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Community DC Pam Jenkins Shatterproof · Community D.C.

0:01
Speaker 1: Good morning and welcome to another edition of Community DC.
0:03
Speaker 1: I'm your host, Dennis Glasgow.
0:05
Speaker 2: This morning we welcome back to the program Pam Jenkins.
0:08
Speaker 2: She is the CEO for Shatterproof, a national nonprofit organization
0:12
Speaker 2: dedicated to reversing the addiction crisis in the United States
0:16
Speaker 2: and treating substance use disorder as a preventable, treatable medical condition.
0:20
Speaker 2: Over the next 30 minutes, Pam will talk about Shadowproof's
0:23
Speaker 2: core mission and initiatives and much, much more. Here's my
0:26
Speaker 2: conversation with Pam. I hope you enjoy it as much
0:28
Speaker 2: as I did.
0:29
Speaker 1: Good morning, Pam.
0:30
Speaker 3: Good morning, Dennis.
0:31
Speaker 1: It's great to have you back on Community DC.
0:33
Speaker 2: And, you know, when I first learned about you, Shadowproof,
0:36
Speaker 2: and your team, thank God you guys are around.
0:40
Speaker 1: For what you do because it really is amazing.
0:41
Speaker 2: You know, mental health and my audience knows I have
0:44
Speaker 2: a 24-year-old and Generation Z, not exclusive to them, but
0:48
Speaker 2: mental health issues right across the board. for them and
0:51
Speaker 2: parents experiencing that. And I got educated about that. And then,
0:54
Speaker 2: you know, we started to learn about addiction too, and
0:56
Speaker 2: all those things that come not only exclusively to that generation,
1:00
Speaker 2: but it's, it's everybody. As I learned talking to you
1:03
Speaker 2: in the past, I would like to do this because
1:05
Speaker 2: I know there's some new listeners that are being introduced
1:07
Speaker 2: to shadow proof for the first time. And, The history
1:11
Speaker 2: goes back to, I believe, 2013. And I'd love for
1:15
Speaker 2: you to kind of go over history, how things started.
1:18
Speaker 2: And while there is some incredible tragedy, how things started
1:23
Speaker 2: off with Shatterproof, it also turned into something really amazing.
1:26
Speaker 2: Can you share with our audience how everything kind of
1:28
Speaker 2: the origin story?
1:29
Speaker 4: Yeah, Dennis would love to. And thanks for having me back. Yeah,
1:34
Speaker 4: it's been it's been an incredible 13 year journey for Shatterproof.
1:38
Speaker 4: And in fact, just celebrated the golden birthday on September 13th. Right.
1:48
Speaker 4: founded by a father who lost his son to addiction
1:52
Speaker 4: and who was a very prominent business person and became
1:56
Speaker 4: just driven, maybe even obsessed with sort of trying to
1:59
Speaker 4: figure out what he did wrong, what he could have
2:01
Speaker 4: done differently, and what might have saved his son and
2:05
Speaker 4: their family. And through All of the digging in and
2:09
Speaker 4: research that he did is we've discovered there was a
2:11
Speaker 4: lot of research on what were the right treatments for addiction.
2:15
Speaker 4: And but many much of that research was not being used.
2:18
Speaker 4: And he discovered, as I think most of us recognize,
2:22
Speaker 4: that this.
2:23
Speaker 3: Is a widely.
2:26
Speaker 4: Understood, misunderstood disease that people. Um, think that it's simply
2:32
Speaker 4: a matter of you, you drink too much, you take
2:35
Speaker 4: drugs and you just don't stop and people ask you to,
2:37
Speaker 4: but you don't. It's, it is, um, really about a
2:41
Speaker 4: chronic treatable medical disorder. And, um, and so part of
2:46
Speaker 4: what shatterproof is really focused on doing is a reducing
2:49
Speaker 4: the stigma and shame and helping people sort of understand
2:52
Speaker 4: that this isn't indeed a treatable disease.
2:56
Speaker 3: Secondly, is help get more people treated.
2:59
Speaker 4: And so not only addressing the stigma that stands in
3:02
Speaker 4: the way, but helping people recognize that good treatments are
3:07
Speaker 4: available out there. And if one is not able to
3:11
Speaker 4: stop using alcohol or drugs on their own, that they're
3:16
Speaker 4: They should seek professional care. And then third, we're trying
3:20
Speaker 4: to bring up the quality of care. And we recognize
3:22
Speaker 4: there are some really great providers out there, but there
3:24
Speaker 4: are some that are not. And in fact, too many
3:28
Speaker 4: treatment providers in the addiction area are not providing the
3:32
Speaker 4: quality that we come to expect for almost every other disease.
