Honor a Loved One with Us

For the 3rd Bi-Annual GRASP Retreat, we are offering you an opportunity to purchase a Memorial Ad in honor of your loved one. 

Because of the devastation wrought by this epidemic, GRASP is growing beyond what we can sustain. Your donation will help us to offset the cost of the Retreat, and allow us to continue our mission in providing sources of help, compassion, and understanding. Your Memorial Ad will also give the Retreat participants a way to honor our GRASP Family and your loved one.

There are two options for the Memorial Ads:

• Picture Memorial ($50): This ad is business card sized and will contain a 1.5 x 1.5 inch photo, your loved one's name and dates, and allow for a short personal message.
•  Name & Date Memorial ($25): This ad is 1 x 2 inches and will contain your loved one's full name with the birth and death dates.

 Sign-up For the Program Memorial Ads Here

 Memorial Pages of the program will be available after the Retreat.

You're Invited!

When: October 13th to 16th, 2016
Where: Hyatt Regency Atlanta Perimeter at Villa Christina - 4000 Summit Blvd., Atlanta, GA 30319

 Retreat Sign-up is now over

 Hyatt Room Registration Here

"There is a universal in this world. It is the love of a parent for their child. This love has no limit. And as the child grows, becomes an adult, the love of a parent also grows. The loss of that child, the death of that child, the depth of a parent's pain cannot be described."

-- Denise Cullen, LCSW, Executive Director Broken No More/GRASP, February 10th, 2016 speech presented at the Informal Interactive Stakeholder Consultation at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City.

The GRASP 2016 Conference and Retreat will be held in Atlanta, GA. on October 13th through the 16th at the Hyatt Regency Atlanta Perimeter at Villa Christina. The participants of this conference are families and friends who have lost a loved one due to overdose and other substance-related causes. We are a unique group whose grief is complicated by the stigma surrounding this kind of death. We come to GRASP to find comfort and support from others who have experienced this loss.

The GRASP Conference and Retreat provides a unique opportunity for those who participate to come together as a community and to find acceptance and solace for their grief. We struggled alongside our loved one as they fought this illness but this battle is one that we and our loved one ultimately lost. Many times this loss was unaccepted by others as being worthy of compassion. They did not understand. But those of us who have experienced this kind of disenfranchised loss, we do understand. We share an experience, and through this experience, a bond. This bond, it is an unwanted one. But, as such, it is all the stronger.

Registration for the GRASP Conference and Retreat can be accessed here. The Early Bird registration fee is $245 until June, 30th with a General Registration fee of $300 from August 1st to September 13th at which time registration will be closed. Refunds will be 100% prior to August 13th, 75% between August 14th and September 20th after which refunds will no longer be available. The registration fee will include participation at all Conference events: The opening reception Thursday night, breakfast and lunch Friday and Saturday, and the Farewell Dinner Saturday night. There will be a special "Thank You" Dinner for Chapter Leaders Friday night. Travel and lodging are the responsibility of the participants.

Reception and Introductions

Denise Cullen, LCSW, is the Executive Director of Broken No More/Grasp. She received her MSW from the University of Southern California's
School of Social Work in 1993. For many years (1992-2003) Denise worked in the field of HIV/AIDS. The majority of her patients were terminally ill. She, thus, has professional and personal experience in death, dying, and grief. Since 2009, with the founding of Broken No More, Denise has devoted her life to advocacy in the field of drug policy reform and to providing support for those suffering the loss of a loved one through her leadership of GRASP.

Gary Cullen is V.P. of Development and CFO of Broken No More/GRASP. He uses his 30 years as a successful business owner to operate the sales, marketing, and financial issues of Broken No More/GRASP. He prefers to remain behind the scenes in this work, to let others be the public face of this organization, but for this his dedication is no less great. It is because of his business acumen and his efforts that Broken No More/GRASP has become the successful organization that it is. And why it has succeeded in helping so many.
On August 5th, 2008, Denise and Gary Cullen lost their only child, their son, to an overdose. His name is Jeff. He is forever 27.

Grieving Loss after a Substance Passing, Understanding Disenfranchised Grief, Reducing Pain, and Developing of Strategies for Healing and Support.

Julie Siri, LCSW, is a licensed clinical social worker with over 25 years' experience in death, dying and bereavement. She has a Master's degree in psychology from California State University, San Bernardino and a Master's degree in Social Work from the University of Southern California.

Julie's career began at the height of the AIDS epidemic where she witnessed and experienced the impact stigma has on the grief process. Over the years she has utilized these experiences to provide support and insight to families and loved ones on their journey through grief. She is recognized as an expert in the field of disenfranchised grief.

Dealing with the Media in Times of Grief

Tommy McDonald is Deputy Director of Media Relations at the Drug Policy Alliance. He earned his B.A. at Tennessee State University and began his career in journalism 1991. In late 2001 he joined Children Now, a nationally recognized child advocacy organization based in Oakland. Tommy has managed national media campaigns on social justice issues, such as juvenile justice, consumer litigation, affordable housing, drug policy, human rights and gun control.

Addiction: Personal Histories, Harm Reduction, and the Brain

Julia Negron is a Certified Addiction Specialist (C. A. S.). She lost both her mother and her sister to drug overdose and her youngest son has struggled with heroin dependence for most of his adult life. She has been in personal recovery since 1985. Julia is a Board Member of A New PATH (Parents for Addiction Treatment and Healing) and Floridians For Recovery, founder of The Suncoast Harm Reduction Project, a co-founder of Moms United to End the War on Drugs, and an Advisory Board Member of Broken No More.

Sam Snodgrass, PhD is a Board Member of Broken No More. He has a Doctorate in Biopsychology from the University of Georgia (1987) and was the recipient of a National Institute on Drug Abuse Post-Doctoral Fellowship in the Pharmacology and Toxicology Department at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. After completion of his post-doc, he was asked to remain as a faculty member of this department and served as a Research Assistant Professor. He currently works in a Buprenorphine Clinic in Little Rock, AR. Sam has a decades long history of opioid addiction. He has been well since 2011.

Grief to Advocacy: An Interactive Panel Presentation

Moderator: Asha Bandele

Asha is the Senior Director of Grants, Partnerships and Special Projects at the Drug Policy Alliance. She is also an award-winning author and journalist, the stepmother of a son lost to drug war violence and the mother of 16 year old Nisa whose stunning Huffington Post article on young people and drug education was shared by thousands.

Panel Participants: Denise Cullen, LCSW; Julia Negron, C. A. S.; Kim Brown, RN; Tami Olt, MD.; Lisa Wilkins, and Laura Cash.

Journaling Your Grief: Healing Through the Use of Words.

Asha Bandele

Map

“There is a universal in this world. It is the love of a parent for their child. This love has no limit. And as the child grows, becomes an adult, the love of a parent also grows. The loss of that child, the death of that child, the depth of a parent’s pain cannot be described.”

Denise Cullen, LCSW, Executive Director Broken No More/GRASP, February 10th, 2016 speech presented at the Informal Interactive Stakeholder Consultation at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City.