This week, we're proud to highlight our Wake Forest University chapter out of North Carolina! Founded by president Brooke Sanders, she was inspired to make a difference with End Overdose. She is leading the charge to make training available!
EO: What sparked your interest in overdose prevention/response and End Overdose in particular?
Brooke Sanders: I have lived all over the county and met people from all walks of life. Unfortunately, almost all of them had a story to tell about how they have been personally impacted by overdose. After moving to North Carolina for graduate school, I quickly realized that our community was no exception to this issue. There was a problem waiting to be addressed, and I knew that End Overdose had the ability to do so. I am a STEM-based social media influencer, and my content is centered around substance use and harm reduction. I discovered End Overdose through their advocacy on social media and began speaking about their efforts on my platforms. I knew that I wanted to be a part of this amazing organization in some way, so when the opportunity to begin a chapter arose, I felt that this would be the best way to get involved. End Overdose has allowed us to bring resources into Wake Forest and the surrounding community that were urgently needed and has united a group passionate about ending overdose.
EO: Can you describe your experience as chapter president of WFU?
Brooke Sanders: Being the chapter president of Wake Forest is a role that requires a strong sense of confidence in your leadership abilities. Especially as a new chapter, we have experienced a lot of “firsts” in these last few months. This chapter is the first of its kind at Wake Forest, cultivating a driven team was essential. Luckily, our executive board and volunteers are not only driven, but ready for any opportunity that comes our way. This has allowed us to achieve so many milestones in just a few months, such as becoming the fourth highest grossing chapter for fundraising! Serving as the president of End Overdose at Wake Forest has been such an honorable and fulfilling experience.
EO: How has it been building the chapter from the ground up?
Brooke Sanders: I am lucky to say that every student, staff, community, and faculty member that I have spoken with has been incredibly excited and accepting our of chapter! When I first got word that chapter interviews were beginning, I immediately ran to Dr. Michael Nader and Mia Allen, who both now serve on our executive board. I admire both of them greatly, and their support and encouragement early on was detrimental in my decision to open this chapter. Ever since then, any win that we experience, whether big or small, reminds me how many people were cheering us on when this was simply just an idea. I could say that this has not been an easy journey, but the support from End Overdose staff, our amazing board, and volunteers have made it much easier.
EO: Where can you use support?
Brooke Sanders: Since our chapter is relatively new, we are still in the process of recruiting volunteers. We have been able to run all of our events smoothly with our board members and current volunteers, but as the chapter grows, we are looking forward to more people joining! If you are near the Winston-Salem area, we encourage you to see how you can get involved!
EO: How have you developed authentic connections within the community?
Brooke Sanders: We are super lucky to be based in Winston-Salem, where we have a growing community of professionals, students, artists, and advocates. I believe that the first step to connect with the community is to listen. Allowing others to come to you, and acknowledging their experience and needs creates a genuine connection. You can not lead from the outside, so listening to our community has allowed us to better direct our efforts. Specifically, we are organizing training sessions for local bar staff, who have frequently told us that they are seeing overdoses occur, but do not have the materials or education to respond. I am proud of all of our chapter members who take the time to listen, so we can provide our community with what they need.
EO: What’re the major highlights from your chapter’s work to date, whether it’s in nightlife or the general community?
Brooke Sanders: I believe that our entire chapter can agree that our favorite event so far was Breakaway Carolina. We trained over 1,200 people and had a great time doing it! Festival attendees were overjoyed to see our booth at Breakaway, and said it made the festival feel much safer. One attendee even had made an End Overdose necklace with a dose of naloxone hanging from it! This work reminds all of us that we are making a change by unifying communities for the common goal of saving lives and having fun while doing it!
EO: What do you envision for the future of your chapter?
Brooke Sanders: End Overdose at Wake Forest has some very ambitious goals, and we have the confidence to achieve them! We plan on expanding our Opioid Overdose Response & Prevention training into the M1 Medical Student curriculum for the Winston-Salem and Charlotte campuses. Our chapter is also hoping to make this training available for all first-year undergraduate students during their orientation. We want to create a welcoming, forward-thinking community, and make End Overdose a staple of Winston-Salem. I have no doubt in my mind that our chapter is able to achieve all of this, and more!
*End Overdose's chapter program is vital to our success in equipping people with lifesaving education and resources. We trust young people in cities and on college campuses to spread the word through a true peer-to-peer model. With 50 chapters nationwide, members and volunteers are committing hours upon hours to End Overdose's cause, so we want to highlight a chapter every week*.