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Let's Talk Stigma - Podcast Series

  • Writer: Team RxPR, LLC
    Team RxPR, LLC
  • Feb 12
  • 4 min read

Updated: Feb 27

Let’s Talk Stigma: Reframing Opioid Use Disorder in Pharmacy & Healthcare


Opioid use disorder is not a fringe issue. It is present in every community, every pharmacy, and every healthcare setting in America. Yet stigma—often unspoken, sometimes unrecognized—continues to shape how patients are treated, whether they return for care, and whether they survive.

Let’s Talk Stigma is a podcast series created to confront one of the most persistent barriers to effective care for people with opioid use disorder: stigma within healthcare itself.

Developed through a unique collaboration between schools of pharmacy, a county health department, community partners, and individuals with lived experience of drug use, this series goes beyond awareness. It challenges pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, student pharmacists, and allied health professionals to examine how language, assumptions, workflows, and workplace culture directly influence patient outcomes.





This series is grounded in real data, real voices, and real practice. The Let’s Talk Stigma initiative has already reached a global audience with nearly 22,000 podcast listens, while engaging more than 5,000 healthcare professionals locally through education, training, and community outreach. Its impact extends into Doctor of Pharmacy curricula, pharmacy technician training programs, and community pharmacies—where student pharmacists have distributed stigma-reduction tools designed to change everyday interactions at the counter.


Across these episodes, listeners will hear from:

  • Pharmacists and educators reshaping how OUD is taught and discussed

  • Public health leaders addressing overdose trends and community response

  • Individuals with lived experience sharing what stigma feels like—and how it harms

  • Pharmacy teams working on the front lines of harm reduction, naloxone access, and patient trust


Each episode connects research to practice, highlighting how stigma contributes to disengagement from care, treatment discontinuation, overdose risk, and preventable harm—

and how pharmacists are uniquely positioned to be part of the solution.


Pharmacists are among the most accessible healthcare professionals in the country. Patients see their pharmacy teams more often than their primary care providers. Those moments matter. The words used, the tone taken, and the systems in place can either reinforce stigma or create pathways to trust, safety, and care.


Let’s Talk Stigma equips pharmacy professionals with the insight, language, and responsibility to lead change—within their pharmacies, their teams, and their communities.

This is not a theoretical conversation. It is a call to action for healthcare professionals who recognize that reducing stigma is not optional—it is essential to improving outcomes for individuals with opioid use disorder.


[EP 01] Why Stigma Exists


In this episode of Let’s Talk Stigma, listeners hear from three individuals sharing perspectives on why stigma surrounding opioid use disorder exists and how we can begin examining personal bias and creating change.




[EP 02] Opioid Use Disorder is a Chronic Disease


In this episode of Let’s Talk Stigma, we will hear the voices of four different individuals who will talk about how we should recognize opioid use disorder and other substance use disorders as chronic health conditions or diseases, and not moral failings.



[EP 03] Intrapersonal and Interpersonal Stigma


In this episode of Let’s Talk Stigma, we focus on the voices of individuals directly impacted by the stigma associated with opioid use disorder. We talked with family members, friends, and people in long term recovery who discuss intrapersonal and interpersonal stigma associated with opioid use disorder.



[EP 04] Naloxone and Harm Reduction Services


In this episode of Let’s Talk Stigma, we will hear about the impact that both naloxone and harm reduction services have on the lives of individuals with opioid use disorder. We will hear from patients, practitioners, family members and those who work directly with people who use drugs.





[EP 05] Medications for Opioid Use Disorder


In this episode of Let’s Talk Stigma, we will hear about medications for opioid use disorder, or “MOUD,” and how patient accessibility to these medications can play a huge role in helping someone reach recovery. The Pennsylvania Pharmacists Association has partnered with Pharmacy Podcast Network to bring you a series of podcasts designed to help community pharmacists implement change and practice transformation. The Let’s Talk Stigma podcast miniseries is designed to equip community-based pharmacists to provide culturally sensitive care to individuals with opioid use disorders.



[EP 06] Polysubstance Use and People Who Experience Homelessness


Conversations surrounding substance use often focus on one substance individually, like opioids or stimulants, but often do not acknowledge that many people who use substances will use multiple substances. How do we medically treat people who use multiple substances simultaneously? What are stigmas that come with polysubstance use? We are also joined by Bridge Outreach, an organization that provides resources and support for people experiencing homelessness, to discuss the added layers of stigma and barriers to care that people who use substances and are experiencing homelessness face.



[EP 07] Stimulant Use and People Who Experience Incarceration


In this episode of Let’s Talk Stigma we discuss what stimulant use is, the stigma people who have stimulant use disorders face, and how it differs from opioid use. We are also joined by Foundation of Hope, an interfaith organization that focuses on providing resources for presently and formerly incarcerated individuals. We talk with them about how substance use affects formerly incarcerated individuals and the added stigma that comes with being incarcerated and using substances.



[EP 08] Let’s Talk Stigma Summary


The Pharmacy Podcast Network has released a 7-part series in partnership with the Pennsylvania Pharmacists Association designed to help community pharmacists implement change and practice transformation. The ‘Let’s Talk Stigma’ podcast miniseries is designed to equip community-based pharmacists to provide culturally sensitive care to individuals with opioid use disorders.




by Joni C. Carroll Sophia M. C. Herbert Kim C. Coley Thai Q. Nguyen Melissa A. Somma McGivney Kelsey L. Hake Jennifer Padden Elliott Elizabeth Bunk Barton

1Department of Pharmacy and Therapeutics, University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy, Pittsburgh, PA 15261, USA

2Allegheny County Health Department, Pittsburgh, PA 15219, USA

3Center for Integrative Health, Duquesne University School of Pharmacy, Pittsburgh, PA 15282, USA


Submission received: 20 October 2025 / Revised: 5 December 2025 / Accepted: 15 December 2025 / Published: 24 December 2025

 
 
 

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