Today, I am talking with Julie Leiber and Emily McPherson, Mental Health Policy Fellows at Healthy Minds Policy Initiative.  

Emily is researching methamphetamine overdose and harm reduction, and Julie has been focusing on programs of assertive community treatment. Together, they were also Zarrow Mental Health Symposium presenters at last year’s event, New Horizons in Brain Science, during which they used Tulsa, Oklahoma as a case study. Their presentation explored treatment models and community partnerships that addressed rising rates of methamphetamine use. It also spoke to how harm reduction and contingency management show how pathways in the brain are being used and strengthened to reduce overdose deaths.