Mission
Our mission is to reduce harm in the opioid crisis and the disease of addiction through empowerment by education, inter-group collaboration and conferences, leadership training, artistic venues of expression, access to therapeutic services, volunteer opportunities, and outreach.

Our work of organizing 'Harm Reductionist' conferences will benefit individuals and groups through education,  inter-group collaboration and goal-setting. These conferences are a venue that will provide effective solutions to the opioid crisis that continues to expand--claiming over one-hundred American lives each day.


Our work in schools and colleges is to provide interactive and effective presentations to groups of students that will educate and guide them in making agreements that will protect them from substance misuse, abuse, and addiction.

Additionally, access to biblio-therapeutic literature in  language arts classes coupled with guided discussion provides all students, including students at risk for substance abuse and addiction to become informed about the disease of addiction, the risks of opioid medication, and multiple resources for personal empowerment.

Education, collaboration, leadership opportunities, participation in artistic expression, volunteer experiences, therapeutic services, and extra-curricular activities will significantly reduce the risk of substance abuse and addiction.



Goals
 Current Goals and Activities of The Lotus Educational Group

Through sponsorship 'Harm Reductionists' conferences will be organized and convened. These meetings will bring state officials, journalists, teachers, school counselors, therapists, medical professionals, politicians, advocates, parents, and students together in effective problem-solving venues across the nation.

  'Harm Reductionists' from each of these groups will be invited as keynote speakers.

At these conferences specific groups (journalists, medical practitioners, parents, etc) will meet together to share their work and their experiences related to the opioid crisis.  Techniques to guide discussion and collaborative problem-solving in each group will be provided.
Then there will be opportunities for inter-group meetings where spokespeople from each of the specific groups will summarize the work from their first meetings and share their solutions. Participants in the inter-group sessions will then discuss, collaborate, and create further solutions. Time-lines and next steps will be planned and presented in the larger-group. Participants will make agreements regarding funding and organizational strategies that will be necessary to successfully progress with these planned solutions. Accountability methods will be decided upon and The Lotus Educational Group will communicate with stakeholders regarding progress. Ideally, many of the participants will meet annually with opportunities to report on successful steps that have been taken toward solutions.

These 'Harm Reductionist' conferences are convened to assist individuals and groups in collaborating and creating successful solutions to the opioid crisis that continues to expand--claiming over one-hundred American lives each day.
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   Through sponsorship funding will be made available to bring authors of 'harm reduction' literature into schools as prevention speakers and mentors.

       Through sponsorship teachers and counselors are trained to  teach the novels using the study and discussion guide in literature classrooms in public schools, private schools, treatment centers, and in colleges. Counselors are prepared to provide support to those students that self-identify as a family member with an addicted parent or loved-one or as a person that has begun to misuse a substance.

  Through sponsorship books, study guides, intervention presentations, author visits are made readily available to twenty schools and twenty treatment centers in ten states fall semester 2019 and spring semester 2020 using a 'pilot' novel endorsed by The Lotus Educational Group. 

Through sponsorship facilitators, artists, theater coaches and trainers are brought into schools and colleges to provide enrichment and training related to the program.

         Through sponsorship a viable research project with university partners will be designed and implemented. This study will measure  the success of program goals and activities. A short and long-term study will be designed, funded, and implemented.

      Through sponsorship funds will be made available to have biblio-therapeutic books and study guides readily available in schools, school counselor’s offices, treatment centers, therapist offices, and health clinics.

         Through sponsorship student leadership groups will be organized.  Members of these groups will collaborate and design activities that facilitate the reduction of substance use, abuse, and addiction in young people using biblio-therapeutic literature  to initiate discussion, learning, and the power to change.

         Through sponsorship a network of therapists will be organized that are knowledgeable, skilled, and available to work with youth that self-identify as a family member of an addicted person or someone with a substance abuse issue.  (These therapists will be asked to work on a sliding scale with these clients and our non-profit will pay a portion of the cost of the therapeutic sessions.)

        Through sponsorship grant money for extracurricular activity will be made available in exchange for volunteer activity and community service. Youths will volunteer in their communities and then apply for grants in exchange for their hours of service. Those grant monies will be used for youth to participate in designated and approved extra-curricular activities.