Bemidji State University’s Student Center for Health and Counseling sponsored a pair of March 6 training session covering aspects of the nation’s current opioid addiction epidemic.

The presentations, “The Opioid Crisis: Learn More About the Many Pathways to Recovery,” were led by Bemidji resident Travis Carlson, a nationally-registered emergency medical technician who has experience working in cities large and small and on Indian reservations. He currently works as an EMS Training Center Coordinator for the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe’s Emergency Medical Services Division. He is a licensed Minnesota Peace Officer who holds numerous emergency medicine certifications and a degree in criminal justice/public safety.

Margot Kelsey, executive director of the Bemidji affiliate of Sioux Falls, S.D.-based Face It Together, also presented. She discussed addiction, wellness, and peer-recovery coaching. Face It Together works to helps communities solve addiction crises and works to reduce barriers between people in need and the resources that exist to support them.