Tales of Hope, Love, and Resilience: Grief to Action Event

From left to right: panelists Tom Farley, Gina Malagold, and Ed Ternan discuss how grief and love informs their advocacy in the recovery field.

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This Thursday, we were honored to bring our community together for Grief to Action: Families Shaping the Nation’s Response to Addiction. In partnership with Song for Charlie and the O’Neill Institute, we hosted a conversation with family members who have been affected by overdose and substance use disorder discussing their approach to confronting the addiction and mental health crisis in the United States. We were honored to have nearly 100 community members join us in Copley Formal Lounge to share stories, learn from each other, and add the names of loved ones lost to overdose to our butterfly memorial wall.

Panel members included Ed Ternan, who co-founded Song for Charlie with his wife, Mary, after their son Charlie tragically lost his life due to a counterfeit prescription pill; Gina Malagold, MS ADPP alum and Director of Multicultural Affairs at Song for Charlie, who lost her brother Dylan to a counterfeit prescription pill in July 2020; and Tom Farley, Community Outreach Director at Recovery.com, who has devoted his life to prevention and recovery after the tragic loss of his brother Chris Farley.

The panelists discussed a number of important subjects, from the power of community in the wake of grief, the importance of listening to impacted communities when developing treatment and intervention strategies, and the ripple effects of overdose across individuals, families, and communities. Afterwards, attendees gathered for a reception with musical accompaniment by Lucas Hunter.

We are deeply grateful and indebted to our community, Song for Charlie, and O’Neill Institute for helping making this event such a big success. As our Director always says, the opposite of addiction is connection, and we are honored that our community so beautifully embodies this commitment to healing together. Scroll down to see images of the event.

Attendees wrote the names of loved ones lost to overdose on paper butterflies, which were displayed on a memorial wall throughout the event.

Attendees wrote the names of loved ones lost to overdose on paper butterflies, which were displayed on a memorial wall throughout the event.

Dean Alex Sens, of the Georgetown Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, delivered opening remarks.

Dean Alex Sens, of the Georgetown Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, delivered opening remarks.