Duvall Initiative’s Inaugural Duvall Training Institute: Medication-Assisted Treatment

• Andrea Knies
• November 7, 2025
• Campus News

Local practitioners, educators, and community members gathered in Selby Auditorium on November 5, 2025 for the Sarasota-Manatee Duvall Initiative's (SMDI) inaugural Duvall Training Institute. The Duvall Initiative is a community-academic partnership that strives to enhance family and community health. Led by the Duvall Chair Dane Minnick, SMDI provides collaborative community resources such as the annual Duvall Conference and the new Duvall Journal which will be released in early 2026.

In his opening remarks, Brett Kemker, interim regional chancellor, stated, "the Duvall Training Institute was created to strengthen our local behavioral systems by addressing real community needs identified by local partners and stakeholders."

As a true community collaborator, Minnick listened to stakeholder input to select the topic of Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT), a comprehensive program of medications and mental health services used to treat drug and alcohol addictions, as the focus for the first Duvall Training Institute. The event also aligns directly with the Sarasota County Health Improvement Plan and the priorities of the Sarasota and Manatee County Health Departments. The training's focus will rotate annually to address emerging needs and timely issues in behavioral health.

In collaboration with the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), Centerstone, and the Suncoast Institute on Chemical Dependency, this half-day program featured an overdose response training, a presentation by Laura Curran, and a panel discussion on the challenges, opportunities, community needs, and lived-experiences with MAT.

Life-saving Naloxone

Brenda Brooker, a Manatee lead peer specialist at NAMI, began the program with a training on Naloxone. Naloxone is an opioid antagonist medication that blocks the opioid receptors and can save the life of a person experiencing an opioid overdose. Often known by the brand name of Narcan, Brenda emphasized that this life-saving drug is easy to use, will not cause harm if the unconscious person is not experiencing an opioid overdose, and is innocuous therefore it cannot be abused.

Naloxone is available for free in many places throughout Sarasota and Manatee counties and can be found in the Atala Hall lobby on the USF Sarasota-Manatee campus.

Presentation highlights

Laura Curran, a USF assistant professor in the Department of Behavioral Health Science & Practice, presented "Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT): An Evidence-Based and Essential Approach to Opioid Use Disorder." Curran provided an overview of how medications administered during MAT alleviate the withdrawal symptoms and shared the high success rate of MAT programs for facilitating a return to normalcy for individuals struggling with Opioid Use Disorder (OUD).

Even with the significant supportive evidence, Curran identified many barriers preventing those who need the treatment from obtaining it, including; laws, policies, and cultural and social barriers.

Panel insights

Curran's presentation was followed by a panel moderated by Sandra Stone, a USF professor in the Department of Criminology and assistant dean of graduate studies on the Sarasota-Manatee campus. The panel also included: Dr. R. Shavon Clark from Lightshare, Barbara Schnurr and Elizabeth Devine from NAMI, Jon Essenburg from Operation Par, Krista Snyder from New Seasons, and Bibiana Rodriguez from Centerstone. The panel's combination of research, practice, and lived experiences created an insightful conversation that continued to return to a similar message of the need to remove the stigmas associated with MAT.

Both of the panelists who used MAT in their recovery journey expressed that they experienced discrimination in their recovery community due to the stigma associated with using medication to overcome an opioid addiction. Essenburg expanded that discussion by clarifying the distinction between dependency and addiction. This open and honest dialogue brought to light social barriers and provided a way to educate around the topic.

The panelists suggested ways to reduce stigma, including:

• listening to people's experiences,
• educating yourself,
• sharing your knowledge in areas where the conversation is not happening,
• advocating for facilitative policies,
• and making Naloxone and MAT resources easily accessible.

In his closing remarks, Minnick emphasized that education leads to empathy-a message reflected throughout the Duvall Training Institute as attendees engaged in meaningful conversations and left with new tools to help build a healthier community.

Photography by Khalil Garcia, University Communications and Marketing.