MANSFIELD, PA— Tiffany Welch, chair and field education director of the Department of Social Work at Mansfield University, and her 
daughter, Micaiah, gave a presentation entitled “The Enemy in the Room: Understanding Our Opioid Epidemic” at the New York State Library Assistants’ Association (NYSLAA) 40th Annual Conference, held in Corning, NY on June 6-8.
Micaiah graduated from Williamson High School earlier this month and is enrolled at MU as a Secondary Education/Math major.
Their presentation focused on raising awareness of the issue of opioid addiction and some of the resources available and steps that can be taken to combat it.
“Beyond the family system, our schools and libraries have a huge responsibility as an educational system to put prevention efforts in place, but we must first make them available to them,” Tiffany Welch said. “To be able to present alongside Micaiah, who has personally lost her biological father to this epidemic, was inspiring and it gives me hope that there are many other young people like her who have a strong desire to educate others on the topic of preventing drug use. I can’t say enough about how important it is that while we are breaking the stigma and providing services to those already affected that we must take the time to educate on the importance of prevention in order to stop the cycle of continued misuse.”
“It was life changing to be able to share my own experience and knowledge with others who are now motivated to go back to their communities, states, and countries, to implement the new ideas we had shared, which will hopefully change even more lives for the better,” Micaiah Welch said.
This is the second time the mother and daughter have presented on the topic. They made a presentation at the School Social Workers Association of America (SSWAA) National Conference held in Columbus, OH in March.