The Sun Will Rise Virtual Lantern Making Event.  

Create a lantern in memory or honor of someone you care about as we prepare for the IOAD Lantern Walk. For this virtual workshop, you will need to gather your materials ahead of time.

Join The Sun Will Rise Foundation, The Weymouth Prevention Alliance & The Braintree Community Partnership for any of several free Lantern Making Workshops leading up to our International Overdose Awareness Day Lantern Walk at Pond Meadow Park on August 27, 2026.

Participants will create a beautiful illuminated lantern in memory or honor of someone they care about. Whether the death was recent or many years ago, this workshop is an opportunity to pause, remember and create something meaningful.

No artistic experience is needed.
There is no cost to attend.

Each lantern created during these workshops can be carried or displayed during our International Overdose Awareness Day Lantern Walk & Glow Stick Ceremony, where we will come together as a community to remember those who have died and support one another in hope and healing.

8/20/26 Virtual, 6:30-8 pm ET https://zoom.us/j/96007814126?pwd=niFRdJ6bP8o6aLjJBfhwQpkbGTaHXE.1

Questions? robyn@thesunwillrise.org

• Create a lantern in memory or honor of someone you care about as we prepare for the IOAD Lantern Walk. All materials provided.
• Please REGISTER so that we know how many to expect.

Grief is complex, layered, intense, and often hard to put into words. Write Your Grief is a virtual workshop for anyone touched by loss who wants to explore writing as a healing practice.

You’ll learn the fundamentals of emotion‑driven writing, receive clear prompts to help you begin, and write in a supportive Zoom space where sharing is welcome but never required.

Facilitator: Luke Schmaltz, editor of SADOD’s VOICES and SADOD FEED.

 July 16, 2026
 6 PM ET

Register here: https://peersupportcommunitypartners.as.me/schedule/998b083e/?appointmentTypeIds[]=93450887

Where words become a place to heal.

Grief is one of the most shared universal human experiences, and at the same time a truly unique personal experience. Grief is a natural emotional, somatic response to all kinds of loss, including but not limited to the death of someone. Grief can impact the physical, cognitive and spiritual realms of life. There are many different kinds of grief and many different ways people experience their grief. How one processes grief can often be influenced by culture and at times those around us. Direct Service Providers (DSPs) working in the overdose crisis are in a unique position often faced with multiple ongoing types of grief and loss. This training will explore this unique, shared experience of grief while providing education, resources, tips and tools for tending to grief. After this training participants will be able to:

• Define different types of grief and loss, especially kinds experienced in DSP work
• Understand a brief history of death and dying in the US and how this influenced grieving culture
• Identify what grief can look or feel like in themselves and others
• Learn ways to support themselves and others in their grief
• Remember resources for grief peer support for DSPs

Most people across the United States want drug policies rooted in health, science, education, and care. As drugs — like kratom and 7-OH, xylazine, and nitazines — emerge or become more available, we have the responsibility to push for policies that keep individuals and communities safe.

Tune into the Drug Policy Alliance’s virtual webinar “Kratom, 7-OH, and Beyond: Finding a Path Forward through Responsible Regulation, Health-Centered Policies, and Public Education.” You’ll learn about kratom and 7-OH, the health benefits and risks people who use them experience, and the current legal status and possible future regulation of these substances. Panelists will outline the various impacts of regulating or banning kratom, 7-OH, and other emerging drugs. Together, we can push for policies we need to keep people healthy and safe.

Moderators: 

• Kellen Russoniello, JD, MPH, Director of Public Health at Drug Policy Alliance 
• Maritza Perez Medina, JD, Director of the Office of Federal Affairs at Drug Policy Alliance

Speakers: 

• Shoshana V. Aronowitz, PhD, MSHP, FNP-BC, University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing
• Stacey McKenna, PhD, R Street Institute
• Cat Packer, JD, MA, Director of Drug Markets & Legal Regulation at Drug Policy Alliance
• Darshan Singh, PhD, MPA, Centre for Drug Research at Universiti Sains Malaysia
• Katherine Hill, MPH, Yale School of Public Health

Learn more and register for “Kratom, 7-OH, and Beyond: Finding a Path Forward through Responsible Regulation, Health-Centered Policies, and Public Education” here.

Join the Drug Policy Alliance in pushing for health-centered approaches to kratom and 7-OH here . 

People working in jobs affected by the overdose crisis often carry a heavy burden from the grief, stress and trauma of the day to day experiences doing this work, combined with all we face as humans outside of work. This workshop will provide space to name all that we are up against, while offering tangible, practical tools to help support ourselves and each other through grief, loss, distress and trauma. Guided nervous system exercises and other tips and tricks will be offered as tools which can help aid in building long term resilience, and also anchor back into during acutely distressing or traumatic events.

After this workshop attendees will be able to:

• Identify stressors and issues direct service providers (DSPs) face
• Discuss what tools, practices, and areas of focus could help support DSPs
• Utilize, identify, and practice different techniques and tools that can be of support to them individually

The Sun Will Rise is hosting a Father’s Day peer grief support group for anyone 18+ who has experienced the death of someone they care about due to a substance use related cause wanting some extra support on this holiday.

Join Zoom Meeting 

https://zoom.us/j/96961980647?pwd=cFVTMHR3VE9COGc3UGdIZHo4TWVaZz09#success

Meeting ID: 969 6198 0647 Password: 300626 or One tap mobile 16465588656

thesunwillrise.org

With International Overdose Awareness Day (IOAD) coming up at the end of August this training will be focused on helping individuals and organizations think about how to remember folks who have died from overdose as well as other substance related causes. There has been a marked increase in people dying from overdose and other substance related causes over the past decade. We will discuss the increase in substance related deaths and introduce ways that we can recognize these losses to help us all process grief on a personal as well as an organizational level. This training is geared towards direct service providers as well as anyone hosting an IOAD event.

After the workshop participants will be able to:

• Discuss grief and loss as it applies to service providers
• Identify areas where they can recognize and process loss
• Examine current events and processes to recognize loss
• Implement various activities and events to recognize those we’ve lost

With International Overdose Awareness Day (IOAD) coming up at the end of August this training will be focused on helping individuals and organizations think about how to remember folks who have died from overdose as well as other substance related causes. There has been a marked increase in people dying from overdose and other substance related causes over the past decade. We will discuss the increase in substance related deaths and introduce ways that we can recognize these losses to help us all process grief on a personal as well as an organizational level. This training is geared towards direct service providers as well as anyone hosting an IOAD event.

After the workshop participants will be able to:

• Discuss grief and loss as it applies to service providers
• Identify areas where they can recognize and process loss
• Examine current events and processes to recognize loss
• Implement various activities and events to recognize those we’ve lost