Recovery Ready Community Discussion

Ten copies of Mark Lefebvre's new book Healing a Village will be raffled at the event!

Last year, roughly 50 people died in Portland while experiencing homelessness. Over 100,000 fellow Americans died in 2023 from drug overdoses, and nearly 200,000 died from excessive alcohol use. Lethal illicit drugs such as fentanyl, methamphetamine, and xylazine are showing up on our streets and poisoning our fellow citizens, including those who may not even intend to use these toxic synthetic drugs.

In his new book, Healing a Village, Mark Lefebvre details a plan to help cities like Portland identify and strengthen the resources needed to support recovery within our community by removing barriers and improving access to services for individuals and families seeking help from addiction. The author provides real-life examples from New Hampshire and Maine of successful community coalitions that have delivered positive outcomes for their communities across the entire continuum of care, including prevention, harm reduction treatment, and recovery support. This model offers a vision of hope.

To build a Recovery-Ready Community, one must consider the “community as the patient,” within which includes 4 diagnostic conditions–public safety, public health, education for our children, and economic viability. The Portland Public Library, in collaboration with: author Mark Lefebvre, representatives from the State of Maine and The City of Portland, and the Portland Recovery Community Center, offers this panel discussion to help our community identify the steps that lead to a Ready Recovery Community.

Panel Bios

Mark Lefebvre is an author, recovery advocate, and a person in long-term recovery. In his role at Pinetree Institute, Mark is the founder and former statewide director for the Maine Recovery Friendly Workplace (RFW) program. In his prior role as Pinetree Institute’s Director of Community Engagement, Mark was responsible for the development of Recovery Ready Communities in the Seacoast of NH and southern ME. Mark and his wife Vivian are co-founders of Safe Harbor Recovery Center in Portsmouth, NH, and live on the Seacoast of New Hampshire with Layla, their yellow lab mix rescue dog.

Gordon H. Smith was appointed by Governor Janet Mills as Director of Opioid Response in January 2019. He is responsible for coordinating and directing Maine’s response to the opioid crisis, including prescriber education and harm reduction strategies. He stepped down as the Executive Vice President of the Maine Medical Association in 2019, where he had served since 1993. He graduated from the University of Maine with the highest distinction in 1973 and from the Boston College Law School, magna cum laude, in 1976. He is a past Chairman of the American Society of State Medical Association Counsel, a nationwide group of 140 attorneys representing medical associations. Smith is a frequent lecturer to medical groups on various medical and legal subjects. 

Anna Bullett (she/her) is a public health leader and Portland, Maine City Councilor representing the Back Cove, Baxter Woods, and East Deering neighborhoods, all located on the unceded ancestral lands of the Wabanaki Nations. Born and raised in Lewiston-Auburn, she attended Johnson & Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island and completed a graduate degree at the University of Maine in Orono. A registered dietitian for over fifteen years, her career has included roles in clinical nutrition, food service, food media, and social services. Bullett is the Senior Director of Health & Nutrition Programs at The Opportunity Alliance, the community action program in Cumberland County, where she has been employed since early 2017. Her diverse team administers multiple state contracts that provide resources and counseling to improve health and nutrition status among people impacted by trauma, oppression, and food insecurity associated with class exploitation, climate and political migration, and generational poverty. Bullett lives with her spouse and school aged children and enjoys gardening, cooking, reading, and watching k-dramas.

Nicole Proctor is a person in long-term recovery and serves as the Executive Director of Portland Recovery Community Center, Maine’s Recovery Hub. Since joining in 2018, she’s driven statewide growth by offering education, technical assistance, and training to communities launching their own Recovery Community Centers across Maine. Her leadership has helped expand Maine’s network, increasing the number of Recovery Community Centers from three to seventeen. Nicole passionately works to dispel the stigma around substance use disorders while bringing peer recovery support to underserved areas throughout the state. Grateful for all recovery has provided—including restored family connections and new purpose—Nicole embodies PRCC’s belief that recovery is not only possible, but vital, and she strives to share that message with others.