Meet the Instructors

Bill Barberg Community Strategy Management, Collaboration to Address the Opioid Crisis

Bill Barberg is a globally recognized expert in Implementing Population Health Strategies and Improving Collective Impact so communities can harness their existing resources to address complex social challenges like the opioid crisis. Mr. Barberg uses this knowledge as an experienced speaker for organizations, communities, and coalitions striving to address complex  issues. He is also the author of the chapter, "Implementing Population Health Strategies" in the new, highly-acclaimed book, "Solving Population Health Problems through Collaboration" (Routledge, 2017).

Instead of expecting each community coalition to spend countless hours attempting to design a comprehensive strategy for topics like the opioid crisis or suicide prevention, Mr. Barberg has made substantial contributions toward building a series of open source strategy map templates which give guidance and direction to a broad spectrum of health and community organizations that are working to solve priority health issues.

In addition to the strategy map templates, Mr. Barberg launched the development of the Opioid Coalition Resource Hub, a free, open source, national resource for coalitions.  This resource hub is organized around the strategy map template and it equips many teams in a large coalition with information and tools they can use to begin working on a subset of the overall strategy without requiring a large grant or a new funding source. It makes it easy for people to find tools (most of which are freely shared) they can use to quickly take action. In her nomination, Ms. Baker notes, “In a time where resources are scarce, this timely tool helps coalitions to ‘get out in front of the problem.’"

As the guiding force behind the the Opioid Coalition Resource Hub, Mr. Barberg is well versed on the current research, programs, and solutions communities have successfully implemented to address the opioid crisis, balancing the need for evidence-based practices and the desire for innovative solutions.

At a recent gathering of health coalition leaders, Mr Barberg was presented the 2018 Health System Transformation Award from Communities Joined in Action (CJA). CJA is a national membership organization of local and regional community health collaboratives, all of which are committed to better health for all people at less cost. The Health System Transformation Award "recognizes an individual, organization or community health coalition/collaborative that has demonstrated a breakthrough model that achieves better health outcomes, reduces inequities, promotes a culture of health—and is adaptable in other settings." 

Dr. Trish Henrie-Barrus Screening and Opioid Abuse Prevention & Recovery

Dr. Trish Henrie-Barrus is the President and Founder of InteraSolutions, a psychological assessment company. She has extensive experience in assessment administration and development, especially in the areas of opioid and chemical addiction, pain management, depression, anxiety, and wellness. In addition, she is a practicing clinician with specialty areas of integrative medicine, wellness, addiction, anxiety and depression. Dr. Barrus is an Assistant Professor at the University of Utah where she helped create the nationally recognized Positive Psychology Certificate Program. Dr. Barrus serves as the co-chair of the Provider Training and Patient Education working committee under the Utah Department of Health’s Utah Coalition for Opioid Overdose Prevention committee. As a published author and researcher, Dr. Barrus presents at conferences and seminars across the country. 
In her years of clinical practice, Dr. Barrus became convinced that in order to address the ever-increasing problem of substance abuse and other medical problems, physicians need better psychological assessment tools to assist them in comprehensively treating their patients. She is a real proponent of the biopsychosocial model of healthcare and believes that a team effort including medical practitioner and psychologist is necessary for preventative and ongoing healthcare. With the assistance of other medical practitioners and skilled technology specialists, she developed the Opioid Abuse & Risk Screener (OARS) psychological assessment tool, the flagship product of InteraSolutions. She is currently overseeing the research and development of other psychological assessment tools to be used in the medical field. 

Joe Markiewicz National Youth Trainer and Facilitator for Community Engagement of Youth for Substance Abuse Prevention

Joe Markiewicz works closely with community coalitions and prevention initiatives to reduce the incidence of prescription and non-prescription drug overdose. As a statewide trainer and educator, he also provides community leaders with local, county and statewide data to focus on high risk populations with effective prevention strategies and best practices in community coalition development.
Joe has over 20 years experience as a community coalition trainer, prevention planner, evaluator and youth trainer. He has recently worked as the Program Coordinator for the Statewide Prescription Drug Overdose Reduction Initiative at KIPRC. He has been a presenter at national conferences on the subject of risk and protective factors, evidenced-based prevention strategies, youth data, community planning and positive social norming. In 2012, Joe received the Erie County Award for Youth Violence Reduction and as Chair of the Erie County Collaborative Board he received the Statewide Community Coalition of the Year Award in Pennsylvania. In his previous employment, Joe was a statewide planner and trainer with Center for Juvenile Justice Training & Research (CJJTR), Pennsylvania Commission on Crime & Delinquency (PCCD), Juvenile Court Judge’s Commission (JCJC) as well as many other youth-serving organizations. He is also a national technical assistant for the Office of Juvenile Justice Training & Research (OJJTR).