Co-founder of Police Assisted Addiction and Recovery Initiative (PAARI) John Rosenthal was the keynote speaker at the forum sponsored by CHA and the Massachusetts Organization for Addiction Recovery on Saturday.

By Amy Swain

This past Saturday, Cambridge Health Alliance and the Massachusetts Organization for Addiction Recovery sponsored a forum focused on education and awareness on addiction, recovery, and access to services.

The event took place at Tufts’ Barnum Hall in Medford. The complete event, which lasted from 8:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., was free and open to the public, and drew a large audience.

The forum did not disappoint, hosting professionals, individuals in recovery, local organizations, and other interested parties. Attendees were able to choose and register for workshops and speakers that best suited their interests.

The event was expectedly packed with emotion. Deep testimonials were revealed, bringing the grief many in the state have experienced. However, many spoke of recovery, and of steps communities can take to make recovery a more common outcome.

It was noted that abandoning the stigma of addiction is of great importance at this time. Keynote speaker John Rosenthal, co-founder of Police Assisted Addiction and Recovery Initiative, or PAARI, spoke on this as well as on the importance of treating addiction as the disease that it is, and treating those affected as people who need help, not ridicule.

Cambridge Health Alliance is a complex network of academic and medical care, and includes experts on mental health as well as physical. Much of the forum focused on mental health issues and their role in the addiction epidemic. Keith Anderson, of the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health, among other professionals in the field, sat in on a panels to discuss that important factor.

MOAR and CHA will continue working to spread not only information, but support for those seeking recovery. Both can be found on Facebook, where each page regularly posts about similar upcoming events as well as related information.