Social support

June Ariano-Jakes

Visions Journal, 2019, 15 (1), pp. 17-19

And to Reduce the Harm from Substance Use

Sherry Vaile Robinson

Reprinted from "Opioids" issue of Visions Journal, 2018, 13 (3), p. 17

My son Tyler fatally overdosed on heroin laced with fentanyl in a friend’s hotel room on January 27, 2016. He was 23 years old.

When you live in a small town, everyone knows your reputation. In school, James often found that he was the outcast and viewed as a trouble-maker. Eventually crime and drug use became a way to fit in with a group and find any sort of connection with others. In and out of juvie and then the adult system, he took an opportunity to enter a treatment and recovery program. With his sentence complete this year, James looks forward to bringing the insights he’s discovered with him and continuing his work to build healthy and supportive relationships.

By Grade 8, Tabitha found that drinking and drug use made it a lot easier to fit in, and drugs became part of her life. When her father and then her best friend died of a heroin overdose, Tabitha tried to change her own substance use, but social connections were challenging because drug use was everywhere in her community, and Tabitha found herself drowning in grief…alone. Now sober, she reflects on her path to accept her past, find new connections and reconnect with all parts of her story.