3:37
Speaker 4: So really trying to push that forward and connect more
3:40
Speaker 4: people to care.
3:41
Speaker 3: Quality care.
3:42
Speaker 4: But really, more than anything else, send a signal that
3:45
Speaker 4: this is a treatable medical condition. There is great hope
3:50
Speaker 4: and millions of families around the country are great stories
3:55
Speaker 4: of success. And we want to celebrate that success this
3:58
Speaker 4: month in National Recovery Month.
4:00
Speaker 1: Well, thanks for that, Pam.
4:01
Speaker 2: And, you know, I'm always in awe of people like
4:03
Speaker 2: Gary because I'm a parent like him.
4:05
Speaker 1: And, you know, with Brian's story and.
4:07
Speaker 2: Everything, have you talked to him at length about when
4:11
Speaker 2: he decided that he was going to make that leap
4:12
Speaker 2: of faith to start the organization, why he did and
4:16
Speaker 2: how he could, because I think as a parent, we
4:18
Speaker 2: always put ourselves in somebody else's shoes and how on
4:21
Speaker 2: earth could you move forward? And not only did he
4:23
Speaker 2: do that, Pam, as you know, intimately, but he's changed
4:27
Speaker 2: thousands of lives because of his courage and being brave
4:30
Speaker 2: to move forward and With Brian's story, can you talk
4:33
Speaker 2: a little bit more about that?
4:35
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think his, you know, initial, and this is
4:38
Speaker 4: Gary Mendel and his son, Brian, the story that we're
4:42
Speaker 4: telling right now. But, you know, so many families have
4:46
Speaker 4: lost a loved one in just this past year alone,
4:48
Speaker 4: you know, 70,000 families.
4:50
Speaker 3: Lives were lost to overdose.
4:52
Speaker 4: So it is a big issue. And here in the
4:55
Speaker 4: District of Columbia, it impacts also thousands of families every year.
5:01
Speaker 4: And I think for Gary, he was just looking for
5:07
Speaker 4: solutions for himself. You just want to understand, what did
5:10
Speaker 4: I do wrong? What can you tell your friends who
5:14
Speaker 4: might be going through something similar to perhaps help the
5:17
Speaker 4: trajectory For those families.
5:20
Speaker 3: And I think it.
5:21
Speaker 4: Became clear after, you know, really digging in and talking
5:25
Speaker 4: to a lot of folks and experts in the field
5:28
Speaker 4: and talking to researchers and and recognizing that he was
5:32
Speaker 4: in the same situation as so many other families were,
5:35
Speaker 4: which is.
5:36
Speaker 3: You just don't know what to do.
5:38
Speaker 4: Right. There's no playbook for when you find out that
5:41
Speaker 4: you have a child that has a substance use disorder,
5:45
Speaker 4: just like any other sort of mental health condition. It's
5:48
Speaker 4: a very, you know, it's a very scary thing. And
5:51
Speaker 4: there's just no real great map for what do you do?
5:54
Speaker 3: Where do you go? Who do you talk to?
5:56
Speaker 4: How do you get help? And what are the things
5:58
Speaker 4: you should be asking for when you get help? And
6:01
Speaker 4: so I think recognizing there was this very big gap
6:05
Speaker 4: and that there was that wasn't being filled by any.
6:08
Speaker 4: There was no like American Cancer Society for addiction.
6:11
Speaker 2: Right.
6:12
Speaker 4: Like here, this is a massive public health issue affects
6:16
Speaker 4: 48 million people in this country. You know, it could,
6:20
Speaker 4: you know, one out of seven people in the workforce,
6:22
Speaker 4: in some cases, some industries, one out of five people
6:25
Speaker 4: in the workforce attacks so many people. And yet we
6:28
Speaker 4: don't talk about it as a disease. We don't we
6:30
Speaker 4: don't push forward for better treatments. And and we don't
6:35
Speaker 4: help each other out because in many cases, we don't
6:38
Speaker 4: want to even acknowledge that someone in our family has.
6:42
Speaker 3: Has a substance use disorder.
6:43
Speaker 4: And so because of that, there was a real need,
6:47
Speaker 4: a real need to have an organization that was going
6:50
Speaker 4: to not just raise awareness, but try to drive change.
6:54
Speaker 4: And boy, in 13 years, it is pretty extraordinary what
6:57
Speaker 4: this organization has done to do that. And we have
7:01
Speaker 4: so many supporters to thank here in the Washington area
7:04
Speaker 4: and around and around the country who are showing up
7:09
Speaker 4: for us and advocating and standing up and volunteering and
7:13
Speaker 4: helping us with with resources to help all of.
