About SADOD

The goal of SADOD (Support After a Death by Overdose) is to increase the capacity and effectiveness of peer grief support in Massachusetts for people affected by a death from substance use (not only from overdose but also from suicide, homicide, accident, and medical complications due to drug use).

SADOD serves three audiences that overlap

The public –
bereaved family and friends

People with a history of drug use –
from those for whom recovery means abstinence to those who are receiving harm-reduction services

Frontline care providers –
those who deliver services to people who are at high risk of dying from substance use

SADOD Directors

Franklin Cook

Franklin Cook, MA, CPC

Owner of Unified Community Solutions

managed the three pilots that led to this project; is a Health Care and Safety Expert Consultant for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health; and has served as a DPH consultant since 2012. He co-led the blue-ribbon panel that developed national guidelines for community-based grief support after suicide and recently published an article in Death Studies on systematically implementing peer grief support programs nationally.

Glen Lord

Glen Lord, BSBA

President and CEO of The Grief Toolbox

created the Walking Through Grief support group model, which is based on peer support principles; co-founded the International Grief Institute, which provides education for professionals and peer supporters; and is past president of the national board of directors of The Compassionate Friends.

Tanya Lord

Tanya Lord, PhD, MPH

Director of Patient and Family Engagement for the Foundation for Healthy Communities

is co-founder of The Grief Toolbox; has been a peer grief helper for 15 years; and is a leading advocate and expert in making patients’ voices and experience part of hospital policies and practices. She now works with all New Hampshire hospitals, applying human-centered design approaches to the task of strengthening patient safety and healthcare quality-improvement processes.