The opioid epidemic has touched the lives of thousands of people across the Miami Valley. As part of our coverage of the crisis, WYSO wanted to know what our listeners wanted to know. We collected dozens of questions, a lot of them from people wondering how best to help a loved one struggling with addiction or recovery, and how to find support for themselves.
We posed some of the questions to participants at a meeting of Dayton support group Families of Addicts or FOA. For WYSO News, Community Voices producer Jason Reynolds brings us a taste of what people at the meeting had to say.
JASON: Listeners want to know what they can do to help fight the stigma around addiction.
LORI ERION: People are hesitant to admit that they have a problem. So, I mean, one of the things is: talk about it. Sometimes people like to tell you, and family members like to tell you, what you should and shouldn鈥檛 be doing. And sometimes even shun you.
BILLY BROKSCHMIDT: What I鈥檝e learned, as far as eliminating stigma, even in early recovery, I was ashamed. I didn鈥檛 want to tell people where I鈥檇 been when I just got out of treatment. I lied. I told people, oh, I had some medical condition. So, if there鈥檚 a silver lining, it was that eventually I got to a point where I鈥檓 no longer ashamed, and it鈥檚 an asset. It鈥檚 part of my identity and it鈥檚 made me a lot stronger.
JASON: How do you help a family member, like your daughter who has an addiction, without enabling her
MIKE DILLON: Tough love. I know it鈥檚 easier said than done, and it broke our hearts doing it. But we had to set boundaries and we had to stick by them. If you鈥檙e going to use, you can鈥檛 stay here, you have to go. She lived in a shelter. She got wrapped up with a bunch of people, got in trouble, paid the price. It was heartbreaking as a parent because you don鈥檛 know what to do.
BILLY BROKSCHMIDT: In my case, I got to a point where I had to tell my mom, no, even when you buy me food, that鈥檚 one thing I don鈥檛 have to buy now, that I can take that money that I was going to go buy a sandwich with and go buy dope with it. And what鈥檚 a parent supposed to do? Let their child starve? This is what I tell parents: if you know that you鈥檙e doing it from love, I don鈥檛 want you to feel guilty about it.
LORI ERION: Parents aren鈥檛 wired to shut the door on their children. They鈥檙e just not. And it doesn鈥檛 mean that we shouldn鈥檛 at some time, but we鈥檙e not wired to do it, so we need to prepare ourselves. We need to know that we鈥檙e doing the right thing, and we need to be ready for it if the outcome of doing that isn鈥檛 what we expect.
JASON: What is one thing that you wish people understood about recovery?
JEREMY BOYD: That it [addiction] is a disease. Some people don鈥檛 know how to cope with reality, so then they take to getting high. And after they鈥檝e done it for so long, that鈥檚 the only thing they know how to do.
MIKE DILLON: And a lot of people don鈥檛 realize it. They think that people in addiction are throw-away pieces-of-crap human beings, and it鈥檚 not that way. There鈥檚 no cure for addiction, but you can work on it and put it in remission.
LORI ERION: I want you to hear, you know what, you鈥檙e not alone. If you know of someone, a family member or individual, you are not alone. There are so many people affected by this, whether it鈥檚 opiates, fentanyl, Xanax, alcohol, whatever it. If it鈥檚 a substance-use disorder, you鈥檙e not alone. There is help.
ASHLEY SIDERS: What I want people to know about recovery is that when you鈥檙e digging that hole and you never think you鈥檙e going to get out of it, you can. You need fellow people like us, fellow addicts, to help you get out of that hole.
This story was produced as part of WYSO's series.
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