask you questions 
at the end.
If you were here 
with me I would want people to 
tell me some of the things they 
done or if they found structure.
How can I be helpful to you?
If you do have questions, you 
can always send them into me.  I
ask you that at the end.  There 
is also
There is also building 
confidence and keeping a 
positive attitude.
This is essential to success and
recovery.
Build yourself up instead of 
focusing on my mistakes.
Every time I made a mistake, I 
did it anyway.  I would beat 
myself up.
I done already made that 
mistake.
Want to make a difference in 
good healthy positive choice and
not the same mistake.
There was many times I would 
beat myself.
Boy, I would beat myself up and 
that brought about some low 
confidence.
I didn't have no confidence in 
me.
When it came to decision making 
I would ask other people what 
was the best thing.  How do they
know what is best for me?  They 
not me.
They probably g
ave meiome me e an answer that 
supported them.
Building up your confidence in 
this 
recovery success process is 
essential to success.  You have 
to build yourself up.  Sometimes
you want others to do it.  
Others don't know what you need.
You know what you need.
Everybody knows what the problem
is and they know how to solve 
that problem.
But sometimes it is something 
that is keeping them from 
solving that problem.
That is what it is.
hHelp find out what that 
variable barrier is.  It can be 
broken down.  You can have 
confidence.
Everybody can live and have a 
positive attitude.
Even though something bad may 
happen to me, it is okay.
I still need to have a positive 
attitude about it.  We will lose
loved ones.  They will die.  We 
are here.  We live to die.  I 
understand that it.
.  It may in to be the right 
moment and I may 
have wanted jthem to stay on 
this 
earth for me but I need to carry
on for me and the others that 
are here.
I need to be here for myself and
for my children and show them 
how resilient I 
can be no matter what obstacle 
or challenge comes my way.  I 
have to show them.
That is what helps build the 
confidence in me.
I know I can take on any 
challenge 
or obstacle or trial 
.  I believe that I am going to 
come out on the other side.  
Now we have to talk about 
relapse.
Relapse is a part of the 
recovery process.
I try not to focus on relapse.  
I keep it out of my equation.
I don't want to know that is a 
choice for me.
My little 
manipulative mind may start 
manipulating me to start doing 
things I shouldn't start doing.
There are warning signs that 
happen 
before you [pick up a drug.
It takes balance to be in this 
recovery process.  I was a 
person that was the extremist.
I went from this side 
of the spectrum to the other 
side.  There was no middle for 
me.
Don't be overly confident.  I 
don't need people.  I can do 
this process for myself.  I just
said you can't do it alone.
Many other recovering people 
will tell you that as well.  It 
is a process you can't do alone.
Being impatient.  You gotta have
some patient.  Recovery is going
to come.
You may have a day where you 
want the 
day.
I remember being there for the 
first 24 hours.  I was behind 
the jail cell wall.  I counted 
everyday.
It is just as much drugs in 
prison and jail then there is 
out here on the streets of St. 
Louis.
I had to be patient with me in 
this recovery process.
I had to be patient with things 
that I have learned.  There are 
things I am still learning 
today.
Having patience with things is 
important.
I want one minute popcorn and 
the microwave.
I need stuff to happen 
NOW not yesterday or a week from
now.  I 
not to be a homeowner and I want
God to make a miracle happen.  I
have to be patient.
You have to have patience in 
this recovery process.
A warning sign would be having 
impotence.  
complacencyComplacency.
It is a warning sign that 
relapse is about to happen.
Now kKnow what your warning 
signs are.
Be aware of 
what is gg
JJJ
Sometimes things can be moving 
so fast that we aren't 
paying attention to the warnings
isogon
arning signs that are there in 
our face.  
fFatigue - this is something 
that can easily happen.
We are working or doing this and
that and not taking care of 
ourselves.
That is a huge part of 
recovery - self-care is huge.
A warning sign is fatigue,
and overworking yourself.  
Depression is a warning sign.
Being depressed about some 
things that are going on.
You don't have to have this as a
diagnosis.
Just being depressed about any 
situation can be a warning sign 
of 
relapse, being depressed that 
you lost a loved one.
Being depressed that something 
didn't happen as you wanted it 
to.  
Depression can have many 
factors, but 
it is a warning sign of repulse.
elapse.  
Self-pity.
We can get on that pity pot and 
never get off.
This can take you places you 
don't want to go there.  And 
you'll stay there.
We want to have self-pity, but 
this can 
be a warning sign for relapse.  
r
Unrealistic expectations - 
make your expectations 
realistic,.  Have realistic 
goals.
We have no control over other 
people.
"I want my significant other to 
be there 
when I get out of jail, p
rison, or treatment.
"  We don't know what is going 
on with them.
'i "I want my significant other 
to stop picking up drugs.
"  We don't have control over 
other people.  
Having those unrealistic 
expectations 
of things, situations, or p
eople can be something that is a
warning sign.  
dDishonesty - I 
spoke earlier about how honesty 
is a vital point in recovery.
