Jared Owen

Jared Owen was in graduate school at MIT when he became addicted to opioids. His life spiraled out of control.  He was sent to a residential treatment facility called the Meridian House in East Boston where he stayed a full year before graduating in February of 2016.  Jared has now been in recovery for 5 years and recently returned to MIT to be granted a Master’s Degree. He currently works for Massachusetts Organization for Addiction Recovery (MOAR) and advocates for improved addiction treatment and recovery support services to bend the curve of the ongoing opioid overdose epidemic.  Jared speaks out about his lived experience to reduce stigma, raise awareness, and demonstrate the value of recovery from substance use disorders.

In his role at MOAR, Jared represents a voice for recovery on numerous statewide coalitions including the MA Coalition for Criminal Justice Reform, the MA Coalition for Medication Assisted Treatment in Corrections, the EndHepCMA Coalition, the MA Coalition for Addiction Services, and the MA Trial Court’s Community Justice Project where he chairs a subcommittee to bring peer support workers into area specialty courts.  He also works on analyze policy, assemble factsheets, write MOAR’s monthly newsletters, and recently wrote the first “MOAR Guide to the Language of Addiction and Recovery.”   Jared speaks regularly at MOAR events, schools, rallies, legislator-education events, and on expert panels.  He was recently promoted to a third member of MOAR’s leadership team focused on supervision and organizational development.