Reclaiming Hope: Women’s Voices From The Opioid Epidemic

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While the economy, elections, hurricanes, reproductive freedom, and immigration policies hijack our attention hourly, the inexorable fact remains that 41 women die each day from an opioid related overdose. And the resources to help women suffering from this equal opportunity disease are sorely lacking.

Reclaiming Hope: Women’s Voices from the Opioid Epidemic explores the crushing barriers confronting women who suffer from Opioid Use Disorder when they try to change their lives. Whether the overarching issue of marginalized women’s health needs; suffocating stigma as well as legal problems that arise if mothers go into recovery; or the women and children being victimized by this country’s indifference, five women, cutting across demographics share their stories, and ask “How many more have to be lost?”

 

ATTENTION MUST BE PAID — and then ACTION taken.

REVIEWS

This film shows the world what women endure in addiction.  The triumph of these ladies in recovery is beautiful and it fills my heart with love.  The love shared for themselves and their families is what recovery is all about.  You must see this movie.
Honesty Liller

CEO, The McShin Foundation

I found it to be truly engaging from the start. The stories are pertinent, well-described and emotionally powerful. I sat silently at the end, with sorrow and pain, the title so apt.

Thanks for doing these women and all women with opioid addiction this justice, revealing the limitations and biases they face.

Marvin Seppala, MD

Former Medical Officer, Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

The whole idea of each woman’s background—some happy childhoods, some not—woke me up to the idea that it could happen to anyone. The multigenerational trauma experienced by Native Americans reflected the complex difficulties experienced by those women. The stories repeatedly left me in tears.
Jeanne Guy

Author of "You’ll Never Find Us: A Memoir” 2022 Winner, National Indie Excellence Award in Memoir

Powerful and riveting, Reclaiming Hope: Women’s Voices from the Opioid Epidemic, provides a window into the facts and reality of the challenges faced by women affected by the opioid crisis.
Kim Johnson

Founder, Managed Health Care Solutions

So moving and heart-rending to watch.  It makes you understand on a deeper level, the devastation addiction brings into a person’s life and the structures, or lack of them, in our society which contribute to this crisis.
Sister Judith Ann Duvall

Chairperson of the Board, OSF Healthcare

The Experts

Nora Volkow, M.D.
Director, National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA)

Dr. Volkow’s work has been instrumental in demonstrating that drug addiction is a brain disorder. As a research psychiatrist, Dr. Volkow pioneered the use of brain imaging to investigate how substance use affects brain functions. In particular, her studies have documented that changes in the dopamine system affect the functions of frontal brain regions involved with reward and self-control in addiction.

Marvin Seppala, M.D.
Former Chief Medical Officer, Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

He is responsible for the Comprehensive Opioid Response with the Twelve Steps (COR-12), an innovative effort launched in 2012 to integrate medication-assisted treatment with clinical therapies and Twelve Step-based and other peer support to treat opioid use disorder in a specialized addiction treatment setting—work that is influencing other providers nationally.

Ayana Jordan, M.D./ Ph.D.
Adult Psychiatry, NYU/Langone Health

Ayana Jordan, MD, PhD, a renowned expert in addiction and other mental health conditions in underserved populations. She joined NYU Langone Health’s Department of Psychiatry as the Barbara Wilson Associate Professor of Psychiatry. Her clinical and research studies focus on increasing access to evidence-based treatments for racial and ethnic minorities with substance use and other mental health disorders, utilizing community-engaged research principles.

Michael Fingerhood, M.D.
Director, Division of Addiction Medicine, Johns Hopkins University

As an associate professor of medicine and public health, his areas of clinical expertise include addiction medicine and internal medicine. Dr. Fingerhood’s research interests include substance use disorders, contingency management, hepatitis C and HIV

The Filmmakers

DEBRA GONSHER VINIK & DAVID VINIK have produced 22 broadcast documentaries and received six Emmy awards for their films over the years. With an emphasis on social justice issues such as hunger in America, healthcare, intimate partner violence and the struggle of refugees, asylum seekers and undocumented immigrants, Diva Communications has always tried to make a difference.

Donate

Click Here to donate to our IMPACT CAMPAIGN for Reclaiming Hope: Women’s Voices from the Opioid Epidemic,.
You will be directed to our fiscal sponsor, The Interfaith Broadcasting Commission, a 501 (C)(3), to donate a tax-deductible contribution to help us advocate for more resources and treatment options for women suffering from OUD.
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The Women

BARBARA FRIEDMAN
Los Angeles, California
CAROL VANCONNETT
Auburn, Washington
SUSIE RATHBUN
Henry, Illinois
JUANITA PEREZ ANDERSON
Chico, California

STEPHANIE ROSELL
Spokane, Washington

 

Complete version of "How Many More" as featured in Reclaiming Hope

Lyrics by Debra Gonsher Vinik, Music by Jim Papoulis, Sung by Melissa Goscinski

GET INSPIRED

BRING THE FILM TO YOUR COMMUNITY

Emmy Award Nominee

Watch the Trailer

To purchase a DVD or to set up a screening, please contact us.