USF conference highlights ‘remarkable unity’ in fight against addictions in Sarasota-Manatee

By Marc R. Masferrer, University Communications and Marketing

How best to deliver compassionate care to Sarasota-Manatee residents suffering from substance addictions — and how the University of South Florida can help the local behavioral health care system meet the need for treatment and other services — was the theme of the 2025 Duvall Conference.

More than 200 service providers, USF faculty members and students and other community residents filled the Student Center Ballroom for the day-long conference on April 2. Attendees — many of them veterans of the fight against the decade-long opioid epidemic in Sarasota-Manatee, an area once called the “epicenter” of the crisis — listened as academic experts, local government officials and most notably, individuals in recovery, shared what they have learned and what they believe the community needs next to tackle a complex public health challenge.

The goal of the Duvall Initiative, said conference organizer Dane Minnick, an assistant professor of social work in the USF College of Behavioral and Community Sciences and the Evelyn Duvall Endowed Chair of Family Development and Community Health at USF Sarasota-Manatee, is to leverage USF resources to build a holistic community-wide partnership focused on addressing substance misuse and addictions by, for example, integrating faculty members and their research into the existing network of service providers.

“The potential for collaboration among local service providers, USF and the broader community is substantial. I believe we have a unique opportunity to significantly improve community health outcomes through sustained and strategic partnerships,” Minnick said.

The potential for collaboration among local service providers, USF and the broader community is substantial. I believe we have a unique opportunity to significantly improve community health outcomes through sustained and strategic partnerships.

Dane Minnick
Evelyn Duvall Endowed Chair of Family Development and Community Health, USF Sarasota-Manatee

Minnick and conference co-organizer Laura Curran of the Department of Mental Health Law and Policy and the first Duvall Scholar, both of whom who joined USF Sarasota-Manatee in 2024, have already applied for more than $5 million in federal grants to support the development of new prevention and recovery services across Manatee, Sarasota and DeSoto counties.

Minnick said he was struck by “the remarkable unity that the conference showcased.”

Speakers included Manatee County Commissioner Amanda Ballard and Sarasota County Commissioner Tom Knight, a former sheriff; Shavon Clark, a nurse practitioner with Lightshare Behavioral Wellness and Recovery and an adjunct faculty member in the USF College of Nursing; Manatee County Sheriff’s Office Maj. Todd Shear; and PJ Brooks, chief operating officer of CASL, which provides affordable housing to people in need.

“It is genuinely rare, in my experience, to see such broad representation — county commissioners, local foundations, law enforcement, service providers, peer support specialists, and other community members — all coming together in such a collaborative way," Minnick said. "The collective commitment to addressing addiction issues in our region was not only evident but inspiring.”

Jean Marie Place and Jonel Thaller, two of Minnick’s former colleagues at Ball State University, outlined for the audience their experience, including the challenges and other pitfalls, with building a partnership between the university and the community to address addictions in Delaware County, Ind.

Interim Regional Chancellor Brett Kemker said USF Sarasota-Manatee fully supports building sustainable partnerships throughout the Sarasota-Manatee area and beyond through the Duvall Initiative, leading the way to identifying and implementing best practices and solutions in substance misuse.

“The Sarasota-Manatee area is not immune to these pervasive challenges,” Kemker said. “However, there is renewed hope with new leadership and a new community-based approach helping local governments and organizations throughout not only our region, but the country and beyond, tackle the public health challenges related to substance misuse. Our goal is to become the foremost authority and model for addressing these complex challenges.”

The emotional high point of the conference were presentations about their experiences from two women in recovery, Brenda Brooker and Sonya Johnson, who now help other people seeking treatment and a second chance as peer support specialists with the National Alliance of Mental Illness of Sarasota and Manatee Counties (NAMI).

Brooker said the stigma that many people who have experienced addiction feel can only be overcome with empathy and compassion from a network of providers with a common goal. One way to show that, she said, would be to train more people with lived experience to work as peer counselors.

“Two of the strongest words an addict can say to another addict are, ‘Me too,’” said Brooker, who was honored with a Duvall Community Impact Award for her work.

Johnson, who delivered a keynote presentation, said she would not have been able to escape the depths of her addiction, which included four felony convictions and temporarily losing custody of her two sons, without that kind of support, including when she was an inmate in the Sarasota County jail.

“Will you join me in being the village?” Johnson asked the audience.

The stories told by Brooker, Johnson and others made an impact on conference attendees.

“From the data, community descriptions, and the personal stories that were shared, it’s evident that expanding peer recovery services — those designed, informed, and operated by people with lived experience — is both urgently needed and widely supported,” Minnick said.  “There is strong momentum to implement and grow the peer model in Sarasota, Manatee, and DeSoto counties.”

Brooker and Johnson also led a presentation on Naloxone, also known as Narcan, and how it can be used by anyone to rapidly reverse the effects of a life-threatening overdose, before boxes of the drug were distributed to attendees. Also handing out Naloxone, was the Suncoast Institute on Chemical Dependency, one of several local groups manning information tables in the Student Center’s atrium during the conference.

On the second floor, there was an exhibit of art illustrating the makers’ recovery and a display of USF students’ research posters on addictions and related topics.

The Evelyn Duvall Endowed Chair of Family Development and Community Health was established in 1986 through a generous gift from Evelyn Duvall, a pioneer in family development and family functioning research. A primary focus of the chair is the Sarasota-Manatee Duvall Initiative, which focuses on local efforts to enhance family and community health in the region.

Minnick outlined several future steps for the Duvall Initiative:

• A quarterly newsletter to announce funding opportunities and promote service development in partnership with local agencies.
• Community-engaged projects, like the creation of high-fidelity wraparound services.
• Expansion of the National Duvall Scholarship agenda by adding Sandra Stone, professor of criminology and assistant dean for graduate studies, and Master of Public Health student Nathan Scott as Duvall Scholars.
• The Duvall Journal of Family Development and Community Health. Preparations are underway for a formal launch, including a targeted call for proposals in June 2025.
• Submission of an initial manuscript detailing Duvall Initiative activities by May 2025.

Learn more about the Duvall Initiative and sign up for updates.