7:17
Speaker 3: These millions of families. every year.
7:21
Speaker 4: Who are trying to navigate this very complicated and scary landscape.
7:25
Speaker 2: All right. Well, thank you for all that, Pam. I
7:27
Speaker 2: know you've got a big walk coming up that we
7:28
Speaker 2: want to promote heavily. October is a big month, even
7:31
Speaker 2: though all months are really big, but you really highlight
7:33
Speaker 2: and spotlight October. I think we got people's attention here.
7:38
Speaker 2: And could you do me a favor? If you were
7:40
Speaker 2: to give kind of a 30,000-foot view about what Shatterproof does,
7:43
Speaker 2: what would you tell people?
7:44
Speaker 4: I would say we do three things. One is we
7:49
Speaker 4: work to stop addiction before it starts, which is really prevention.
7:54
Speaker 4: And part of that is also trying to stop overdose.
7:58
Speaker 4: We do a lot of work, for instance, around naloxone
8:01
Speaker 4: and bringing more attention to how important it is to
8:05
Speaker 4: have access to naloxone.
8:07
Speaker 3: Otherwise known as Narcan, in every workplace, every public place, etc.
8:12
Speaker 4: And secondly, it is closing the treatment gap. And I,
8:17
Speaker 4: you know, I think I mentioned as we started that
8:21
Speaker 4: most people who have a substance use disorder do not
8:24
Speaker 4: get treated. And there's many barriers to that. We address
8:28
Speaker 4: those various barriers. Some of it is stigma. Some of
8:32
Speaker 4: it is just lack of knowledge and some of it
8:34
Speaker 4: is lack of access to to care. So we're really
8:38
Speaker 4: focused on having more people with a substance use disorder
8:42
Speaker 4: get treated just like.
8:43
Speaker 3: Any other disease.
8:45
Speaker 4: And then third thing is to derive better outcomes through
8:50
Speaker 4: better care. And that is, we know for too many people,
8:53
Speaker 4: they're not getting who do get treated.
8:55
Speaker 3: They're not getting the care. that they really deserve.
8:58
Speaker 4: It's not often not evidence-based care. And so helping families
9:02
Speaker 4: know what they should be looking for, what do they
9:05
Speaker 4: ask for, what constitutes quality care, but also helping the
9:10
Speaker 4: whole healthcare system get better through trainings of healthcare providers
9:14
Speaker 4: and through trying to push through public policy, better standards
9:19
Speaker 4: of care, It's really, really important.
9:21
Speaker 3: To have better outcomes.
9:22
Speaker 4: And so we want to continue to celebrate everybody that
9:25
Speaker 4: goes through recovery and has recovery, but there's work that
9:29
Speaker 4: we need to do to address the barriers to that.
9:31
Speaker 1: Well, that's a great segue for advocation.
9:33
Speaker 2: And whether you're going to Capitol Hill or you're talking
9:35
Speaker 2: to constituents or... Anybody that's prominent out there, Pam, I'd
9:39
Speaker 2: like to go a little bit behind the scenes for
9:41
Speaker 2: what it's like for you when you're talking about not
9:44
Speaker 2: only Narcan and making sure that it is available. And
9:47
Speaker 2: I'd like you actually to go a little bit deeper
9:49
Speaker 2: into that of what that is, because I think people
9:51
Speaker 2: have heard about what it is, but they don't know
9:53
Speaker 2: exactly why it's here and how it can save lives
9:56
Speaker 2: in real time, which is truly incredible. But when we
9:59
Speaker 2: talk about Narcan and, and advocation, what is it like
10:02
Speaker 2: for you behind the scenes and what are you working
10:04
Speaker 2: on right now?
10:06
Speaker 3: Um, yeah, thank you, Dennis.
10:08
Speaker 4: We, we have, we played a big role in, um,
10:12
Speaker 4: in having more availability of Narcan, um, in public places,
10:17
Speaker 4: but right now we're two of our big focus areas
10:20
Speaker 4: are workplaces. So really working with especially large companies, but
10:25
Speaker 4: businesses of all sizes and shapes should have Naloxone or Narcan, um,
10:31
Speaker 4: same thing. Um, In in that work in that workspace,
10:34
Speaker 4: just like they have fire extinguishers for an emergency or
10:37
Speaker 4: just like they have a defibrillator, just in case you
10:41
Speaker 4: hope you never have to use these things. But having
10:44
Speaker 4: a life saving treatment right there that is easy to
10:48
Speaker 4: use that anyone can do that has no risks, it's
10:52
Speaker 4: an absolutely safe. product Narcan is administered just right through
10:58
Speaker 4: the nose and which is very simple to do again
11:03
Speaker 4: fully safe it just makes sense right like why wouldn't
11:07
Speaker 4: you have a life-saving thing like that and it's pretty
11:10
Speaker 4: inexpensive so So we're pushing that with with workplaces. But
11:15
Speaker 4: we're also seeking through policy to have Narcan in schools.
