If you love someone with an addiction, come be encouraged – there is always hope!
Saturday Feb 8th 4-6
River Club Church 10835 Tidewater Trail Fredericksburg
Facebook Event Page: https://www.facebook.com/events/815996055479770/
Read details about the event at the Free-Lance Star
Read more of journalist Randy Rieland’s research into the local response and how it is helping break the cycle . . .
Law enforcement agencies in the region are taking on a larger role in teaching their communities about a crisis that few saw coming, and with a focus more nuanced than it would have been 10 years ago.
“We try to teach it’s a brain chemistry issue,” Fauquier sheriff’s Capt. Ray Acors said. “It’s not that someone’s a bad person. Their bad behavior comes out of their addiction. It’s a Jekyll and Hyde drug.”
Chief Chris Jenkins of Culpeper thinks addiction prevention doesn’t get the attention it merits. He has both professional and deeply personal reasons for feeling that way. Five years ago, his 26-year-old son, Jordan, who had become addicted to prescription medications, committed suicide. “I actually think prevention is as important as law enforcement now,” he said. “And it’s the part people kinda forget about.”
Mr. Jenkins said a complicating factor is that it’s usually up to local communities to develop their own prevention programs.
“Look, we already have our hands full for the next 10 to 15 years dealing with what’s happened. If we don’t focus on addiction prevention now, we’re going to get another whole segment of our community dealing with it.”
Read the FULL ARTICLE at FAUQUIER NOW or download a PDF at the Piedmont Journalism Foundation
I was grateful to participate in the Voices of Addiction & Recovery Symposium. Co-hosted by the Windmore Foundation for the Arts, it’s goal was to share the challenges that someone with addiction faces and the reality that there is hope – recovery is possible.
The Symposium included a panel discussion with Culpeper Police Captain Tim Chilton, local Medication Assisted Treatment provider Dr. DeRoo, Prevention Specialist Alan Rasmussen with the Rappahannock Rapidan Community Services, and myself, representing Culpeper Overdose Awareness and families who’ve lost a loved one to addiction.
Interspersed among panel discussions were readings of poetry that convey the struggle and depth of pain addiction brings. Community member Ralisha Banks read a poem she authored, “She Is Me,” sharing her experience of growing up in a home with abuse and drug addiction, a pattern that showed up in her own adult life. Her words were the most powerful of the night.
A display of art made by folks in recovery or still struggling with drug abuse was on display, and community resources were on hand for everyone to take.
Read the full story by Allison Brophy Champion at The Culpeper Star Exponent.