Education called key to preventing addiction
BUTLER TWP — A room full of community leaders gathered Tuesday, March 7, for the Ellen O’Brien Gaiser Center’s “Discover Recovery” — an event focused on how addiction is a community problem with a community solution.
The informative talk and panel discussion at Butler County Community College was the first of its kind that invited those in school administration, recovery services, law enforcement and medical services to weigh in on combating substance abuse.
Joe Mahoney, executive director of the Gaiser Center, said raising awareness about the effects of addiction is crucial to preventing it.
“Education is key to prevention,” he said. “We want to continue this momentum, continue conversations started here and for the community to see us as a resource if they have questions.”
“Whatever we can do to fill any void in recovery, we want to pursue,” said Tammy Schuey, chairman of Gaiser’s board.
Dr. C. Thomas Brophy, the center’s medical director and Tuesday’s keynote speaker, is an addiction medicine specialist. He began his talk by explaining how the brain reacts to opioids and how the body responds to them.
“In the past, addiction education implied there was some moral or ethical failing of those who couldn’t toe the line and choose differently,” he said. “When (something) feels good, a new connection is made in the brain. The more you do something, the more your brain responds to support that activity.”
Studies on addiction treatment have shown using substances such as methadone, buprenorphine and Vivitrol to treat addiction actually help patients long-term.
“You have to approach the entire individual, their mental health, their physical health, in recovery,” Brophy said. “What I feel is addiction is a community problem, and it needs to be a community solution.”
Attendees asked representatives from law enforcement, school administration and the Gaiser Center how education could fight the impact of addiction.
Brian White, superintendent of Butler Area School District, said he has seen the impact vaping and marijuana have on students inside and outside of schools.
“We’re having issues down to fourth and fifth grade. Parents are using it, so it’s seen and accepted. There’s this expectation we can control everything in the school. We can’t do that,” he said.
The school system has eight therapists on staff to help children cope with outside stressors.
“The best prevention is talking to your child, being aware of what your child is doing, where they’re going, knowing your child,” he said.
“Deceit, isolation and addiction go together like peas in a pod,” Brophy said. “It all starts with communication.”
Within the Butler County Prison, new approaches to addiction recovery are being used to set inmates up for success upon release, warden Joseph DeMore said.
“Before it was (inmates) come in, we let them detox and ride that out. Now, treatments are administered to people with addictions so that when they get out of jail, they have a better chance.”
DeMore and Brophy said 75% of inmates in the prison are jailed on drug-related charges, and overdoses are more likely after an inmate is released.
“If we’re not intervening in that time period, we’re not doing our job,” Brophy said. “Likelihood is 400% increased risk of overdose two weeks after release.”
“The Vivitrol program at the jail protects them for 30 days. If we can get them on it before getting out, it protects them for that window,” DeMore said.
Vivitrol is an FDA-approved injection prescription used to treat opioid and alcohol dependency.
Alyssa Vorel and Cassandra Hoak, of the Gaiser Center, said substance abuse often begins as a coping mechanism for people with trauma.
“Substances help people come down with their nervous system from being on high alert,” Hoak said. “We’re helping them self-regulate and be able to respond better in situations by finding other coping skills.”
“It’s to teach them to remain relaxed in the body so they can widen their window of tolerance,” Vorel said. “We meet people exactly where they are.”
Eric Hawthorn, residential assistant and recovery specialist at Gaiser, spoke as a former patient at the center and recovering alcoholic.
“Anytime there was a problem, I went to alcohol,” he said. “No one was saying to stop. My addiction told me I was invincible.”
He described his family life, how he lost jobs because of his addiction, and how many recovery plans had failed.
“Gaiser is a spiritually uplifting place,” he said. “I never (allowed myself) to get out of the way; once I did was when I became me. Today I can look in the mirror; I can work in the treatment center where I became well. I get to smile. I get to live. I get to do all of that because of you.”
Brophy said the “Discovery Recovery” event is the step toward creating lasting addiction solutions in the community.
“What I like about it best is it’s bringing in different parts of the community ... It’s long overdue and needed immensely. I think everyone supporting this will have a bigger impact,” he said.
