Partnership, Recovery Hub to present Virtual Town Hall on Thursday

MADISON – Partnership for a Drug-Free Community and Recovery Resource Hub will present its Virtual Town Hall on Feb. 4.

The program from 6 to 8 p.m. on Facebook Live (www.facebook.com/thepdfc) is intended to help anyone with a substance use disorder to find treatment options more easily — with or without insurance.

The town hall coincides with the first-year anniversary of the Partnership’s Recovery Resource Hub.

Partnership staff will share highlights of the Hub program’s first year. Then, four panelists will speak for about 15 minutes each, followed by a question-and-answer session. Panelists will be Yushima Cherry Burks, Dave Draper, Keith Watts and Mike Woods.

Burks holds a master’s degree in social work, bachelor’s degree in psychology and an associate’s degree in business administration. She works as a Launch Program Counselor and Substance Abuse Therapist at Wellstone. Burks will discuss dual diagnosis and complications between mental illness and substance use.

Burks uses her book, “Picking up the Pieces of 100 Broken Promises,” as a personal guide to navigate life and heal in unpleasant conditions. Her passion is elimination of substance abuse and helping others understand their potential and worth.

Dave Draper, longtime member of Partnership’s Board of Directors, currently serves on its Executive Committee. He is pastor at Draper Memorial Church of God in Christ.

In 2021, Draper will celebrate his 40th year in recovery. He will share about his lowest point when taking dog tranquilizers to get high while associating with a culture including professionals to robbers, murderers, prostitutes and others with various addictions.

Keith Watts is a board-certified Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP-BC). After earning a bachelor’s degree at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, he received a master’s degree at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Currently, Watts currently works at Behavioral Services in Madison and Magnolia Ranch Recovery in Taft, Tenn. He previously worked in inpatient care at Bradford Health Services as a charge nurse and Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner. Watts will discuss the family dynamic in recovery.

Woods works as a state-certified Peer Support Specialist with Partnership’s Recovery Resource Hub. In recovery for eight-plus years, he survived 18 years of active addiction, homelessness and run-ins with police.

Woods will talk about everything from his lowest moments to how he found and maintains his sobriety, rebuilding his life along the way.

For more information, call Partnership Executive Director Wendy Reeves at 256-539-7339 or visit partnershipforadrug-freecommunity.org.