UMass Dartmouth, Azores students unite to break stigma around addiction
Excerpt from heraldnews.com Students from UMass Dartmouth and the University of the Azores have been learning how stigma — often stemming from misinformation, fear and deeply entrenched social stereotypes — is one of the main barriers to treatment for substance use disorders on both sides of the Atlantic. Eight UAc students, along with three professors, were in the Southcoast from April 7 to 14 as part of the "Bridging the Atlantic" international nursing student exchange program between the two universities. “This is our 11th year, and 240 students have gone through the program,” said Dr. Maryellen Brisbois, who coordinates the "Bridging the Atlantic" program at UMass Dartmouth. “Every year, we look at a community health issue in the United States and the Azores. We talked about a lot of challenges in both countries, that we had seen and the students had seen, and it seemed substance use was very important at this moment.”
