Senator Holly Thompson Rehder brings a unique perspective to the opioid crises in America. A Republican who speaks candidly from personal experience as someone who lived it as a child, got out as a teen, only to see her daughter caught in it, is a bit of an anomaly.
From large venues such as the National Drug Endangered Children’s Conference, to small gatherings of folks in recovery longing for a light at the end of the tunnel, Holly has become a recognized and sought-after voice in the fight against drug addiction and the stigma that surrounds it.
Speaking on the topic, Holly openly discusses growing up in addiction and understanding it to be a symptom of hopelessness and/or a vice to simply help cover up the demons from past trauma. However, in her search to help her daughter who struggled for 13-years in deep addiction, Holly learned about the neuroscience of it all. It was truly an “aha” moment for her and was the catalyst to get her daughter the actual help that she had needed for years. Since that time, Holly has spoken across the state, and nationally, stressing that data and science should govern treatment.
Topics commonly asked to speak on:
- Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) and Foster Care Reunification
- Educating the entire family/support system on the neuroscience of addiction.
- The difference between Treatment and Recovery.
- Helping children at risk learn the neuroscience early on.
- Grandparents Raising their Grandchildren.
In the Missouri legislature, Senator Thompson Rehder proved time and time again that she refuses to give up or back down. Holly worked tenaciously for 9-years to pass the state’s Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP), fighting with her own party to get this important legislation passed. She fights for families struggling. Period.
Other policy measures the Senator passed or pushed while in office:
- Sought and achieved separate line items in the budget to distinguish between “recovery” and “treatment” services.
- MAT approval for parents seeking reunification with their children. (not yet passed)
- Authorizing pharmacists to dispense naltrexone hydrochloride, a medication aimed at preventing relapse to be used for short periods of time.
- Preference for Grandparent guardians when children are removed from the home.
- Removing the paraphernalia charge for Fentanyl testing strips.
- Expanding EPICC, which stands for “Engaging Patients in Care Coordination”, in Missouri. EPICC is a hospital-initiated substance use program that utilizes peer recovery coaches to connect substance use patients who present in the ER.
- Recovery High Schools
- Approval for syringe access programs when health officials see necessary. In Missouri, 12 counties, mainly rural, remain on the CDCs top 5% of “red” zones for Hep C and HIV outbreaks. Yet proven harm reduction programs like syringe access, remain under paraphernalia laws as illegal. (not yet passed)
Senator Thompson Rehder proudly spent over a decade working to educate colleagues in the House and Senate on the neuroscience of addiction. To do this, she used her own personal stories to give a face and understanding to the struggles that many American families go through. This is also the reason she wrote her memoir, Cinder Girl: Growing Up on Americas Fringe, so that those with the power to affect change would, and so that those who grew up like her would see that, “your past does not define you, you get to define you.”–Holly