11:22
Speaker 4: And when you think about schools and the community, schools
11:25
Speaker 4: are like a center of activity. It's not just a
11:28
Speaker 4: place for students to go and study. But you have
11:32
Speaker 4: after school events and football games and all kinds of
11:35
Speaker 4: things that are taking place there. in that school environment.
11:38
Speaker 4: And we also want to make sure that is a
11:41
Speaker 4: public place that you want to have access to Narcan again,
11:44
Speaker 4: should the unthinkable happen and, um, there be an overdose, um,
11:49
Speaker 4: it is life-saving. So, you know, Narcan, um, was found that, um,
11:55
Speaker 4: administered shortly after an overdose, it will, it will save
11:59
Speaker 4: your life. It's still a medical emergency and we still, um,
12:03
Speaker 4: urge people to call 911 right away and make sure
12:06
Speaker 4: that person can get emergency care. But this will save
12:10
Speaker 4: their life. And so the the work that we're doing
12:14
Speaker 4: from an advocacy standpoint is both at the state and
12:17
Speaker 4: the federal level. It's to have more states require that
12:24
Speaker 4: all schools have Narcan. And there's some states that actually
12:27
Speaker 4: won't allow it. So you can't do it. uh which
12:31
Speaker 4: is which is um which is really unfortunate so we're
12:36
Speaker 4: um working very hard to make sure that there is
12:39
Speaker 4: either a mandate or at least certainly um ability for
12:44
Speaker 4: schools to have that and we're doing that both as
12:46
Speaker 4: um looking for federal legislation as well as um state
12:51
Speaker 4: state laws.
12:51
Speaker 2: Yeah i i hate that it's a political football for
12:53
Speaker 2: you sometimes but what's not what's not in today's 2026
12:56
Speaker 2: it's uh And by the way, I meant to tell
12:59
Speaker 2: you this. I don't know if we've talked about this before.
13:01
Speaker 2: A few years ago, and I'm a D.C. resident, I
13:03
Speaker 2: actually saw in real time Narcan being used in saving
13:05
Speaker 2: a life. And it was truly incredible.
13:08
Speaker 1: It was unreal.
13:09
Speaker 3: Yeah, that is amazing.
13:11
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think there was someone who overdosed during the
13:15
Speaker 4: Knicks parade and it was kind of on a balcony
13:19
Speaker 4: and millions of people saw that right online. And to me,
13:23
Speaker 4: it was such a teachable moment to recognize these were
13:26
Speaker 4: just passerbys and somebody was carrying Naloxone. My own grocery store,
13:32
Speaker 4: when I go into the pharmacy, I see a sign
13:34
Speaker 4: there that says, you know, we carry naloxone.
13:37
Speaker 3: You should too.
13:38
Speaker 4: And I thought, what a great thing to have in
13:42
Speaker 4: your local pharmacy, in your local grocery store, the recognition
13:45
Speaker 4: that this is a safe and inexpensive thing that anybody.
13:48
Speaker 3: Can carry with them.
13:49
Speaker 4: And you could carry it in your backpack if your
13:52
Speaker 4: school allows it. You just have to check with your
13:54
Speaker 4: school system to make sure that that's okay, or there's
13:57
Speaker 4: any special requirements. And parents have to agree to that
14:01
Speaker 4: if you do have Narcan and with you, but it is,
14:06
Speaker 4: you know, it is so lifesaving when you see it, it's,
14:08
Speaker 4: it really underscores, wow, this is, this is lifesaving.
14:12
Speaker 1: It really is.
14:13
Speaker 2: And, you know, you also bring up a really great
14:15
Speaker 2: point about education. I think you and I can agree.
14:19
Speaker 2: And I'd like to tell our listeners, whether you're a
14:21
Speaker 2: parent or a guardian, it starts at home with education
14:24
Speaker 2: for a lot of things, including this with substance abuse.
