Community Spotlight: The SMILE Team – Prevention, Connection & Hope in Spokane County

Guest Speaker: Amanda Duggar, Overdose Substance Misuse Prevention Program Coordinator, Spokane Regional Health District

The Bridge Coalition recently welcomed Amanda Duggar, Overdose Substance Misuse Prevention Program Coordinator with the Spokane Regional Health District, to share the work of the SMILE Team: Substance, Mental Health, Information, Learning & Education.

The SMILE Team brings together prevention, education, mental health, substance use, and community collaboration with a common goal: reducing harm while building a community rooted in connection, compassion, and hope.

Amanda’s presentation also brought an important lived-experience perspective to the conversation, reinforcing a message that sits at the center of the SMILE Team’s work: behind the data and statistics are real people, families, and communities.

From Lived Experience to Prevention

Amanda began by sharing her own journey into prevention work.

After experiencing substance misuse and a stroke in 2005, Amanda entered recovery alongside her husband. On August 15th, they celebrated 21 years of sobriety.

Her commitment to prevention has also been shaped by profound personal loss. Amanda shared that she has lost several family members to overdose, fentanyl, and suicide. Those experiences have strengthened her commitment to prevention, education, reducing stigma, and supporting individuals and families impacted by substance use and recovery.

During Amanda’s own recovery, a nurse shared a simple message with her that has continued to guide her work:

“Today is a new day for a new beginning.”

That message of hope and the belief that people can recover are woven throughout the SMILE Team’s approach.

The SMILE Team: Substance, Mental Health, Information, Learning & Education

The SMILE Team was originally established as the Illicit Substance Collaboration Team.

As the group’s work evolved, members recognized that substance use could not be addressed in isolation from mental health. The team expanded its focus and eventually became the SMILE Team: Substance, Mental Health, Information, Learning & Education.

Today, the team’s work centers around hope, reducing stigma, connecting people to resources, increasing community education, and strengthening collaboration throughout Spokane County.

Rather than approaching overdose and substance misuse solely as individual problems, the SMILE Team works to build community knowledge and practical tools that can help prevent harm and create pathways to support.

Understanding Community Needs

One of the team’s recent projects has been a Spokane County community survey designed to better understand gaps in awareness, education, and prevention related to fentanyl.

Listening to the community provides an opportunity to identify where misinformation or knowledge gaps exist and develop prevention strategies and educational materials that respond to those needs.

This work is part of the SMILE Team’s broader emphasis on making prevention information practical, accessible, and relevant to the people who need it.

Normalizing Naloxone as an Everyday Safety Tool

Naloxone education and access are major components of the SMILE Team’s work.

The team has been developing a campaign intended to help normalize naloxone as an everyday safety tool and reduce the stigma that can sometimes surround carrying it.

The SMILE Team has developed and shared resources including:

• One-page educational materials
• Short educational videos
• Naloxone and overdose-prevention information
• Community naloxone trainings
• Information about how to respond to a suspected overdose

Amanda shared that she has personally trained more than 500 people throughout Spokane County on naloxone.

The team is also looking toward additional opportunities to expand access, including increasing the availability of Narcan kiosks throughout the community.

Washington’s Good Samaritan Law

Community education also includes increasing awareness of Washington’s Good Samaritan Law.

The SMILE Team provides education about protections available when someone seeks emergency assistance during an overdose.

Increasing awareness is an important part of overdose prevention because people need to know not only how to recognize and respond to an overdose, but also what resources and protections exist when they call for help.

Reducing Stigma Through Compassion

Stigma reduction is another central component of the SMILE Team’s work.

Amanda discussed the importance of changing the way communities talk about people experiencing substance misuse and developing messaging grounded in compassion rather than judgment.

Reducing stigma can make it easier for individuals and families to ask questions, seek resources, access treatment, and talk openly about substance use and mental health.

For the SMILE Team, education is therefore not simply about providing facts. It is also about changing community conversations and creating environments where people feel supported in seeking help.

Education About Emerging Substances

The substance use landscape continues to change, requiring prevention efforts to evolve alongside it.

The SMILE Team provides education about emerging substances, including kratom and 7-OH, helping community members better understand changing trends and potential risks.

This work allows prevention messaging to remain responsive as new substances and products emerge in communities.

Safe Medication and Substance Storage

The SMILE Team is also promoting safe medication and substance storage.

This includes education relevant to:

• Families
• Youth
• Older adults
• Households where medications or other substances may be accessible

Safe storage provides another practical prevention strategy that communities can implement at home.

Creating Spaces for Healing and Connection

Amanda also shared how the SMILE Team’s work has expanded beyond traditional prevention education to create opportunities for healing, remembrance, connection, and recovery.

In 2024, the team hosted an International Overdose Awareness Day lantern event, providing a space where community members could come together and honor loved ones who had died.

The experience helped demonstrate the need for community spaces where grief, prevention, recovery, and hope could exist together.

That work eventually grew into Healing Hands Creative Hearts.

Healing Hands Creative Hearts

Healing Hands Creative Hearts brings together:

• Art and creative expression
• Community resources
• Guest speakers
• People impacted by substance use
• People in recovery
• Families and community members

Amanda shared the story of one person who attended the event, connected with treatment through that experience, and has remained in recovery.

It is a powerful example of why low-barrier opportunities for connection matter. A community event may seem very different from a traditional treatment setting, but creating a welcoming place where someone can connect with people and resources can become an important first step toward recovery.

The next Healing Hands Creative Hearts event is planned for August 8th at Spokane’s Central Library.

Looking Ahead: The SMILE Team’s Priorities

The SMILE Team continues to identify opportunities to expand prevention, education, and collaboration throughout Spokane County.

Upcoming priorities include:

• Expanding Narcan kiosks
• Increasing collaboration around mental health
• Developing additional community education
• Creating and expanding community resource guides
• Continuing naloxone education and training
• Strengthening connections between prevention, mental health, substance use services, and community partners

The evolution from the Illicit Substance Collaboration Team to the SMILE Team reflects an important recognition: substance use, mental health, prevention, recovery, connection, and community well-being are deeply interconnected.

Behind Every Statistic Is a Person

Amanda closed her presentation with a reminder that captures both her personal journey and the philosophy behind the SMILE Team’s work:

“Behind every statistic there is someone who is deeply loved.”

It is an important message for anyone working in behavioral health, homelessness, prevention, treatment, or recovery.

Overdose numbers and substance use trends provide essential information about what is happening in our communities. But those numbers represent people—sons and daughters, parents, partners, friends, neighbors, and community members.

Through education, naloxone access, stigma reduction, emerging-substance awareness, safe-storage initiatives, community events, and collaboration, the SMILE Team is working to ensure that prevention remains grounded in that human connection.

The Bridge Coalition is grateful to Amanda and the Spokane Regional Health District SMILE Team for sharing their work, lived experience, and commitment to creating a community where people have access to information, resources, connection, and hope.