Marshall student to represent national youth advisory board focused on curbing drug use – WV MetroNews

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — A Marshall University student and Huntington native has been selected to serve on the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention’s Opioid Affected Youth Advisory Board.

Brooklyn Johnson, a sophomore studying biological sciences, is one of seven young people, ages 18 to 24, from across the nation recently appointed to the board. Johnson told MetroNews the goal is to address the challenges faced by youth affected by opioids and substance use disorders.

“I’m so excited to able to represent Appalachia and I’m so excited to get to meet so many new people and hear from their perspective all across the U.S.,” she said.

Johnson works with the Prevention Empowerment Partnership, which is part of the Center of Excellence for Recovery that’s housed in the Marshall University Research Corporation. She said this work means a lot to her, especially being from a city that’s often referred to as “ground zero” of the drug epidemic.

“I’m really hoping within our advisory board meetings that I can share the West Virginia perspective. I’ve been able to do that already, but I also have been focusing on uplifting West Virginia,” she said.

Johnson’s role will be to help others see the challenges Huntington has faced, but also the success stories of so many addicts who’ve sought treatment.

“We’re doing things that really other states aren’t been doing and so being able to show that West Virginia is making a change, and yes we have issues and yes we need to address those, but also we have amazing people and an amazing community that is working toward making progress and our data is showing that,” she said.

Through advocacy, education, and awareness, Johnson said the board hopes to advance evidence-based prevention and recovery efforts to reduce the stigma around drug abuse. She said people need to stop using stigmatizing language that would deter an addict from seeking recovery and other treatment options.

“We’ve all heard the negative language like ‘crackhead’ or ‘junky’ so what we need to work on is humanizing those individuals so that they feel comfortable getting help,” Johnson said.

The board meets once a month. Johnson said members will be sharing their state’s perspective on drug prevention efforts.

“The differences in how we communicate or what we think are the biggest issues or how we interact with other people or our view on prevention and how their community has shaped that and their life experiences,” she said.

The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention is a component of the Office of Justice Programs within the U.S. Department of Justice.

For more information on the Prevention Empowerment Partnership, CLICK HERE.