14:27
Speaker 2: or how to react during a situation. And I, that's
14:31
Speaker 2: part of the thing, you know, you do so many
14:33
Speaker 2: things that shatterproof, but education starting in the household and
14:37
Speaker 2: also with the schools and then the businesses that you're
14:39
Speaker 2: working with of teaching people about what you can do
14:42
Speaker 2: to save lives out there, not only with Narcan, but
14:45
Speaker 2: about substance abuse, because, you know, I wouldn't say it's
14:48
Speaker 2: like drinking necessarily, but you know, there's so many people
14:51
Speaker 2: that take things for granted out there, Pam. And when
14:54
Speaker 2: it comes to substance abuse, I don't think people are
14:56
Speaker 2: really super educated of what can go on and how
14:58
Speaker 2: you can address it.
14:59
Speaker 1: Can you talk a little bit about that?
15:01
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, it is hard. And I'm I'm a
15:03
Speaker 4: parent of three daughters. And I know, you know, it's
15:06
Speaker 4: hard to know when to have a conversation, how to
15:09
Speaker 4: have those conversations or even to be feel educated and
15:13
Speaker 4: knowledgeable enough to have a good to have a good conversation.
15:16
Speaker 4: So we recognize how challenging that is for every parent.
15:21
Speaker 4: But we also know the longer you can delay a
15:24
Speaker 4: child's or young person's use of addictive substance drugs, The
15:29
Speaker 4: greater the likelihood is that they're going to be able
15:31
Speaker 4: to live a full and fulfilling life without an addiction.
15:37
Speaker 4: And so we're really focused on trying to reduce access
15:41
Speaker 4: to addictive substances by young people, but also make sure that.
15:46
Speaker 4: Parents and families are having the conversation about their values
15:49
Speaker 4: and what is important and that they're really engaged with
15:53
Speaker 4: that child's life to be aware of who their friends
15:56
Speaker 4: are and what are they doing and make sure that
15:59
Speaker 4: they're not isolated. One of the risk factors for addiction
16:04
Speaker 4: and a broader range of mental health issues is is
16:08
Speaker 4: some social isolation and not feeling you have a connection
16:11
Speaker 4: to the community or really the support of your family.
16:14
Speaker 4: And even for families that may not be able to
16:19
Speaker 4: be there when a child comes home from school, to
16:22
Speaker 4: still prioritize engaging with your child's life because there's a
16:28
Speaker 4: lot of risks. And we also just want to keep
16:31
Speaker 4: an eye on if there's some emerging risk factors. You
16:35
Speaker 4: can see it in a child's grades or their relationships
16:41
Speaker 4: that they have or how they communicate. And so staying
16:44
Speaker 4: very close is perhaps the most important thing that you
16:47
Speaker 4: can do. Secondly, is to be aware that there are
16:51
Speaker 4: an increased number of addictive substances that are unfortunately accessible
16:56
Speaker 4: in gas stations and convenience stores and restaurants. This is
17:00
Speaker 4: happening because folks have learned how to make synthetic addictive
17:06
Speaker 4: substances from such natural substances like kratom. And these new
17:13
Speaker 4: substances that they create, these synthetic drugs... sometimes are created
17:18
Speaker 4: faster than we can keep track of is law enforcement
17:21
Speaker 4: or public health. And, and so they, you know, sometimes
17:26
Speaker 4: are packaged as if they're very safe, but, but you
17:31
Speaker 4: have to kind of watch for that. And we're pushing
17:34
Speaker 4: very hard for policies that do quickly see these, these
17:40
Speaker 4: synthetic substances and make sure that, that we're creating the
17:44
Speaker 4: regulations and rules to limit their access to people who
17:48
Speaker 4: are still minors.
17:49
Speaker 2: I know this is a whole separate podcast, but I
17:51
Speaker 2: just want to tell every parent out there or guardian
17:54
Speaker 2: and one who's been through it, it's a cautionary tale.
17:57
Speaker 2: If you think you have a good kid, which a
17:59
Speaker 2: lot of people do, right? But the kids, I'm talking
18:03
Speaker 2: middle schoolers and high schoolers, are going to be around
18:05
Speaker 2: booze and they're going to be around drugs at parties.
18:08
Speaker 2: And it doesn't matter if you have a good kid
18:10
Speaker 2: or not or a kid that doesn't want to do that.
18:12
Speaker 2: And I know with you, Pam, being a parent, that
18:14
Speaker 2: no matter what you do to educate your kid and
18:17
Speaker 2: hopefully prep them for that time that it starts to
18:19
Speaker 2: be around because somebody is going to have it. And
18:21
Speaker 2: then that's when decisions are made. And with no frontal
18:25
Speaker 2: lobe developed, folks, at that early age, it gets very dangerous.
