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The group of people dying of overdoses at the highest rate, by far, are men in their 30s–50s. This group is also statistically less likely than others to ask for help. This is one of the biggest reasons why it can be difficult to implement effective prevention strategies targeting working-age men.

My guest this month is Dr. Monty Burks, deputy director of the Tennessee Governor’s Faith-Based and Community Initiative, which seeks to empower community resources to tackle the biggest challenges of our time, including overdose, addiction and recidivism. Monty is also a certified peer recovery specialist with years of experience engaging people with substance use disorder and meeting them where they are. I could think of no better person with which I wanted to discuss one of the main consequences of these deaths: the impact on their families.

After all, many of these men were fathers, as are many of those men still in the throes of active addiction. What can we do to reach this surprisingly vulnerable population and help them become the best versions of themselves?

In this conversation, we talk about ways we, the people of Tennessee, can step up to help, from foster care to peer recovery to even just listening to someone who needs to be heard.

Learn more:

• Governor’s Faith-Based and Community Initiative