WYPR, “On The Record” with Sheilah Kast, August 15, 2022. Even in pre-school, Jessie Dunleavy’s son Paul struggled to learn. His disabilities forced him to switch schools over and over. He turned to poetry, and eventually, after several mental-health diagnoses, to drugs. After he died of an overdose, his mother found a poem alluding to his addiction as a moral disgrace. In the memoir, she recounts the sobering lessons she learned from Paul’s life and death. This first aired on January 25 and March 24, 2021.

Albertus Project Podcast: Episode 11 - “Real-Life Policy Implications of Treating Addiction as a Moral Failure” - December 22, 2021. Host Alex Colyer and Jessie Dunleavy discuss the story of her son, Paul, and an unjust ‘justice’ system, highlighting the need for lawmakers to focus on evidence-based strategies to reduce the risk of overdose.

3RD FLOOR VIEWS — podcast version of Chesapeake Family Life interview — July 16, 2021. Host Janet Jefferson interviews author Jessie Dunleavy about her son’s journey through a learning difference, a mental health diagnosis, a drug addiction, and the systems that failed him. Cover My Dreams in Ink includes Dunleavy’s son’s poetry and reflections on her own shortcomings, as well as her advocacy for comprehensive reform.

ONWARD Podcast: Episode 46 - A Mother’s Unending Quest for Drug Policy Reform, March 8, 2021. Jessie Dunleavy talks with host Emily Harman about the overdose crisis and the impediments to needed reform. Also, Jessie reads some of Paul’s writings. Have a tissue handy as you listen to this interview. We need everyone to be as educated on this topic as possible and to advocate for change.

The Social Exchange Podcast, Episode 65, November 23, 2020. Jessie Dunleavy and Host, Zach Rhoads talked about her memoir as well as parenting, special education, mental health, trauma, addiction, the treatment system, the war on drugs, and our hope for the future. Hers is the perspective of a loving mother, of an educator, of an author, and of a citizen who aims to make a positive impact on society.

The Casualties of War, Podcast Episode: The Dr. Junkie Show, November 20, 2020. Host Dr. Benjamin Boyce, “Jessie Dunleavy lost her son, Paul, to the war on drugs. Now she is fighting to end it for good. Jessie and I discuss mistakes she feels like she made supporting Paul, as well as harm reduction strategies, the struggle of raising a neuro-atypical child, heroin prescriptions, and a host of other issues related to harm reduction and activism.”

The Drug Policy Alliance Podcast: Drugs & Stuff, Episode 39, September 2, 2020. Hear how Jessie Dunleavy has come to terms with her son’s death, the realization that it was preventable, and how she began her journey into advocacy.

Annapolis Podcast, May 14, 2020 Author and Annapolitan Jessie Dunleavy talks with host Scott MacMullan about the memoir she wrote that tells the story of her son, Paul, a boy whose learning differences constrained his connections with others and whose poetry depicts an inner life otherwise unknown, and her staunch advocacy for him, from the fight to obtain an appropriate education through the fight for his life as he entered the harrowing world of addiction.

BOOKING AN EVENT

Jessie has been a spokesperson within her community and beyond, sharing her experiences as an educator, author, and parent of a son lost to overdose — a preventable death that prompted her study of the history of drug policy, its role in the dehumanization of victims and resistance to strategies that reduce the harms of drug use. Compelled by years of irrefutable evidence, she advocates for policies that are grounded in science and dedicated to human rights. Contact form & newsletter sign-up below photos.

SPEAKING EVENTS

Panelist: Community Overdose Action, Town Hall Series, sponsored by Maryland’s Opioid Operation Command Center. Anne Arundel Community College, September 12, 2023

Panelist: Leadership Anne Arundel “Community Leadership Roundtable: Opioid Crossroads - Moving Forward” - June 1, 2023, Michael E. Busch Annapolis Library

Testimony: Maryland General Assembly. February 7, March 7, & March 14, 2023; February 16, 2022; January 26 & March 11, 2021; February 28, 2020

Guest Speaker: Chrysalis House, Crownsville, MD. June 10, 2022, May 7, 2021, & September 11, 2020

The Annapolis Book Festival, Panel: “The Toll of the Opioid Crisis (C-SPAN video) April 25, 2021 - Panel discussion with author Ben Westhoff (Fentanyl, Inc.: How Rogue Chemists Are Creating the Deadliest Wave of the Opioid Epidemic) and memoirist and drug policy reform advocate Jessie Dunleavy.

Albertus Project Monthly Book Club “Chat with Jessie Dunleavy” — November 30, 2021

Book Talk, Presentation: Love in the Trenches, Grief Group — November 15, 2021

Community Representative for Harm Reduction: Recovery Awareness Foundation & City of Annapolis Fair — September 18, 2021

BOOK SIGNING & MEET AND GREET, Sunday, August 29, 2021, 4:00 to 6:00, 49 West Coffeehouse and Winebar, 49 West Street, Annapolis, MD.

“Sharing Our Stories With Jessie Dunleavy” — Online Event by Kathleen Cochran and Moms for All Paths to Recovery (MAP), March 24, 2021

The Social Exchange YouTube Video, release date, November 21, 2020

Interview: WNAV, The Morning Show with Bill Lusby, October 23. 2020

Book Talk: Facebook Live, August 27, 2020

Book Talk: Facebook Live, July 7th, 2020

Book Talk: 14 West Hamilton Street Club, Baltimore, MD, May 15, 2020 

Interview: Drug Truth Network, Cultural Baggage Show, December 11, 2019

Harm Reduction Panelist: HEART Summit, One Annapolis, November 21, 2019

Presenter: “Stages of Change & Harm Reduction” - NAM Focus Group, City Hall, Annapolis, MD, October 2, 2019

Rally for Safehouse, outside federal hearing — Safehouse vs DOJ. Philadelphia, PA. September 5, 2019

Panelist: Anne Arundel County Department of Health, “Any Positive Change: A Harm Reduction Summit” — Crowne Plaza, Annapolis. June 27, 2019

WNAV Radio 1430 Connection, Donna Cole interview Jessie Dunleavy — “A Mother’s Loss — Opioid Epidemic,” August 3, 2018

Annapolis Podcast: Drugs, Tragedy, Treatment and Downtown Annapolis September 22, 2018

CONTACT

For general questions or inquiries about events, book discussions, or speaking engagements, use the contact box below to get in touch.

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