Panel Discussion

Hosted by Dunedin Fine Arts Center
JAnuary 10th to February 9th 2025
Date to be determined

Reshaping the Narrative of Addiction

Kathleen Moore, Research Professor in the Department of Mental Health, Law, and Policy of the Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute (FMHI) at the University of South Florida, will lead a panel discussion to explore efforts to reshape the way society views individuals struggling with substance use. Often seen through a lens of moral failure or weakness, addiction is, in reality, a complex medical condition that affects people from all walks of life. Shifting the narrative requires compassion, education, and support, emphasizing that recovery is possible with the right resources. By acknowledging addiction as a health issue, rather than a personal flaw, we can foster an environment where individuals feel safe seeking help without fear of judgment, promoting a more inclusive and effective approach to treatment.

Kathleen A. Moore, Ph.D. is a Research Professor in the Department of Mental Health, Law, and Policy of the Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute (FMHI) at the University of South Florida. She received her B.A. in sociology from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and both her M.A. and Ph.D. in social/health psychology from Kent State University.

She did her post-doctoral fellowship at Duke University Medical Center in which she worked on a NIMH-funded study assessing the effects of exercise vs. medication on clinically depressed older adults. For the past ten years, she has been at FMHI with a primary focus in the area of substance abuse and mental health. Currently, Dr. Moore is working on several community-based research projects with local substance abuse and mental health providers. Her emphasis has been on project evaluation, bridging the gap between research and practice, and social policy issues such as co-occurring disorders, homelessness, and jail diversion. Most recently, she is Co-PI on a National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) grant entitled Center on Co-occurring Disorders, Justice, and Multidisciplinary Research (CJM) along with Dr. Roger Peters, PI and Paul Stiles, Co-PI. The objective of the CJM Center is to enhance the effectiveness of interventions for offenders with CODs within the justice system by: (a) identifying promising intervention strategies, and (b) testing these interventions in theory-informed pilot studies. In coordination with Richard Dembo, Ph.D., she will lead CJM’S Research Team which will coordinate key research activities, including review of pilot projects. The Center will fund three new faculty members in order to conduct significant and innovative research within the area of co-occurring disorders and criminal justice.
Currently, she is Principal Investigator on three grants:

(1) Family Dependency Treatment Court,a collaboration involving Hillsborough County Family Dependency Treatment Court (FDTC), a community substance abuse treatment agency, and FMHI. She oversees the coordination of client outcome and process evaluation for an intensive outpatient treatment program utilizing two evidence-based programs (Nurturing Parents and TRIAD) for substance-abusing parents who are involved in the child welfare system;
(2) Adult Drug Court Women Empowered and Coping with Addiction to Narcotics (WeCan!), a partnership between Pinellas County Adult Drug Court, two local substance abuse agencies, and FMHI. Dr. Moore coordinates the client outcome and process evaluation for an outpatient treatment program that is providing cognitive-behavioral therapy/motivational enhancement therapy (CBT/MET) to female offenders involved in drug court whose primary drug of choice is prescription drug use; and
(3) Medication-Assisted Treatment Drug Treatment Program (MATDTP), a collaboration involving Hillsborough County Adult Drug Court, a behavioral health treatment agency (DACCO), and FMHI. Dr. Moore coordinates the client outcome and process evaluation for this outpatient and residential treatment program that is providing several evidence-based models including Global Assessment of Individualized Needs, medication-assisted treatment for opioid addiction, and the Matrix Model. She also serves as the Co-PI and Evaluator on three other SAMHSA-funded grants:

(1) Hillsborough Assertive Community Treatment, a five-year project assessing an Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) approach for homeless individuals diagnosed with severe mental illness;
(2) Hillsborough County Jail Diversion, a three-year grant assessing a forensic intensive case management (FICM) approach for adults with co-occurring mental health and substance abuse disorders diverted from jail into treatment; and
(3) Charlotte County Home 2 Recovery, a five-year initiative providing integrated services for homeless adults with severe mental illness using an ACT model.
Dr. Kathleen Moore Ph.D
Moderator
(Chris) has a record of executive, legislative and philanthropic success in the private, nonprofit, and public sectors over a four-decade career, especially in the field of child welfare and behavioral health.

His first public service came as a member on the first Howard County (Md) Foster Care Review Board. Years later McCabe was elected to the Maryland Senate, the chamber’s youngest member at the time. Over three terms in the Maryland General Assembly, Chris became a point person on foster care and adoption issues. In this role he successfully authored legislation to expedite state adoptions and provide adoptive parents easier access to much needed medical records.
From those experiences, he was appointed as secretary of the Maryland Department of Resources: the state’s human services agency where he served from 2003-2007.
Chris relocated to Pinellas County in 2023 after nearly eight years as Executive Director of Maryland based. Chrysalis House, Inc.; a 501C3 nonprofit agency which provides substance use and mental health treatment services for women 18 years of age and older, while allowing their children to live onsite during their mother's program of recovery. A major objective of the program was to facilitate reunification of children with their biological mother when feasible.
Chris lost both his mother and brother prematurely from the long-term effects of alcoholism. He understands that addiction is a family disease.
Because of his desire to give back to the community of Pinellas and his commitment to treatment and prevention, Chris approached Judge Kimberly Todd of the Pinellas Adult Drug and Veterans Treatment Cour to help in any way he might locally. From those initial conversation, Chris has co-founded with local leader Martha Lenderman, The Friends of the Pinellas Adult and Drug Treatment Court, which has a goal to support persons in early recovery and participants in the drug court with financial incentives.
Chris resides in St. Petersburg with his wife of 36 years and three of their four children reside in Pinellas County
Christopher McCabe
Panelist
Samantha Reale is the IDEA Clinical Coordinator for IDEA Exchange Tampa and a patient Navigator for University of South Florida. Being an individual that has struggled with substance use disorder she has dedicated her life to helping individuals like herself.
Samantha Reale
Panelist
Jennifer Webb is the former Representative for Florida’s 69th District. During her tenure, Jennifer passed benchmark behavioral health legislation and was awarded the NAMI Legislator of the Year in 2020 for her efforts. Prior to her tenure in Tallahassee, Jennifer established Omni Public, a business strategy, public affairs, and public relations firm. Through her work at Omni Public and, prior, as Director of Partnerships of USF’s Office of Community Engagement and Partnerships, Jennifer specialized in building coalitions of business, university, and nonprofit leaders to solve entrenched problems facing the Tampa Bay region and its residents.

Jennifer graduated Summa Cum Laude from University of South Florida with a Master’s of Arts in Public Anthropology. Prior to graduate school, Jennifer worked at the intersection of workforce and economic development, where she broke down silos to help residents attain well-paying jobs and to attract new industries to Western Massachusetts. Her undergraduate degrees are in History and in Anthropology from Louisiana State University, where she graduated Summa Cum Laude. Jennifer is a native of Louisiana and resides in Gulfport, Florida with her wife, Cynthia, and their dogs, Winston and Bailey. Jennifer has long endeavored to turn her personal familial tragedy of losing her baby sister to opioid addiction into a strong program of action. She is honored to serve as director of Project Opioid Tampa Bay.

Jennifer Webb
Panelist
Emily is the Division Manager for Social Emergency Medicine at Tampa General Hospital and has supervised IDEA Exchange Tampa for 2 years. She is finishing a PhD in medical anthropology at USF and has worked on health-related research across different vulnerable communities in Tampa Bay and in Ohio.
Emily Holbrook
Panelist