“This is not who we are,” said Sarah Garrett, as she shared the story of her son’s struggle with drug addiction at an Evening with Friends, hosted by the Substance Awareness Center of Indian River County last Friday evening at the Indian River Shores Community Center.
Substance addiction is one of those dirty little family secrets traditionally swept under the rug. But the prevalence of drug use and addiction among teens has forced Americans to face the facts.
According to a national Monitoring the Future survey, “alcohol is the substance abused most frequently by adolescents, followed by marijuana and tobacco. As much as 35 percent of high school seniors reported drinking alcohol and 21 percent using marijuana.”
The Substance Awareness Center is working to reduce the incidence of substance abuse through prevention, treatment and recovery support.
“We believe in the science that prevention works and we believe in the science that says treatment works. We build all of our programs around that science,” said Carrie Maynard, SAC clinical director.
Through SAC’s Life Skills Training program, almost 6,000 third- through eighth-grade students will receive social, emotional and drug-resistance training this year. And for students who have had drug- or alcohol-related incidents they offer Civil Citation, which has shown good results through collaborative efforts with local law enforcement and the school district.
“Arresting youth and over intervening had worse outcomes and increased recidivism rates in youth,” said Maynard, citing research by the Department of Juvenile Justice.
“If a youth has an infraction at school they are offered the ability to receive programming at our office. This shift away from zero tolerance has significantly decreased expulsion rates, from 120 expulsions down to 19. We want our kids in school learning, not out of school unsupervised,” explained Maynard.
While statistics can generalize the success of programs, the real confirmation was related by Garrett, who told of the day a sheriff’s deputy called.
“It was the call that no mother ever wants to receive,” recalled Garrett. “He was calling to tell me that he was in my home with my son and the paramedics were there too.”
Her teenage son, an honor student at Vero Beach High School, and two friends had decided to try hash oil. When Garrett’s son had an adverse reaction, his friends left him to fend for himself.
“As you can imagine, my emotions were all over the place. First and foremost I was very concerned for my son. But I was also angry, sad, disappointed, confused and embarrassed,” recalled Garrett. “I thought at that time it was going to scare my son enough to stay away from it all. But I was wrong. The months that followed were hell.”
She did what all good parents do: grounded the youngster, yelled at him, restricted his privileges, and took the phone and car keys away. “I did everything to get this child’s attention and nothing that I was doing was working. I felt lost and defeated, and I could not for the life of me figure out how we got to this point, because this is not who we were.”
After a second incident, this time at school, Garrett found herself face-to-face with the school resource officer. Her son was given a Civil Citation and would have to complete an eight-week program with the Substance Awareness Center.
“I had no idea who the Substance Awareness Center was, much less the programs that they offered.”
The counseling encompassed the whole family and, while it was a bumpy road involving a choice between a residential facility and Teen Court, Garrett proudly stated that her son was doing well today.
“The program itself changed his life. I’d go so far to say that it saved his life,” shared Garrett.
For more information, visit SACIR.org.