Stories
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Alex’s Story
Addiction is a special kind of hell. It takes the soul of the addict and breaks the hearts of everyone who loves them. In 2020, it’s been three years since losing my husband Alex, and for some reason this year has been harder than the two before. Grief hits me at such odd times, I…
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Jay’s Story: Why I Carry Narcan…Everywhere
We first met Jay Shifman when he volunteered with SAFE’s Naloxone Awareness Project, helping to promote awareness of Naloxone and help people find it in their communities. But Jay does more than just promote this lifesaving drug – it goes everywhere he does! Narcan/Naloxone comes with an unintended additional purchase, stigma … but the more…
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Beth’s Story: If I had Known
“I lost my youngest son Joe on June 24 of 2017 to a heroin overdose. He was 32 years old.” – Beth French When a death is caused by addiction, a parent is left with many questions, and I asked myself most all of them: Was this a suicide? How did this happen? Why did I…
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Recovery Month: I am a Peer Recovery Specialist
“I am a Certified Peer Recovery Specialist. If you choose to have me as a part of your prevention, treatment and recovery team, you can expect something different.“ By Becky Sterling You can turn to a counselor for much needed advice based upon well studied research about what most people can expect and how that…
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Daniel’s Story: Getting Out of My Own Way
“My life slowly became everything I wanted it to be. The key part of it was getting out of my own way.” I grew up with every opportunity a person could dream of. I had successful and supportive parents, I had absolutely every need provided for me and I had no extreme trauma as a kid.…
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Rich’s Recovery
After a devastating skydiving accident left me temporarily paralyzed and in chronic pain, I found myself trapped in a cycle of opioid addiction—until one desperate moment, a knock at the door, and my daughter’s plea changed everything. On April 4, 1994, I was in the sky diving accident which broke my back in three places,…
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Joseph’s Story
This is the story of a son, named Joseph. It was Saturday morning, Labor Day weekend, 2017. I went to the gym and took the dog for a walk. Nothing out of the normal from my day-to-day routine. I went to Costco with a friend and we were planning a cookout that night. I received a text…
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Greg’s Story
Here is the story of a son, named Greg. Our son, Greg, suffered severe injuries from a car accident while in college at age 18. His long stay in the hospital resulted in an opioid addiction because of intense pain. He battled the addiction for 28 years, but he lost the war. Even though he…
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The Allure of Relief
Oxycodone is an opioid commonly sold under the brand name OxyContin. This prescription painkiller blocks pain receptors, but it also produces euphoric feelings by altering the levels of dopamine in your brain. In short, it changes how your central nervous system responds to pain by creating a euphoric, sedative effect. Here is one person’s story. Several…
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Jonathan’s Story
“The siblings in a military family are really the only life-long friends these kids will have growing up,” says James Winnefeld III, “LJ” to his family and close friends. Jonathan Winnefeld was the youngest son in a military family. His father, James Winnefeld, a Navy Admiral and the ninth Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs…
