Healing Cortland was fortunate to speak with Dean O’Gorman, the director of Healing Hearts Collaborative and the 607 Grief Group. He shared with us the ins and outs of the organization. 

Can you describe Healing Hearts Collaborative and The 607 Healing Hearts Grief Group?

“Healing Hearts Collaborative is an organization that has the goal of getting Narcan out to as many people as possible, and getting as many people trained in administering Narcan as possible. Kevin Donovan, an amazing person, did this in Syracuse as his full-time job until we lost him to opioids. I work full-time days, so I am available to do trainings in the evenings and on weekends.”

-While different agencies and treatment centers offer Narcan trainings and ability to get a kit in the daytime hours, Monday-Friday, Healing Hearts Collaborative fills those gaps, providing training opportunities in the evenings especially. 

What exactly is the Grief Group?

“The Grief Group is a group of just parents who have lost their children to drug overdose. We talk a lot about learning about how to control our anger and frustration as they are a natural part of grief, so they do not consume us and overtake us as we are trying to learn how to live a new normal life.”

How many people are in the group?

“The number of members overall is well over 80 people. One of our furthest members is in California, and we have a few members who are out of state that have connected with us through some of the local members. In group meetings, we have had 20-30 people there at one time, and just 3 or 4 at other times.

We are very particular about who we let in, members have to answer a lot of tough questions. People in the field have tried to enter our group, but we try to weed that out so parents can speak freely to other parents about how they feel.”

-Dean mentioned that this group is not just limited to parents who have lost a child to drug overdose either. “Loss of a child is loss of a child,” says Dean. They welcome all parents who have lost a child, they just need those parents to know if they do have strong opinions of drugs and drug overdose, that they also understand that most parents in the group have lost their child to drug overdose and they need to be respectful of that.

-The group never tries to force themselves onto another parent. They will never reach out and hound a parent to try to get into the group, but encourage them to come when they are open and ready to do that.

When did Healing Hearts start?

“This started with me posting after losing my son. A parent who had previously lost their child to overdose reached out asking if there were any grief groups I had found- and there was no grief group actively happening in Cortland County.”

Why is the group for parents alone?
“It is important that we have just parents, because the sort of grief may be different from sibling grief or any other kind of grief. If we let families come, the parent may feel they need to be strong for their other children, or feel like they have to be filtered. It’s for step-parents, parents, a grandparent who raised the person, or anyone who was in the parent role for this person who lost their life. Ashley Dailey at Prevention Network helped me start the parent group and was huge in getting it jump started.”

How can people reach you for Narcan, and reach you for information on the grief group?

Cell phone- leave a voicemail is best. Facebook messenger also works- those are the two best ways. You can find me on Facebook, or reach out at (607)-283-6378

IMPORTANT: “If someone needs Narcan and it is a life-threatening emergency, they need to call 911 immediately, not me. If someone is looking for Narcan as if maybe their family member just overdosed, or they want it because a family member is in active use, or any situation where someone would want Narcan other than a life threatening/overdose situation, they can call Healing Hearts. It can be an on the fly Narcan training with a day’s notice, or a scheduled training a week out,” says Dean.

Dean wanted to reiterate: “Narcan is completely free. Training is completely free.” 

Is there anything you’d like to add? 

“I think it’s important for people to understand that to keep programs like this going, that when Narcan is used, it is very important that they report it to the agency they got it from. We aren’t looking for personal information, maybe a zip code, did it save their life, gender. Anytime it is used we want to keep track of that information because it helps us to continue to get funding and show the state that this is working, it’s being used, it’s saving lives.”

Why do you do this work?

“I do this because I lost my son- I don’t want another parent to feel the loss that I have. I wasn’t able to fight this problem with my son, I wasn’t able to fight with him and help because I didn’t know he was using. The Narcan was a foot away from him and not used because of misconceptions. It is important to me to do this because I want another parent to be able to fight with their child and help them through it.”

-There is no reason that every household shouldn’t have a Narcan kit. There is no reason people shouldn’t know what Narcan is and how to use it. The reason people don’t is because there is a mindset of ‘it couldn’t be my family, it couldn’t be my son,’ and that is detrimental. 

Dean concluded: “Narcan is revolutionary- it is like an epipen for an allergic reaction, or a fire extinguisher for a fire. It is better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it.” For more information on Narcan, visit our Narcan page: healingcortland.org/narcan/