WSCA Podcast Series: ”It Takes a Village” - Addiction Prevention & Recovery on the Seacoast

In Episode 19 we meet with Whitney Brown, director of Safe Harbor Recovery Center, a Portsmouth (NH) based Recovery Community Center (RCO). Whitney shares her journey to become the director of Safe Harbor, the programming offered to the Seacoast community, and people the center serves.

My interview with NY Times best-selling author (Dopesick, Raising Lazarus) in November 2018 during her promotional tour of Dopesick.

In Episode 18 we catch up with NH Recovery Friendly Workplace senior director, Samantha (Sam) Lewandowski and Jeanne Venuti, NH RFW director of workforce development. During this conversation we learn about the genesis of the NH RFW program which has now blossomed into a national program with over 30 US states and 1 Canadian participating. Recovery Friendly Workplace is good for businesses and provides business with the training, tools, and support for workers who may be impacted by addiction either directly or for a loved one.

In Episode 17 we talk with Cheryll Andrews, executive director of Dismas Home of Manchester. Dismas Home provides clinical, residential, and transitional services for woman re-entering from incarceration.

Cliff Lazenby was the assistant mayor of Portsmouth New Hampshire and a coalescing presence at the founding of the Greater Portsmouth Recovery Coalition in 2019. At that time there was no handbook on how to build a recovery ready community, yet the grassroots effort grew into a coalition of over 75 members and nearly 30 participating organizations and continues to help individuals, families and businesses gain access to services.

In this episode we discuss the early days of the coalition - who participated, how it was funded, and the initial focus that grew into what we now call the Greater Portsmouth Recovery Coalition.

In Episode 15 we talk with Jules Johnson of Hampton, NH, who is owner and operator of Magnolia House, a recovery home at the heart of downtown Hampton. Jules talks about her housing business model and the great outcomes she's achieved by helping to restore dignity for the men of Magnolia House.

In this episode, we talk with Ashley Murphy, Diversion Program Coordinator at The Chase Home of Portsmouth, NH.

The Seacoast Diversion Program provides therapeutic groups and group, individual, and substance abuse counseling with a clinician to youth and families in distress in Portsmouth, and nearly a dozen towns throughout eastern Rockingham County, NH. 

Ashley is a member of the Greater Portsmouth Youth Wellness Coalition.

In Episode 13, we meet Eli, a high school junior who organized a basketball clinic for the youth of Portsmouth, NH. What is remarkable about this young man's service to his community, is his motivation for doing so. Communities need more leaders like this fine young man.