Opioid Task Force

Education and Prevention Committee Meeting
2025-01-14 09:30 - 10:30, 2025-02-11 09:30 - 10:30, 2025-03-11 09:30 - 10:30, 2025-04-08 09:30 - 10:30 (America/New_York)
Please join us for our Education & Prevention Committee meeting. For more information on how to participate, please contact Karen Carmona, Program Associate, at karen@opioidtaskforce.org.

CONNECT Partner Quarterly Meeting
2025-01-22 10:00 - 11:30
For more information, please email Nicole St. Hilaire, Outreach Manager for CONNECT, at nicole@opioidtaskforce.org.

Overdose Prevention & Narcan Training
2025-01-30 13:00 - 14:00, 2025-02-27 13:00 - 14:30, 2025-03-20 13:00 - 14:30
Please join Tapestry and the Opioid Task Force of Franklin County and the North Quabbin Region for this online overdose prevention training. You can register for this free event here.
Participants will learn the answers to these questions:
-What is an opioid overdose?
-How do you recognize and respond to an opioid overdose?
-How do you administer Narcan to reverse an opioid overdose?
The event is free and open to the public.
This is part of our 2025 virtual Overdose Prevention and Narcan training series, organized by Tapestry and the Opioid Task Force of Franklin County and the North Quabbin Region.

Substance Use Disorder, Sexual Exploitation & Trafficking: Current Research & Trends
2025-01-30 14:00 - 15:00
Join us on Thursday, January 30, 2025, as Dr. Abigail Judge returns to Franklin County and the North Quabbin Region to discuss “Substance Use Disorder, Sexual Exploitation & Trafficking: Current Research and Trends”. Please register for this free event here.
Individuals struggling with substances often find themselves at a higher risk of being sexually exploited or trafficked. In rural communities, this complex issue can be invisible. This session provides an excellent overview of the factors that contribute to sexual exploitation and trafficking and how communities like ours can best respond.
Abigail M. Judge, Ph.D., is a clinical and forensic psychologist who specializes in supporting women at the intersection of opioid use disorder and sex trafficking. Dr. Judge has a private practice and is on the part-time faculty at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Judge has worked with victims and survivors of commercial sexual exploitation as a therapist, educator, consultant, and expert witness since 2010. She founded Boston HEAT (Human Exploitation Advocacy TEAM), a collaboration between MGH and the Boston Police Department’s Human Trafficking Unit dedicated to women experiencing addiction and sexual exploitation. HEAT’s drop-in space in the Boston neighborhood known as “Mass. and Cass” has been honored with awards from the Commissioner of the Boston Police Department as well as the FBI. In 2024, Dr. Judge received an Anti-Trafficking Leadership, Innovation, and Sustainability (ATLIS) Fellowship from the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services’ Office on Trafficking in Persons (OTIP) to expand the peer-led services of Boston HEAT.
Part of January Human Trafficking Prevention Month sponsored by the Franklin County and North Quabbin Sexual Exploitation and Trafficking Workgroup, a project of the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office and the Opioid Task Force of Franklin County and the North Quabbin Region and CONNECT, the region’s post-opioid overdose community outreach and follow-up effort.

Public Safety & Justice Committee Meeting
2025-02-03 13:00 - 14:00, 2025-04-07 13:00 - 14:00
Please join us for our Public Safety & Justice Committee meeting. For more information on how to participate, please contact Nicole St. Hilaire, Outreach Manager/CONNECT, at nicole@opioidtaskforce.org.

Harm Reduction Workgroup Meeting
2025-02-05 11:00 - 12:00, 2025-04-02 11:00 - 12:00
Please join us for our Harm Reduction Workgroup meeting, a project of OTF’s Treatment & Recovery Committee. For more information on how to participate, please contact Nicole St. Hilaire, Outreach Manager/CONNECT, at nicole@opioidtaskforce.org.

Treatment and Recovery Committee Meeting
2025-02-07 10:00 - 11:30, 2025-03-07 10:00
Please join us for the monthly meeting of the Treatment & Recovery Committee. For more information on how to participate, please contact Debra McLaughlin, Coordinator/OTF, at debmc@opioidtaskforce.org.

Emergency Services for Unhoused Individuals Task Force Meeting
2025-02-10 09:30 - 10:30
Please join our monthly meeting to discuss the emergency needs of unhoused individuals in the Franklin County and North Quabbin Region. To learn more about how to participate, please contact Kristen Pease, Program Associate and Project Coordinator/The HUB Project, at kristen@opioidtaskforce.org.

Sexual Exploitation and Trafficking Workgroup Meeting
2025-02-10 13:00 - 14:00
Please join us for the Sexual Exploitation and Trafficking Workgroup meeting, co-facilitated by the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office and the Opioid Task Force. For more information on how to join, please email Karen Carmona, Program Associate, Opioid Task Force, at karen@opioidtaskforce.org.

CAM Workgroup Meeting
2025-02-11 11:00 - 12:00, 2025-04-08 11:00 - 12:00
Please join us for our Complementary & Alternative Medicines (CAM) Workgroup meeting, a project of OTF’s Healthcare Solutions Committee. For more information on how to participate, please contact Karen Carmona, Program Associate, at karen@opioidtaskforce.org.

