Conversations with The Beard

Join us for a special episode of Impact Stigma as we visit with our very first guest from outside of Frontier Health, Jason Abernathy, AKA, “The Beard”. We invite you to listen along as he shares his colorful story and takes us on a journey through his life, his recovery from addiction and answers some interesting and unexpected questions. Jason has worked since August 2013 on Insight Alliance’s Lifeline Peer Project of Tennessee here in Johnson City, TN and serves as the Region 1 Lifeline Peer Project Coordinator. Since March of 2014 Jason has served as a Certified Peer Recovery Specialist (CPRS) and provides direct peer-to-peer support services for those who have mental illness, substance abuse, or co-occurring disorders. Jason served 4 years in the United States Marine Corps before transitioning into a 16-year career in law enforcement. He then made a career change which allowed him to give back by assisting others in finding their way to the road to recovery. Jason is a person in long term recovery from co-occurring disorders and desires to work to help others break the chains of addiction. He is a certified Question, Persuade, and Refer (QPR) trainer through the Tennessee Suicide Prevention Network, a Trauma Informed Care (TIC) trainer, a Wellness Recovery Action Plan 1 (WRAP) facilitator, and a Youth Mental Health First Aid (YMHFA) trainer. He recently graduated from King University in December 2019, where he received his Bachelor of Social Work Degree, and is currently working toward his Master of Social Work degree through the University of Tennessee.