Senator Kaine leads discussion in Leesburg about substance use disorder and mental health

By Audrey Carpenter

U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-Va.) met with a group of mental health practitioners, the school superintendent, Board of Supervisors Chair and corrections officials on Monday at the Loudoun County government building in Leesburg to learn more about substance use issues in the County and how to address them better.

Kaine introduced the bipartisan Disrupt Fentanyl Trafficking Act of 2023, significant portions of which became law in December 2023 as part of the National Defense Authorization Act. The law will direct increased federal attention to fentanyl trafficking by utilizing Pentagon tools, like counter-drug intelligence, and involving Mexico as an active partner to combat the crisis and disrupt cartel activity in Mexico.

Kaine has also co-sponsored a number of bills to increase access to telehealth services for individuals with substance use disorder and both recovery and peer support.

“As part of an immigration discussion that we’re having right now [in Congress] to invest in more technology to stop fentanyl at the border … we have the technology. We just don’t have enough of it to intervene as much as we can, but still that will be dealing with the symptom, not the problem. You in Loudoun have had challenges, especially with young people. I want to hear your insights,” Kaine said.

He said when he travels the state and talks to citizens, “I hear a lot about young people having taken something that they didn’t know had fentanyl in it and leading to an overdose or death.”

Substance use has been a highly publicized issue since the beginning of the school year. Eight students at Parkview High School in Sterling overdosed on fentanyl, four of those occurring in the school and three of those students requiring Narcan and two requiring CPR by school staff, according to the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office.

The Sheriff’s Office says it has investigated 18 reports of opioid overdoses since the beginning of the 2023-2024 school year, compared to 19 for the entire 2022 school year.

Kaine asked the panel of experts for their opinions on causes, barriers and innovative solutions to the opioid crisis and how mental health plays a role in that.

Panelists agreed that stigma around mental health in general remains a root cause of substance use. Dr. Ramia Gupta, medical director for the Loudoun County Department of Mental Health, Substance Abuse and Developmental Services said, “Mental health continues to be the stepchild of medicine.”

She said depression, anxiety and mood disorders increased during COVID related to feeling isolated. “I saw symptoms of this in children as young as 5-7 years old,” she said.

Kaine said, “Mental health issues are diseases of isolation.”

Superintendent Dr. Aaron Spence said, “We were talking about this before COVID. Academic pressure put on kids to perform well plays into it along with relationship building. School is where kids go to learn relationship skills – how to be a friend, how to relate to others. Kids were isolated a great deal during COVID and some of those skills did not get developed during that time.”

Spence also said social media highly pressures children to “live a life that’s not real” which includes experimenting with drugs. “We [staff members] treat students in our buildings, send them to the hospital and the next day they are back in school because there’s no other place for them to go. We’re educators, not medics. In Virginia, there are virtually no beds for kids in long-term care.”

Spence said he would like to see Loudoun County model what Chesterfield County has done. In August 2022, Chesterfield County opened Virginia’s first recovery high school designed for students who are in early recovery from substance-use disorders. Chesterfield Recovery Academy students receive the academic, emotional and social support necessary to complete their high school education.

Rebecca Kiessling, executive director of the National Alliance on Mental Health, said some solutions would be to have conversations about substance use and mental health earlier with children starting in elementary school.

Ginny Atwood, co-founder of the Chris Atwood Foundation, agreed. “I have a four year old and I have already enrolled my child in a program that focuses on social-emotional learning.” She said she would like to see all children have opportunities for early intervention with a focus on emotional health and well being.

“We take our kids for physical check ups as they are growing up, but not for mental health check ups,” she said. The Chris Atwood Foundation, based in Reston, is a peer-driven community organization in Northern Virginia providing free harm reduction and recovery support services and advocacy for people impacted by substance use. Ginny began the foundation after her brother, Chris, died from substance use.

Daniel Adams, 63, of Arlington, met Ginny after being incarcerated for 30 years for killing his wife while high on drugs. He had a desire to work with people struggling with mental health issues and substance abuse recovery. Two years ago he was able to become a Certified Peer Recovery Specialist with the help of the Chris Atwood Foundation and now counsels people in long-term recovery. “Giving them that hope is everything. We help people coming out of jail, unsheltered or coming out of the treatment center or detox facility for up to two years. And everything that we give is free.”

As someone who used and abused substances for 34 years and has been clean and sober now for 14, Adams aspires to be a catalyst of change for others, not judgmental or stigmatizing. Panelists agreed that continuing to decrease the stigma around mental health in general, and particularly among the Black community, is paramount.

Chip Sullivan, director of Loudoun County Community Corrections, said language barriers are a common problem in working with the public. His office is responsible for pre-trial and probation services. “The second highest number of individuals I see in my office are Spanish-speaking. There is a language barrier,” he said.

Kaine added that insurance coverage and reimbursement of care facilities is a barrier. They are often expensive and do not accept Medicaid. “I think we need to look at how we can be less rigid in what’s covered and what’s not,” the senator said.

When people cannot get the help they need, the data is under-reported and that leads to less money going into programs to help people at the federal level, the senator explained. When people can utilize services, the proper data can then be captured and tracked so that proper funding levels can occur.

Margaret Graham, director of the Loudoun County Department of Mental Health, Substance Abuse and Developmental Services, agreed stating, “The cost of access to services in some instances remains high.” According to the National Center for Drug Abuse Statistics, the average cost of private, in-patient drug rehabilitation costs between $5,000 – $18,000.

Loudoun County Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Phyllis Randall (At-Large) said her own father died of alcoholism. A mental health counselor herself, she said she misses the field she used to work in and sees mental health wellness as vital to future generations.

“There will always be a new substance and so we need to respond to the needs among our youth and he [Senator Kaine] does that,” Randall said.

In Loudoun County, the Serenity House, which is a nonprofit dedicated to helping those impacted by substance use disorder, celebrated its grand opening in June 2023. Located in downtown Leesburg at 29 N. King Street, the center provides free peer counseling and support to people impacted by substance use challenges or who want to enhance their recovery journey.

Open drop-in hours are Monday through Friday, 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. for scheduling time, for mentoring services or joining the volunteer network. The first Loudoun Serenity House opened for women in recovery in 2020, followed by a men’s house in 2021.