FAN Delta County

ower Michigan. As a person in the recovery community and a worker in the substance use disorder treatment field, the recovery coach had seen the devastating impact of substance misuse on individuals, families, and the larger community of Delta County. The hope for change and tangible action that Families Against Narcotics co-founder Judge Linda Davis spoke of seemed to be exactly the energy that Delta County needed to begin to destigmatize addiction and provide support for affected family and community members. People involved included officers Liza Plourde and John Gudwer, longtime civil servants who stood witness to multiple generations of families being incarcerated due to substance use; Robin Nast and Nancy Kutzcera, firsthand observers of the devastating effects of substance use by individuals on their entire family systems; and District Court Judge Steven Parks, a former prosecutor and spearhead of the formation of the Delta County Drug and Sobriety Court, who had spent years watching substance use fuel the revolving door of the justice system. The chapter was set to launch in 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic effectively ended large in-person gatherings. Despite that setback, the citizens involved with getting the chapter up and running got back to work with renewed fervor when gathering restrictions eased. As a Families Against Narcotics chapter, it is our hope to decrease the stigma around substance use disorders, provide support and resources for both individuals and affected families so that they all can heal to the best of their abilities, and provide the larger community with an outlet for education and conversations around solutions to the drug epidemic in our area.