Zero Overdose: Why Overdose Safety Planning Needs to Become the Standard of Care with Dr. Virna Little

When I think about the parallels between suicide prevention and overdose prevention, nobody articulates them better than my guest in this episode. I first met Dr. Virna Little at the IASP Asia Pacific conference in Tokyo -- we were both there as Zero Suicide faculty -- and her work immediately struck me as something every mental health and substance use professional needs to hear about.Virna is the co-founder and CEO of Zero Overdose, a national nonprofit bringing the same rigorous, system-wide thinking we apply to suicide prevention directly into overdose prevention. She is also co-founder of Concert Health, a behavioral health medical group delivering Collaborative Care across 21 states. Her credentials span a doctorate in psychology and a master's in social work, and she has presented on suicide prevention at the White House.In this conversation, we talk about what it actually means to build an overdose safety plan -- not just hand someone a Narcan kit and send them home, but sit with them, understand their specific risks, identify their trusted people, and create a living document they can return to. We discuss the populations at highest risk (including people leaving incarceration, new mothers, and workers in trades like construction), the critical importance of EHR integration, and what it looks like when first responders in Massachusetts started using overdose safety planning in the field.If you work in healthcare, behavioral health, public health, or policy -- this episode will change how you think about overdose prevention. For more information about this episode go to https://www.sallyspencerthomas.com/hope-illuminated-podcast/170