The Laker/Lutz News

Sarah Cobelli

Symposium seeks addiction recovery solutions

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A symposium is scheduled for later this month that will seek to create a blueprint for improving long-term substance abuse recovery efforts in Pasco County.

The Recover Out Loud Pasco Symposium is set for Sept. 28 from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., at Calvary Chapel Worship Center, 6825 Trouble Creek Road in New Port Richey.

Admission is free.

The symposium is being organized by Recovery Epicenter Foundation, a newly licensed and accredited recovery community organization operating out of Trinity.

The symposium will seek to engage individuals, stakeholders and community leaders in an effort “to grow community-oriented initiatives, cultivate community allies, and develop recovery peer-based programs,” according to the event’s flyer.

Its keynote speaker is Dona Dmitrovic, executive director of Las Vegas-based Foundation for Recovery and former National Director of Consumer Affairs for Substance Use Disorders at Optum, United Health Group.

Other noted speakers include:

  • Tina Levene, motivational speaker and published author on abuse and addictions
  • Pasco Sheriff’s Office Lt. Toni Roach, who heads the agency’s Crisis Intervention Training (CIT) and Mental Health and Threat Assessment (MHAT) teams
  • Sara Mollo, Sixth Judicial Circuit chief assistant public defender
  • Former Sixth Judicial Circuit Court Judge Lynn Tepper
  • Sarah Cobelli, Baycare Behavioral Health program manager
  • Ginny LaRue, Florida Alcohol & Drug Abuse Foundation recovery project director

Additionally, the symposium will feature interactive café conversations about which recovery-related services are working in the community and what needs more support, along with a series of panel discussions from people in recovery and existing recovery community organizations throughout Florida.

Thoughts and input gathered from the symposium will be incorporated into the Recovery Epicenter Foundation’s visioning process in November to better define action steps for recovery-based programming, said Recovery Epicenter Foundation RCO director Rachel Starostin.

“The whole thing is we want to get the community together,” said Starostin, who expects anywhere from 200 to 300 attendees at the symposium. “The community benefits when we all collaborate together.”

Trinity-based Recovery Epicenter Foundation is hosting a symposium to help find ways to improve long-term substance abuse recovery efforts in Pasco County. The Recover Out Loud Pasco Symposium is set for Sept. 28. (Courtesy of Recovery Epicenter Foundation)

Starostin said the Recovery Epicenter Foundation’s “ultimate goal” is to build a peer-run, recovery-oriented community center to facilitate programs in the way of employment assistance, transportation, health and wellness, recreational opportunities, independent support groups and so on.

“We’re like building a shell out of something that needs to exist. We’re building something out of nothing,” she said.

“It’s kind of an abstract concept, when you don’t have a building and trying to plan out the future,” she said.

Starostin emphasized the need for such a recovery facility to help people “rebuild their lives” once they get out of addiction treatment. That assistance may initially include assisting them with “locatable, tangible resources,” such as basic medical care, living shelters, food stamps and more.

Starostin put it like this: “As a general rule, until you meet somebody’s basic needs, they’re not really receptive to listen. Like, how well do you focus when you’re hungry and you haven’t eaten in two days?”

Meanwhile, Starostin said the upstart recovery community organization is looking to mobilize more peer specialists to help with implementing various recovery programs. Peer specialists, or peer coaches, are people who have been successful in the recovery process who help others battling addiction through shared experience, understanding, respect and mutual empowerment.

Said Starostin, “There’s something magical when one peer who’s suffered from substance use works with another. You identify with them, you trust them, and it’s not like a 12-step program, you help somebody kind of come up with their own plan.”

Recovery Epicenter Foundation’s recovery community organization operates as an independent, nonprofit entity — led and governed by representatives of local communities of recovery.

Its mission is to support recovery through advocacy, education and peer-to-peer support services, to improve outcomes for persons seeking drugs and alcohol addictions.

Guidance and technical assistance on the Recovery Epicenter Foundation recovery community organization’s development process is coming from the Florida Recovery Project/Faces & Voices of Recovery, with collaboration from Florida Alcohol & Drug Abuse Foundation, Florida Department of Children and Families, and Peer Support Coalition of Florida.

An initial community listening session for the recovery community organization was held in February at the Land O’ Lakes Community Center, followed by a symposium planning session.

The sessions have already brought together dozens of stakeholders, including persons in recovery and professionals in health care, criminal justice, faith-based organizations and others.

“When we started this process, there wasn’t a whole lot of momentum behind it, but we’re getting it; people are getting involved and they’re starting to understand,” Starostin said.

To register for the symposium, visit tinyurl.com/yygu9e3s.

For information, contact Rachel Starostin at or (727) 255-2036.

