Representatives from the Cumberland Mountain Community Services Board visited a class of psychology and human services students at Bluefield University on Thursday, February 27, to discuss the impact of opioids on the region.
Cumberland Mountain is a community services board in Cedar Bluff, Virginia that provides mental health, substance use disorder, and developmental disability services. For over two years, BU psychology professor Jessica Sykes has partnered with Cumberland Mountain to enhance her students’ understanding of mental health needs in the area and provide them with training in administering naloxone.
“I got a lot of new information on the opioid epidemic in Appalachia,” student Moriah Mingo shared. “Being from California, this isn’t a pressing issue, at least that I’m aware of, so it was very interesting to learn about how this issue started and how the people who gave us naloxone training are fighting the problem.”
Students in the Introduction to Psychology course learned about the impact of oxycontin and fentanyl before discussing steps to take when encountering someone suffering from an opioid overdose. After reviewing how to administer it, naloxone nasal spray was provided to each student, as well as a lens cloth and a squeezable stress relief toy promoting the 988 suicide and crisis lifeline.
“I feel much better and prepared for a crisis now that I have that training,” Mingo said.
For more information about Bluefield University’s undergraduate Psychology and Human Services program, visit our academic program page. Master of Arts in Counseling, Master of Arts in Human Services, and Master of Science in Nursing with a concentration in Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner degrees are also available.