18:28
Speaker 2: That's why you have to, as a guardian or parent,
18:31
Speaker 2: make sure you talk to your kids about what's going
18:33
Speaker 2: to happen around them because it can be scary for them.
18:36
Speaker 2: It can be intimidating. And there can be peer pressure.
18:39
Speaker 2: So that's why we were talking about education in the home.
18:43
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's right.
18:44
Speaker 4: I think, you know, recognizing and acknowledging that a child
18:47
Speaker 4: is going to be in situations in which there could
18:50
Speaker 4: be temptations and peer pressure, right? And we do know, like,
18:54
Speaker 4: that peer pressure is a very real thing.
18:56
Speaker 3: Like, one interesting thing, though, that I.
18:59
Speaker 4: I think parents should be aware of is the social
19:02
Speaker 4: norm actually is that most middle school and high school
19:06
Speaker 4: students in this country are not actually using illegal substances.
19:13
Speaker 4: And while some may try alcohol, in most cases, kids
19:17
Speaker 4: aren't using it on a regular basis. We see circumstances
19:21
Speaker 4: and we kind of assume maybe everybody is, but that's
19:23
Speaker 4: not the case. And I think, you know, young people
19:27
Speaker 4: should know it's not the norm. And while you're going
19:30
Speaker 4: to see it, it doesn't mean that everyone is doing
19:32
Speaker 4: it and or that that needs to be, you know,
19:36
Speaker 4: part of what you do to be able to to
19:38
Speaker 4: connect and belong, you know, in your in your community,
19:41
Speaker 4: in your school and your friend friends groups. But, yeah,
19:45
Speaker 4: I think understanding and recognizing also risk that some families have.
19:50
Speaker 4: have a genetic predisposition to addiction and there is a
19:55
Speaker 4: genetic factor to it. And those parents need to be
19:58
Speaker 4: especially observant and have those conversations with a child so
20:03
Speaker 4: that that child knows that sort of the chemical conditions
20:07
Speaker 4: in their body predispose them to being more likely to
20:11
Speaker 4: become addicted to a substance. And that's a scary thing.
20:15
Speaker 4: So I think making sure you become knowledgeable, recognize your
20:19
Speaker 4: own family risk factors, and stay very close and have
20:22
Speaker 4: those conversations, not just once.
20:24
Speaker 3: Not like the birds and the bees. It is an
20:27
Speaker 3: ongoing conversation.
20:29
Speaker 2: Pam, like everybody else, you're also using technology to get
20:32
Speaker 2: the word out there and also to help people. Let's
20:34
Speaker 2: talk about Treatment Atlas because when I read about this
20:36
Speaker 2: on the website, I said this is cool and it's
20:39
Speaker 2: easy access.
20:39
Speaker 1: Can you talk about it?
20:41
Speaker 4: Yeah, Dennis, it is back to where we talked about
20:46
Speaker 4: connecting people to quality care and knowing where to go
20:48
Speaker 4: and what questions to ask. We developed, oh gosh, maybe
20:54
Speaker 4: about eight years ago, worked with the industry to come
20:59
Speaker 4: up with sort of like the big eight principles of care,
21:01
Speaker 4: the most important things that matter when it comes to
21:05
Speaker 4: getting treated if you do have a substance use disorder condition.
21:09
Speaker 4: And so we began working with states and some counties
21:15
Speaker 4: to collect data from treatment providers. We now have thousands
21:20
Speaker 4: of surveys from treatment providers from all over the country
21:25
Speaker 4: about whether how they adhere to these principles of care.
21:28
Speaker 3: Do they have symptoms?
21:30
Speaker 4: Um, clinical procedures and, um, uh, standard operating procedures that
21:36
Speaker 4: fall within sort of this quality. And we rate that. Uh,
21:40
Speaker 4: and then we put that on a website called treatmentatlas.org, um,
21:44
Speaker 4: not available everywhere. And some listeners will be able to
21:48
Speaker 4: see that. Um, some will not, but, um, Virginia, for instance,
21:53
Speaker 4: is just launching this, which is very exciting this month.
21:59
Speaker 4: But it's available in many places. Listeners can look at treatmentatlas.org.
22:06
Speaker 4: We hope to become national. One of the things we
22:09
Speaker 4: aspire to do and one of the ways in which
22:11
Speaker 4: we're going to use our funding. So for those of
22:13
Speaker 4: you who come out to the walk on October 17th,
22:16
Speaker 4: know that you're helping other families have this information, access
22:20
Speaker 4: to information. This past year, a million, 1.5 million families
22:27
Speaker 4: came to Treatment Atlas looking for substance use disorder treatment,
22:33
Speaker 4: which is incredible. And just to know that we're helping
22:38
Speaker 4: that many families. find quality care is pretty fabulous.