If I'm being 
dhnst ishonest and lying, I know
I'm heading towards a relapse.  
contntiouContentiousness.
Being content 
Contentdenes.  
Some people get so stuck with 
the negative part in our lives 
and 
being so frustrated about 
something, 
you don't even see it as a 
destruction that is keeping us 
from going where we need to go.
Contentiousness.  
Some people get so stuck with 
the negative part in our lives 
and being so frustrated about 
something, you don't even see it
as a destruction that is keeping
us from going where we need to 
go.  
Lack of discipline.
No matter your age, you have to 
be 
dsisciplined.  I had to learn 
that.
It takes structure and 
discipline to be in recovery.
It is a lack of dsp
iscipline that is a warning 
sign.
Repulse rRelapse is a part of 
recovery, but we have to go 
there.  
Compared to chronic 
disorders, substance disorders 
have a relapse of 40-60%.  
Motivation can be renewed after 
a relapse.
Just because I relapsed doesn't 
mean that recovery is over.
We can get up, dust ourselves 
off, get back, and get 
motivated.
We learn from whatever took us 
back.  
We need to recognize what our tr
iggers were.  What was the 
symptom?  What happened here?  
Think about that .  You don't 
want to go back to that place.
There rare experiences that will
keep 
you away from that so you can 
stay motivated and in recovery.
There are three types of 
motivation in addiction 
recovery.  You have 
self-motivation.
This is the queen of motivation.
This is when the addict 
has found something more 
precious to change for than the 
d
addiction itself.
That is the mind, body, and soul
coming out and being who you 
really are.  
I knew it was more to me than 
what I was doing and who I was.
Self-motivation can help you to 
beat that.  It can be a child or
job.  
It can be life, personal values,
dignity, or having integrity.
It was Jo iI lost 
those things in my addiction, 
but I wanted it back.  I wanted 
integrity back.
Tony didn't have to be a snake 
that 
caused ca
haos in my life as well as 
others.  
Everything doesn't work for all,
but 
hitting rock bottom provides a 
clear
choice between addiction and 
something of vital imperence.  
Leverage.
The choice has to be 
crystal-clear and 
consequences have to be c
credible.
Will the consequences be 
motivated?  It's up to you.
The point of motivation is like 
a scale.
What matters most in your life 
are consequences.  
Consequences can be whatever, 
like going back to prison.
That weighed heavily on my 
scale.
I didn't want to go back there. 
I had to find leverage.
Tony, keep your life in order.
If you keep doing the things you
are doing, it will keep you 
going back to jail.  I wanted 
something different.  
The third one is called 
seduction.  Tell the truth and 
let go.
Let go of all that is unhealthy.
All those unhlealthy people?
Why would you want unhealthy 
people 
in your life still causing 
chaos?  Every day is chaos.
Simply allowing the truth to be 
heard by speaking 
what is really going on with the
addict and 
what the consequences can 
actually be?
Speaking truth, speaking 
honesty.  
If you have a parent on loved 
one speaking truth of what is 
really going on?
Let me give you an example.
An addict can listen to a 
loved one about seeking 
professional help.
That can help lure the addict 
into recovery.
My mom and family told my I 
needed recovery.  I wasn't 
going.
The drug had in in palm of its 
hand.  It held me in.  
When people are speaking you 
from the heart and 
letting you know how much you 
are hurting them and the pain 
you are bringing them?
That's seduction, luring you in 
and making you be a better 
preisen by 
erson by will;helping you seek 
treatment.  
Remember, motivation is a 
personal thing.  It comes from 
inside.
This is an inside job 
which p
ores oores s out of us.
MtvntnmMotivation is the d
esire and willingness to do 
something.
The two keywords in the 
definition of motivation?
The desire and willingness to do
something.
That is something I gave to my 
life
, the desire and willingness to 
do something.
I began to be motivated every 
day to be a personal thing.  
I was going to beat this thing. 
I was going to beat this job 
today.
I told myself continuously that 
I was a winner.  I'm victorious.
You have to speak those things 
into existence.  
Motivation comes from within 
with minimal external factors.
mtMotivation is critical to your
recovery process.
It can take you to possible 
places you thought were 
impossible.
These were the sources I got 
this information from.
I hope you enjoyed this 
presentation 
and I hope to see you next year 
in 2021.
Real voices, real choices.
I'll answer any questions and 
send you any information you 
need.  
Thank you.  Have a blessed day. 
Female Speaker:  Thank you<, 
Tony.  That was a recorded 
session.
Tony's zeal for life and 
charisma comes through.
I love listening to her talk.
I have the ladies with me from 
the foudntn in the background.
They wanted to close it out with
me.  Thank you for being with us
today.
We're almost to the last day!
It has been a long week, but I 
hope you have enjoyed the 
presentation.
Tomorrow is the closing session.
Don't miss the prize drawing.
Go home, get rest, have a good 
night's sleep.  See you in the 
morning.  Bye!  
[End.]  
oundation 