Published September 11, 2019

Seminars aim to empower Pasco women

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The first of a three-part series aimed to advance the interests of Pasco County women took place on March 4 at the Land O’ Lakes Branch Library, on Collier Parkway.

All of the meetings, being presented by the Pasco County Commission on the Status of Women and the Pasco County Commission, are being held at the library, and are free and open to the public.

The theme of the first part of the series was “Health and Wellness.”

Sarah Cobelli, of BayCare Behavioral Health, was one of the speakers who took part in a presentation on ‘Health and Wellness’ hosted by the Pasco County Commission on the Status of Women, on March 4 at the Land O’ Lakes Branch Library, on Collier Parkway. (Brian Fernandes)

Guest speakers Mike Napier, of the Florida Department of Health in Pasco County, and Sarah Cobelli, of BayCare Behavioral Health, shared pertinent information relating to women’s health issues.

“Virtually everything we do at the health department is in partnership with someone else,” explained Napier, administrator for the Florida Department of Health — Pasco County.

The department works with Moffitt Cancer Center, Premier Community Healthcare Group and other partners.

They work to bring awareness to issues such as cervical and breast cancer, and provide information about treatment options.

The department also receives government funding, which is used to provide screenings.

Efforts also are being made to prevent the spread of Hepatitis A, and the health department is receiving assistance in this effort from the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office, Napier said.

Through this collaboration, vaccinations are offered in the jail system, Napier explained.

“The good news is, it’s almost 97 percent – after you’ve had those shots – that you’ll be immune to any Hepatitis A,” Napier said.

Napier also advocates child vaccination for Hepatitis A and for the human papillomavirus (HPV).

Napier dispelled the notion that HPV is always linked to physical intercourse, stating that the stigma makes parents hesitant about vaccinating their children.

Teenage pregnancy, however, is a reality that the department addresses through its family planning program.

“It’s very difficult when we see moms coming in at 16-17 [and] trying to get them to finish school,” Napier said. “We’ve got to do something about that.”

The program offers testing, counseling and various contraceptive methods.

It also works in conjunction with schools to make sure students are well-educated and have a resource to call for help.

Tobacco use is another area of local concern, Napier pointed out.

“Unfortunately, Pasco County continues to have some of the highest smoking rates in the state,” the administrator said.

As of last year, 21 percent of adult Pasco residents were chronic smokers, according to the health department.

It also noted in a 2013 study that 22 percent of women in the county were smokers – significantly in the 18 to 44 age range.

The health department is working with medical institutions to distribute and collect health surveys.

The effort allows hospitals and other health care facilities to share medical information, and to better identify health trends based on demographics.

“It’s going to be consistent with all the hospitals and the health industry, to be able to say, ‘We all see the same data and now we’re going to try to act on that data,’” Napier stated.

The administrator also noted that providing mental health care to women who need it remains challenging.

Cobelli provided a presentation focused on behavioral health and substance abuse among women.

As a program manager for BayCare, she oversees community-based services for both children and adults.

“One of the newer additions to BayCare – within the last couple of years – is behavioral health integration, that especially females find comfort in,” Cobelli said.

This program is a convenient means for women to see their primary care physician and speak with a mental health counselor within the same office.

Another outreach program allows nurses, with a mobile medical unit, to go outdoors informing the homeless about medical resources and housing that may be available to them.

There’s also outreach to teenage mothers.

With the help of case managers, another state-funded program provides intervention for pregnant or postpartum women struggling with substance abuse.

For the 2018 fiscal year, Cobelli stated: “About 65 percent of the women that are enrolled have a primary diagnosis of an opioid disorder.”

There are also services available to women outside the program to help with essentials, such as car seats, strollers and baby formula.

BayCare encourages women with substance abuse, who are coming out of jail, to attend its group meetings three times a week.

With the Alternatives to Incarceration Pasco program, BayCare works with the Sheriff’s Office to establish special services for those with substance disorders.

The second part of the series, focused on Economic Prosperity, will be held on April 8.

The third part of the series, focused on Safety and Access, will be presented on May 6.

For more information visit, PascoCountyFL.net/2662/Commission-on-Status-of-Women.

Women’s lecture series presented by the Pasco County Commission on the Status of Women and the Pasco County Commission
Where: Land O’ Lakes Library meeting room, 2818 Collier Parkway, Land O’ Lakes
When: Upcoming sessions are planned on Economic Prosperity on April 8 and Safety & Access on May 6. Both sessions start at 2:30 p.m.
Cost: Free to public
Details: A series of presentations from guest speakers will discuss educating and advancing Pasco County women
Info: Visit PascoCountyFL.net/2662/Commission-on-Status-of-Women. 

Published March 20, 2019