22:43
Speaker 2: I know we're one little megaphone for you here at iHeart,
22:45
Speaker 2: but that is an extraordinary number of you getting the
22:48
Speaker 2: word out there. And you talked about the walk. I
22:49
Speaker 2: think this is another great segue because this is a
22:51
Speaker 2: really big day and it's fun too. October 17th, the Wharf,
22:56
Speaker 2: the Shadowproof Walk, the End Addiction. Tell everybody about it
22:59
Speaker 2: because it really is a special event that I know
23:01
Speaker 2: you and your team are very proud of.
23:03
Speaker 4: Yeah, it is October 17th, Saturday. Eight o'clock is when
23:10
Speaker 4: you can get there and register. But the program starts
23:15
Speaker 4: at 930 and we get you pumped up with the
23:17
Speaker 4: 10 o'clock start of the walk. And it is a
23:21
Speaker 4: real celebration. It's also a place and time you can
23:25
Speaker 4: get information and resources.
23:27
Speaker 3: So you just want to learn more about.
23:28
Speaker 4: And see what organizations in this area have resources, information,
23:33
Speaker 4: et cetera, for you. You can learn more about Naloxone.
23:37
Speaker 4: You can probably get the trainers that they have. We
23:41
Speaker 4: give them away, in fact, at our walks every But
23:46
Speaker 4: it's a chance to really show up for the people
23:49
Speaker 4: in your life and in your community who have gone
23:54
Speaker 4: through recovery or in recovery or seeking treatment. And it's
23:59
Speaker 4: a way of saying, hey, we're celebrating all of that
24:01
Speaker 4: you go through and we appreciate and recognize you because
24:05
Speaker 4: you too many folks with a substance use disorder feel
24:09
Speaker 4: they have to get treated in silence. They go through
24:12
Speaker 4: the recovery in silence. And it's really a chance for
24:16
Speaker 4: us to celebrate them, but also just show support and
24:20
Speaker 4: also raise money for Shatterproof and the work that we do.
24:23
Speaker 4: We also use some of our funds to support local
24:27
Speaker 4: organizations that are out there doing the work right on
24:31
Speaker 4: the front lines every day. And we think that's so
24:33
Speaker 4: important to bring attention to what they're doing and how
24:38
Speaker 4: they're trying to help families and make a difference.
24:40
Speaker 1: Very good.
24:40
Speaker 2: And we're also going to talk about donating, whether it's
24:43
Speaker 2: for the walk or just in general. And we should
24:45
Speaker 2: mention that you can create your own fundraiser. I know
24:47
Speaker 2: you've had the Shatterproof Endurance before. You've had Hospitality Heroes
24:51
Speaker 2: Reception and even a Golf Classic, too. So you have
24:54
Speaker 2: a multitude of events where people can be part of
24:56
Speaker 2: it and also donate anytime they want to. Right, Pam?
25:00
Speaker 3: That's right. We make it very easy.
25:02
Speaker 4: And again, we're... We are such a scrappy organization. We're
25:08
Speaker 4: a big national organization, but our way of operating is like,
25:12
Speaker 4: we've got to make a difference. We can't just talk
25:14
Speaker 4: about this. We really have to get out there and
25:16
Speaker 4: take action. And that's what I think set Shatterproof apart
25:20
Speaker 4: as an organization is a real mentality of making an
25:24
Speaker 4: impact and measuring everything that we do. So the money
25:28
Speaker 4: and resources and time and energy that you give to
25:30
Speaker 4: Shatterproof is are really meant to help people in a very,
25:35
Speaker 4: very direct way, as well as for future, like pushing
25:39
Speaker 4: and driving systemic change for the future. But you can
25:42
Speaker 4: go to shatterproof.org and see the various ways that you
25:46
Speaker 4: can get involved. We hope that people can come to
25:48
Speaker 4: the walk on October 17th. But if you can't, you
25:52
Speaker 4: can also donate right on our website or look at
25:56
Speaker 4: the various ways that you can also get involved. And
26:00
Speaker 4: that can even be advocacy. We just we can't do
26:03
Speaker 4: this alone. When we're dealing with the largest public health
26:07
Speaker 4: issue in the country, it really takes a village.
26:12
Speaker 3: It takes all of us to step up and help.
