Missy McLean didn’t set out to be an activist. For years she was too busy trying to keep her loved one alive as they struggled with their mental health and drug use. But when Missy found Moms Stop the Harm, she found a community of walking wounded – families just like hers – who showed her how to transform her unbearable grief into meaningful action. In her keynote address, Missy will share about Moms Stop the Harm and their work of advocating for the change of failed drug policies, providing peer support to grieving families, and assisting those with loved ones who use(d) drugs. She will also answer questions about her work and what’s really needed to end the national public health emergency we know as the overdose crisis.
Missy McLean is an activist, advocate, organizer and registered social worker whose practice is rooted in anti-oppressive, anti-carceral and abolition feminist frameworks. She currently works in a community legal clinic serving and supporting survivors of gender-based violence. She also works closely with residents who face stigma and criminalization because of their socioeconomic status, drug use, homelessness, psychiatric survival and other intersectional identities. Missy is a member of the Board of Directors for Moms Stop the Harm and, with her friend and comrade Ashley Smoke, she is also co-founder of TweakEasyCBG, an unfunded, volunteer-driven response to the unregulated drug crisis.
