Speech and Rhetorical Studies Commons^™

Mapping Meaning At The Crossroads Of Crisis: Narratives Of Renewal In The Midst Of The Opioid Epidemic, Preston Carmack

Graduate Student Research Symposium

This study explores the role of meaning in a crisis situation by using Viktor Frankl’s tripod of meaning and Matthew Seeger and Timothy Sellnow’s narratives of renewal. Drawing from focus groups conducted in a large mid-Atlantic city where community members are embedded in the middle of the opioid crisis, the findings suggest that resiliency in the face of crisis can be encouraged to take root through a mapping of meaning that highlights gratitude and responsibility.