Mercer Council News

As we reflect on Overdose Awareness this month, we often hear stories of the role of an overdose in individuals' lives. Too often it is said that this is an individual issue, but anyone who has been around addiction knows it is a family disease. Our guest blogger is a high school student who is active in the recovery community.  She is a ...

On Tuesday, August 30th, 2022, we are hosting the 7th annual Mercer County Overdose Awareness event in Ewing, NJ from 5:30-8PM, at the Ewing Community and Senior Center. This will be our seventh annual IOAD- Here is a brief video of some of the highlights from 2021's event- This event is presented by the One Voice Initiative, a partnership between ...

On Friday November 5th, 2021 Mercer Council was honored to participate in the inaugural "Open Access To Recovery" (OATR) outreach event. This event was organized by Recovery Advocates of America and the Mercer County Operation Helping Hand Program (OHH) under the Mercer County Prosecutor's Office. OHH offers those arrested for n...

From L to R: Recovery Specialists Marc North and Stacey Ross at their visit to RWJ to celebrate the return of face to face recovery support services, after a period of providing tele-services, in response to the pandemic.

Recovery Specialists Stacey Ross and Marc North joined me to visit Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Hamilton, one of Mercer Council OORP's key partners, to regroup after a period of Tele-Recovery Support services.  The team pivoted to Tele-Recovery Support because of a pandemic that completely consumed our hospital partners, our community and the world.  In order to do our part to...

During August, and especially on International Overdose Awareness Day (August 31st), we remember and honor the lives of those who lost their battle with Substance Use Disorder.  During September, which has been designated by SAMHSA as National Recovery Month, we realign our perspectives to honoring and supporting those who have embraced recovery over active addiction.  September has beco...

Please Join Us for this Virtual Event! Zoom link: Zoom Link for IOAD Event on Thursday August 27th Meeting ID: 867 8890 9129 Passcode: 640777

The Perfect Storm When opioid addiction and COVID-19 diverge or meet head-on this has created the perfect storm. Both catastrophic events have caused unprecedented challenges to the healthcare system impacting the care that is vital to our patient/client population. COVID-19 has impacted every aspect of our lives from uncertainty of our health as well as our families, unemployment, financial conce...

One of my first assignments at Mercer Council was the 2nd Annual International Overdose event, held last year in Hamilton. I received all of the registration calls, and with those calls, came stories of questioning, heartbreak, and hope.  I heard stories of sons and daughters taken too soon; of a young father leaving behind 2 and 4-year-old sons; a young girl experimenting for the first and l...