26:15
Speaker 4: And so we we so appreciate everyone who shows up,
26:19
Speaker 4: who advocates. who provides whatever resources they can, whatever level
26:26
Speaker 4: you're able to give, it really matters.
26:29
Speaker 3: It makes a difference.
26:29
Speaker 4: And you should know that there's people in your circle,
26:35
Speaker 4: whether it's in your friends, your neighborhood, your school, who
26:39
Speaker 4: are going through some of the hardest times of their lives.
26:42
Speaker 4: And being able to make a difference like this is
26:45
Speaker 4: pretty extraordinary. And so we try to make it as
26:48
Speaker 4: easy as possible for people to do that.
26:50
Speaker 2: And as I said off the top, even though we're
26:52
Speaker 2: spotlighting October because it's a big month for you, your team,
26:55
Speaker 2: and all the people you work for, it's a year-round
26:58
Speaker 2: venture that you do. But October especially is a big.
27:01
Speaker 1: Deal, isn't it?
27:02
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's when we really focus our fundraising efforts. Yes,
27:08
Speaker 4: we do have events and things that we do year
27:10
Speaker 4: round and the impact work that we do, the programmatic
27:13
Speaker 4: work that we do, that is every day.
27:15
Speaker 3: All day.
27:17
Speaker 4: There's no rests from that and there's no specific.
27:21
Speaker 3: Time for that.
27:21
Speaker 4: But we really do look at the fall as a
27:25
Speaker 4: chance to raise awareness and engage people in a community,
27:29
Speaker 4: bring people out, celebrate success.
27:32
Speaker 3: And and show hope.
27:34
Speaker 4: For healing and, you know, really love each other and
27:39
Speaker 4: do what we can to provide that support in this.
27:42
Speaker 3: In this community.
27:43
Speaker 2: All right, Pam, we've got about two minutes left, so
27:45
Speaker 2: I want to get some final thoughts from you. Remind
27:47
Speaker 2: everybody about the walk upcoming again, and then we'll give
27:50
Speaker 2: the website the floor is yours.
27:53
Speaker 4: Yeah, I appreciate that. I think, you know, if there's
27:56
Speaker 4: sort of one thing to leave people with is this.
28:00
Speaker 4: We sometimes focus on the negative, the scary, the fact
28:06
Speaker 4: this is the number one killer of 18 to 44-year-olds.
28:09
Speaker 4: And it is truly a disease that impacts so many people.
28:16
Speaker 4: But we want to take this, you know, this time
28:19
Speaker 4: of the year seriously. to really think about the positive,
28:23
Speaker 4: to focus on all of the people who have made
28:27
Speaker 4: a difference across the community, all of the families that
28:32
Speaker 4: have successfully made their way through recovery and.
28:37
Speaker 3: Focus on healing.
28:39
Speaker 4: And so it's one of my favorite times of the
28:43
Speaker 4: year to get together with people across the the community and, um,
28:48
Speaker 4: you know, hold hands and say, Hey, this is what,
28:51
Speaker 4: this is what we're doing. And we're so happy to
28:54
Speaker 4: have others who stand up, raise their hands, um, give
28:58
Speaker 4: their time on a, on a busy weekend, I'm sure
29:01
Speaker 4: for everyone, um, to, to show support. So appreciate all
29:05
Speaker 4: of you who've done that in the past and appreciate
29:08
Speaker 4: all of you who will continue to do that in
29:10
Speaker 4: the future.
29:10
Speaker 1: Okay. The log details one more time, and then the
29:12
Speaker 1: website for everybody.
29:15
Speaker 4: It is shadowproof.org, and the walk is on Saturday, October
29:20
Speaker 4: 17th at The Wharf, which is 101 District Square Southwest.
29:26
Speaker 4: Site opens at 8 o'clock. 9.30, the program opens. And
29:32
Speaker 4: 10 o'clock, we go for a short walk of celebration.
29:36
Speaker 1: Outstanding.
29:37
Speaker 2: Pam, you're making a difference out there. I know that
29:39
Speaker 2: when I talk to nonprofits, like you, sometimes it doesn't
29:41
Speaker 2: seem like it because you're working so hard, fundraising, advocation,
29:45
Speaker 2: and just doing what you and your team do. But
29:48
Speaker 2: it's truly extraordinary. I am so glad that you were
29:50
Speaker 2: able to come back on the program. Obviously, I'd love
29:52
Speaker 2: to have you back when you guys are ready to
29:53
Speaker 2: talk some more cool things in 2027. But thank you
29:56
Speaker 2: so much for joining us on Community DC.
29:58
Speaker 3: Thank you so much, Dennis. Appreciate it.