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SOS Recovery Community Organization is presenting the 4th annual RICH conference. Northeast’s premier peer-recovery & harm reduction conference. The conference will include nationally recognized keynotes that will present on innovations in peer-based recovery supports and harm reduction with a focus on diversity, equity and inclusion. This conference will include nationally recognized keynote speakers and breakouts over 2 days surrounding the theme of the conference.
This conference will attract leaders and advocates within the prevention, treatment, recovery, and harm reduction communities across New England as well as health care providers, clinical staffs, licensed professionals, mental health professionals, agency staff, social service providers, educators, first-responders and local, state and federal policy makers and legislators. The conference will also attract individuals and family members impacted by substance use disorder, people who use drugs, people who identify as sex workers, and allies of the recovery and harm reduction community.&
Liz Evans
Liz has dedicated her career to working on behalf of marginalized individuals living in poverty and struggling with drug use and has had over 30 years of frontline experience. Her educational background includes a Nursing degree and a Masters in Adult Education.
As a former Open Society Foundation Fellow, and founder of the PHS Community Services Society, Liz has been instrumental in introducing housing first and harm reduction policies in Canada and was part of the visionary team that established North America’s first legally sanctioned injection site in 2003.
More recently in New York, her tenure as Executive Director saw two renowned harm reduction organizations pioneer a drug users health hub, expand mobile outreach services, significantly expand overdose prevention services while forming OnPoint NYC.
Presently, Liz is working as the Senior Director of Harm Reduction at Liberation Programs to advance harm reduction approaches and services for individuals at risk of overdose in Connecticut, in addition to working as a consultant.
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Dr. Raagini Jawa is an Assistant Professor and Clinician Investigator in the Center for Research on Health Care, Department of General Internal Medicine at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. She is board certified in Internal Medicine and Infectious Disease and Addiction Medicine. Dr. Jawa’s research interests focus on the intersection of Infectious Disease and Addiction, including studying how to optimize integration of harm reduction services for individuals with substance use disorders within traditional health settings, developing multidisciplinary provider facing interventions to prevent infectious and non-infections complications of drug use. Clinically, she provides office-based addiction treatment in IM Recovery Engagement Program and attends the Endovascular Infection Service at UPMC.
Mark Jenkins has been advancing harm reduction in Connecticut and beyond for well over two decades. He founded the Greater Hartford Harm Reduction Coalition to deliver services and supports for people who were not being served by traditional program structures and funds. GHHRC evolved to become the Connecticut Harm Reduction Alliance (CT-HRA), with services now covering roughly 50% of Connecticut. Reduce Harm, Inc. (RHI) is the natural third phase of this work, expanding efforts to support harm reduction programming across the country, with special emphasis on Black-led and rural programs. In recognition of Mark’s exceptional service leadership, he was recently honored with the Dan Bigg Memorial Award by the National Harm Reduction Coalition.
Dee-Dee Stout has undergraduate degrees in Business Management, Psychology & Human Sexuality from San Francisco State University (SFSU) where she also earned her Special Major Master’s degree in Health Counseling. Dee-Dee is a member of the international Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers (MINT), having received her training in MI in 2000 in part from the developer, William R. Miller, PhD. She is also a founding member of the California Association of Harm Reduction Therapists (CAHRT; www.harmreductiontherapy.com). Dee-Dee is certified in Brainspotting, TFT, iRest, and has received specialized training and/or certification in more than 15 other approaches related to behavior change. Previously, she earned numerous designations in addiction work: LAADAC, CADC-II, MAC, and Gorski’s Relapse Prevention Specialist among others. Dee-Dee chose to not renew those specialty accreditations a decade ago due mainly to their negative stance on harm reduction and few if any options to 12-Step.
Dee-Dee has worked in drug treatment for nearly 40 years. As well as maintaining a private practice (which she’s had for more than 30 years) working with individuals, couples, and families, she regularly trains other behavioral health professionals in evidence-based, client-centered approaches and outcome informed work. As someone with a long history of addiction, traditional recovery, chronic pain, & numerous (mostly incorrect) psychiatric diagnoses including PTSD, Dee-Dee has recently added “autistic” to her descriptions. What happens next, Dee-Dee continues to advocate for people who use drugs & their families and chronic pain patients with her wicked sense of humor.
Dee-Dee is currently Adjunct Associate Professor at St. Mary’s College in Moraga, CA, in the Graduate Counseling Psychology department. Teaching college for more than 30 years at several Bay Area colleges and universities has been a calling for Dee-Dee. She has also made many public appearances as an invited speaker at conferences (including internationally) and been interviewed on television, radio, in film, podcasts, & print, discussing treatment, harm reduction, trauma-informed care, family coaching, and more. Dee-Dee has also contributed to various best-selling books on addiction as well as to scholarly papers on treatment issues including trauma.
Finally, Dee-Dee’s ground-breaking book, “Coming to Harm Reduction Kicking & Screaming: Looking for Harm Reduction in a 12-Step World,” is widely available and has received numerous positive reviews. Currently, she is working on a second edition of her original book with the writer, Joe Clifford, (author of “Junkie Love”) due to be released in late Spring/early Summer 2024.
Angel Simone (she/they)
As a person with a marginalized identity, Angel Simone is dedicated to creating spaces where people from diverse backgrounds and experiences can come together in ways that foster meaningful connections.
As a speaker, trainer & coach, she has a passion for empowering others to discover their unique potential and becoming the next best version of themselves. Angel is a certified DEI consultant, and enjoys conversations on identity & belonging, inclusive leadership and how we can build more inclusive spaces where more of us can feel welcomed, valued, respected, and heard.
Angel has captivated audiences as a TEDx speaker, keynote speaker and podcast guest. Angel has corporate training experience in both non-profit and for-profit sectors. She currently volunteers on the advisory board of Elephant in the Room for New Hampshire Theatre Project.
Originally from Liverpool, England, Angel now lives in Portsmouth with her children. She holds her Masters in Engineering.
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