Episode 5 - Turning Grief into Purpose

Transcript

How My Company Transformed to Take On the Opioid Crisis

If there ever was a charmed life, I was sure that I was living it.  I grew up in the perfect small town, raised by the picture-perfect parents.  My grades were outstanding, and I breezed through college, married the popular guy from my hometown and settled into having it all....2 beautiful kids, a loving husband and a technology career.  

But sometimes life throws you curve balls, and it threw me some big ones that hit me right between the eyes and knocked me for a loop.  My handsome husband descended into alcoholism leading to a divorce when I turned 40.  Not understanding that we were dealing with addiction, a disease that runs in families, I was blindsided when my 14-year-old daughter began using drugs that took us on a 15-year journey of rehab, relapse and more treatment.

I got educated through my experience with Laura, even opening a licensed therapeutic program for adolescents, but I was not prepared for the knock on the door that came at 4:00 AM when two very nervous and uncomfortable Roswell police officers let me know Laura had overdosed and had been “transported”.  For two agonizing days we watched her struggle on life support only to learn what I already had accepted that she had been without oxygen for too long and her brain had lost the ability to tell her body what to do...she was dying from the inside.   

Although many friends and family held vigil with us at the hospital, one conversation stood out with a friend Laura had met in treatment who found her path to recovery after a serious heroin addiction.  She said something surprising as we passed time in the waiting room, “You know, Carolyn, you and I are now in a position of privilege.”  She went on to explain that we had a story to tell, an experience we had learned from, and the ability to change lives to prevent other families from experiencing the heartache of drug addiction and overdose.  And that was the moment that everything changed for me.

Starting the Journey

Being the businessperson that I am, I started researching, reading, writing and thinking.  Some of what I found shocked me.  Laura was not alone in being on the hamster wheel of treatment and relapse.  85% of those that go to rehab relapse in the first year, often in the first few months after treatment.  Laura was back in treatment over 10 times during the years.  People were treating her addiction as an acute disease – 30 days and you’re good to go.  But in reality, this disease is chronic, just like diabetes, and needs management over a lifetime.  And treatment providers did a great job stabilizing the patient but didn’t continue to work with or follow them, despite research that proved a significant reduction in relapse if they did. 

The importance of connections

After talking to a number of people in long-term recovery, in collegiate recovery communities and those running treatment programs, I realized that “connections” were a strong indicator of those that could make the move from rehab to long term recovery.  So, what do people suffering from addiction need to be connected to?  

Let’s start with their treatment program.  My daughter checked in and almost always developed trusted relationships with the program, got help getting sober, and bared her soul to her recovery coaches and therapists.  Staying connected to those that helped her in the most critical time of need could have helped Laura craft a plan to recover.  30 days of rehab was not enough time and the structure, accountability and on-going education she needed was not there once she checked out.    Government research indicates that individuals who stay connected to their treatment program for at least 6 consecutive months following rehab have a