ROOTS Summit 3.0 to tackle substance-use disorders

WINGATE — Substance-use disorders (SUDs) will be the topic later this month as Wingate University’s Collaborative for the Common Good and the Healthy Union Advisory Coalition host ROOTS Summit 3.0 at the University’s LaVerne Banquet Hall. The event, set for 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on April 26, will feature seven speakers. ROOTS stands for Recognizing Our Opportunities To Serve.

“The goal of this summit is for people to network and gather information about what services are in our community for substance-use disorders and what gaps need to be filled,” Dr. Catherine Wright, executive director of the CCG, explains. “The event will also offer the community a chance to impact future planning for services and to have a voice.”

The first ROOTS Summit, hosted by Wingate in June 2019, brought local leaders together to consider what resources are available in the community, what motivates them to do the work they do, and how they could support one another. ROOTS Summit 2.0, held in February of 2020, included workshops focused on sustainable agriculture technology and health and wellness.

Anyone interested in attending ROOTS Summit 3.0 should contact Dr. Wright or Kelli Wiles, the CCG’s administrative assistant.

Summit participants will hear from the following speakers:

• Kelly Teague, Community Impact NC’s western regional coordinator under the Division of Coalition Support, is a Haywood County native who has given training in coalition development and grant writing at the national level.

• Dr. Shanta Dube, director of Wingate’s Master of Public Health Program, began her career at the Centers for Disease Control, where she served as an early investigator on the landmark CDC-Kaiser Adverse Childhood Experiences Study and helped document the contribution of ACEs on alcohol- and drug-use disorders across the lifespan. Dube is an internationally recognized scholar on ACEs, SUDs and resiliency.

• Wesley Keziah is a pastor, public speaker and the executive director of Monroe-based Ground 40, a nonprofit that provides practical and spiritual guidance to men who are transitioning out of addiction, homelessness and incarceration. Using insight from his own struggles to help others, Keziah has started several successful addiction ministries in the Carolinas.

• Ron Clark is the community services manager for Camino Health Center in Charlotte. An Air Force veteran, he is also a certified peer support specialist, an advanced-level facilitator of the Wellness Recovery Action Plan (WRAP) and a QPR (Question. Persuade. Refer.) suicide-prevention instructor.

• Renee Hastings and her daughter, Johanna, will share their experiences with SUD services in the Charlotte area. Hastings is a professor in Wingate’s biology department. Her awareness of her family’s lineage of addiction as well as struggles with depression and anxiety led her to seek treatment for her daughter.

• The Rev. Harry Workman, pastor of First Baptist Church of Wadesboro, has a passion for serving the underprivileged and disenfranchised, including those struggling with SUDs. As a faith leader in the community, he will share his perspectives on caring for the whole person when addressing SUDs.

To learn more about the CCG, visit the University website.