This webinar will share lessons learned through Maryland’s collaboration with state and local public health and prevention professionals as well as the brain injury community to increase awareness of the link between brain injury and opioid use. Specific strategies to assist Overdose Fatality Review teams (OFRs) conduct OFR through a brain injury informed lens will be shared, and policy and clinical interventions to reduce fatal overdose among individuals who use drugs and are living with a history of brain injury will be discussed.

Presenter

Anastasia B. Edmonston, M.S., CRC, ​currently works for the Maryland Behavioral Health Administration.  Her work focuses on training behavioral health professionals and others on the topics of traumatic brain injury and person-centered thinking and planning and their intersection with brain injury, substance use, and mental health. She has worked in the field of rehabilitation services for individuals with traumatic and acquired brain injuries for more than 30 years—in both inpatient and outpatient services—as a case manager, a program coordinator, an advocate, and a vocational rehabilitation counselor. She obtained her master of science degree in rehabilitation counseling from Boston University, is a certified rehabilitation counselor and earned a postgraduate certificate from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County in instructional systems development.  She is a certified mental health first aid instructor and person-centered thinking trainer.  Additional biography information is available at 
https://www.linkedin.com/in/anastasia-edmonston-8848095/.

Webinar Resources

• Acquired Brian Injury Screening Tool
• Harm Reduction Analysis Through a Brain Injury Informed Lens
• Lifetime History of Traumatic Brain Injury (from the OSU TBI-ID) and other Acquired Brain Injuries
• Looking for Clues: Overdose Fatality Review Through a Brain Injury Informed Lens
• Opioids and Brain Injury Facts for Individuals and Families
• Opioids and Brain Injury Facts for Public Health & Substance Use Professionals
• Presentation Slides
• State Program Directory—National Association of State Head Injury Administrators (NASHIA)