Substance Abuse Recovery Event

Promoting Change: Creating a New Landscape for Individuals with Substance Use Disorder

BENNINGTON, VT—April 23, 2021—Southwestern Vermont Medical Center (SVMC) and the Bennington Opioid Response Team, with support from a state Community Action Grant and Catamount Access Television, present Promoting Change: Creating a New Landscape for Individuals with Substance Use Disorder.

The event is scheduled at 4 – 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 4 and will air live on CAT-TV channel 1075 and facebook.com/CATTVBennington. It is free and no registration is needed.

This event is appropriate for people with substance use disorder and their families and anyone interested in decreasing substance use in our communities. Participants will gain hopeful insights on how they, their friends, and neighbors can navigate the transition from substance abuse to a healthy and happy substance-free lifestyle.

Author and Speaker Matt Harrington will moderate. Panelists include Pam Aulicino, MSN, RN; Julea Larson; and Benjamin Lerner.

Aulicino is a registered nurse within Vermont’s “Hub and Spoke” program for substance abuse recovery. In addition, she is a medication-assisted treatment nurse liaison with Southwestern Vermont Medical Center and a member of the International Nursing Society on Addictions.

Larson is the supervisor of Recovery Support Services with Turning Point Recovery Center in Bennington. Among her specializations are crisis counseling, substance abuse prevention, behavioral health treatment and services, mental health and substance use disorders, prescription drug misuse, and supporting and affirming LGBTQ+ your with substance abuse disorders.

Lerner is a Vermont-based composer, writer, and recovery advocate. He hosts CLEAN Jams, a radio show that airs at 11 p.m. Thursdays on WEQX 102.7 The Real Alternative. The show features sober Rap and Hip-Hop music and interviews with recovery partners.

The Bennington Opioid Response Team is comprised of more than 40 individuals from community organizations, including health care, mental health, recovery, government, law enforcement, housing, transportation, and prevention. Its mission is to improve quality of life by reducing the adverse effects of opioid use in the community.  

For more information on the Bennington Opioid Response Team and its efforts, contact Alex Figueroa, MPA, the community action grant project supervisor & care coordinator for Blueprint at 802-440-4280 or alexander.figueroa@svhealthcare.org.

About SVHC:
Southwestern Vermont Health Care (SVHC) is a comprehensive, preeminent, healthcare system providing exceptional, convenient, and affordable care to the communities of Bennington and Windham Counties of Vermont, eastern Rensselaer and Washington Counties of New York, and northern Berkshire County in Massachusetts. SVHC includes Southwestern Vermont Medical Center (SVMC), Southwestern Vermont Regional Cancer Center, the Centers for Living and Rehabilitation, and the SVHC Foundation. SVMC includes 25 primary and specialty care practices.

Southwestern Vermont Health Care is among the most lauded small rural health systems in the nation. It is the recipient of the American Hospital Association’s 2020 Rural Hospital Leadership Award. SVMC ranked fourth nationwide for the value of care it provides by the Lown Institute Hospital Index and is a five-time recipient of the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Magnet® recognition for nursing excellence. It has also received the highest marks possible from the Leapfrog Group. 

Southwestern Vermont Medical Center provides exceptional care without discriminating on the basis of an individual’s age, race, ethnicity, religion, culture, language, physical or mental disability, socioeconomic status, sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity or expression. Language assistance services, free of charge, are available at 1-800-367-9559.