Methadone Workgroup Meeting
2025-02-13 15:00 - 16:00, 2025-04-10 15:00 - 16:00
Please join us for our Methadone Workgroup meeting, a project of OTF’s Healthcare Solutions Committee. For more information on how to participate, please contact Debra McLaughlin, Coordinator/OTF at debmc@opioidtaskforce.org.

Housing & Workforce Development Committee Meeting
2025-02-14 10:00 - 11:30
Please join us for our Housing & Workforce Development Committee meeting. For more information on how to participate, please contact Kristen Pease, Program Associate and Project Manager/ARISE Initiative, at kristen@opioidtaskforce.org.

Building a Resilient Community Workgroup Meeting
2025-02-19 11:00 - 12:00
Please join us for our Building a Resilient Community Workgroup, a project of OTF’s Education & Prevention Committee. For more information on how to participate, please contact Karen Carmona, Program Associate at karen@opioidtaskforce.org.

Wound Care: Why It Matters
2025-02-26 13:00 - 14:00
Please join us on Wednesday, February 26, 2025, at 1 PM for the “Wound Care: Why It Matters” training session. You can register for this free event here.
According to the National Institutes for Health (NIH), “Wounds and skin and soft tissue infections (SSTIs) are common complications of injection drug use (IDU) that disproportionately affect people who inject drugs (PWID) and are a major source of morbidity and mortality for this population.” (Source: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8312019/.)
Stigma and shame among people who inject drugs can lead them to share or reuse needles, leading to infections such as sepsis, gangrene, amputation, and death. The illicit drug supply has also grown more dangerous where synthetic opioids such as fentanyl and carfentanyl are cut with substances such as xylazine, a large animal tranquilizer, known to create ulcers and abscesses that are slow to heal without adequate and consistent wound care. This panel discussion, featuring local experts and practitioners, will provide an overview of wound care, why it is essential, and where wound care resources can be accessed in rural Franklin County and the North Quabbin Region.
Featured speakers include:
*Rachel Katz, NP Director, Addiction Services, and Katy Robbins, RN, FOH/Medical Respite, CSO
*Amy Pierno, PT, CWS, Wound Specialist, Tapestry
*Alyssa Ayala, PA and Medical Director, Western MA Woundcare
*Kristen Cuddy-Pease, Program Associate, Opioid Task Force of Franklin County and the North Quabbin Region
This presentation is part of CONNECT’s 2024-2025 Education and Training Series. CONNECT is Franklin County and the North Quabbin Region’s post-opioid overdose follow-up and outreach initiative, providing support to individuals who have experienced or witnessed an overdose within 72 hours. It includes free naloxone distribution, overdose prevention and naloxone training, and other community outreach services to address substance and opioid use disorders.

Harm Reduction Workgroup Meeting
2025-03-05 10:00 - 11:00
Please join us for our Harm Reduction Workgroup meeting, a project of OTF’s Treatment & Recovery Committee. For more information on how to participate, please contact Nicole St. Hilaire, Outreach Manager/CONNECT, at nicole@opioidtaskforce.org.
Note: Please note time change for the March meeting.

Emergency Services for Unhoused Individuals Task Force Meeting
2025-03-10 09:30 - 10:30
Please join our monthly meeting to discuss the emergency needs of unhoused individuals in the Franklin County and North Quabbin Region. To learn more about how to participate, please contact Kristen Cuddy-Pease, Program Associate and Project Coordinator/The HUB Project, at kristen@opioidtaskforce.org.

Sexual Exploitation and Trafficking Workgroup Meeting
2025-03-10 13:00 - 14:00
Please join us for the Sexual Exploitation and Trafficking Workgroup meeting, co-facilitated by the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office and the Opioid Task Force. For more information on how to join, please email Karen Carmona, Program Associate/OTF at karen@opioidtaskforce.org.

POSTPONED: DCF 101: How Massachusetts DCF Supports Families Navigating Substance Use Disorder
2025-03-26 15:00 - 16:00
Due to circumstances beyond our control, this event has been postponed. It will be rescheduled at a future date in 2025. If you have questions, please email us at info@opioidtaskforce.org.
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Please join us on Wednesday, March 26, 2025 at 3 PM for DCF 101 with Diane Hawkins, Substance Use Counselor. This session will help explain the array of resources available for parents impacted by substance use disorders. Register here.
This is part of the CONNECT 2024-2025 Education and Training Series. For more information, please email Nicole St. Hilaire at nicole@opioidtaskforce.org.

Joint Healthcare Solutions and Treatment & Recovery Committees Meeting
2025-03-28 10:00 - 11:30
Please join us for a joint meeting of the Opioid Task Force’s Healthcare Solutions and Treatment & Recovery Committees. For more information on how to participate, please contact Debra McLaughlin, Coordinator/OTF at debmc@opioidtaskforce.org.
Please note that the April 4th Treatment & Recovery Committee meeting has been canceled.

MOVED to March 28: Treatment and Recovery Committee Meeting
2025-04-04 10:00 - 11:30
This meeting has been moved and combined with OTF’s March 28th Healthcare Solutions Committee gathering. The April 4th meeting has been canceled.
Otherwise, please join us for the next monthly Treatment & Recovery Committee meeting in May. For more information on how to participate, please contact Debra McLaughlin, Coordinator/OTF, at debmc@opioidtaskforce.org.
