Experts: Seeking help vital in opioid addiction fight
Abstaining from drugs became much harder for former addicts such as Necia Newcomb once the pandemic hit and lifelines to support were no longer readily available.
There were no more 12-step meetings or coffee breaks with friends, or events such as group bowling that had helped Newcomb when she felt the need for a fix. Talking to people by Zoom just wasn’t the same.
“A lot of places are closed, but liquor stores are open and the drug dealers don’t take a break,” said Newcomb, who lives with her husband and two daughters in Gardner, about an hour and a half south of Chicago.
In Will County, where Newcomb helps out with the Rapid Response Team of Will County distributing Narcan kits that can help when someone is overdosing, there have already been 71 opioid overdoses this year through Sept. 29 compared to 101 in all of 2019, according to statistics posted by the Will County coroner.
“We’re expecting a higher number in 2020 because of COVID-19,” said Kathleen Burke, director of Substance Use Initiatives with Will
County executive Larry Walsh’s office. But unlike the rising number of addicts who have relapsed in the past year or even died from overdoses, Newcomb has used her knowledge and experience helping other addicts, as well as support from family and friends, to stay sober.
“It’s definitely been hard,” said Newcomb, 26. “I have to remind myself isolation is my biggest enemy, so I have to pick up the phone and say, ‘Hey, I’m feeling thisway. Canwe talk?’
“My husband is really good at noticing and saying, ‘Is there anything going on?’ ”
Newcomb was among the addiction experts presenting recently at “Your Light Still Shines,” an annual meeting marking Overdose Awareness Day hosted by the village of New Lenox and the New Lenox Safe Community Coalition. The session was held via Zoom this year because of the pandemic.
Other speakers included Christopher Druce-Jones, director of Chaplaincy at Rosencrance in Rockford, and Jessie Monreal of the inpatient addiction unit at U-Chicago Medicine/Ingalls Memorial.
The importance of staying sober was a hard lesson for Newcomb to learn. She had been sexually abused as a child and at 13 was hospitalized for self-harming. She began taking too many of the antidepressants she was prescribed and by 16 was addicted to heroin and alcohol, and had attempted suicide twice.
“We use drugs to get out of our minds and try to numb our feelings,” Newcomb said. “Once we take drugs and alcohol away from us, those feelings we were trying to numb and avoid … those traumas are still there.”
After she became addicted,
Newcomb was in and out of treatment five times. During her fifth relapse, Newcomb found out she was pregnant. She and her boyfriend had been trying to have a child, but knowing she had recently been using drugs while pregnant made Newcomb want to come clean. She has been sober since June 13, 2014.
“Knowing I didn’t want my children to see me the way I saw my mother and father all the time,” said Newcomb, whose parents also were addicts. “Knowing I was in a situation where I could be like my parents, or a good role model for my children made the decision.”
Nowthere are 39 posters featuring Newcomb posted around Illinois. She tells her story at treatment centers and high schools. She also runs a Facebook group for people struggling with addiction.
And she’s making a difference.
“You’ve taken some negatives in your life and turned them into positives for others,” said Dan Martin, Safe Community Coordinator for New Lenox, who hosted the recent Zoom session.
Druce-Jones, another speaker at the session, said coping mechanisms have been especially important during the pandemic.
“I think it’s been a huge problem because so much of the recovery process involves gathering together for support groups,” hesaid, “and because of the restrictions that have been placed on everyone, it has led people to not be able to physically connect.
“Unfortunately, it really does exacerbate the isolation, and really keeps people from reaching out.”
Druce-Jones pointed out many people are experiencing a sense of loss from the pandemic, not just addicts, and the grief that comes with loss needs addressing but often gets brushed aside because people are uncomfortable expressing or listening to it.
“Somewhere in the journey of a person who struggles with addiction, there is some connection with some form of loss or trauma,” he said. “When another event happens, it exacerbates that grief.”
Rosencrance, where Druce-Jones works and leads grief support groups, also offers mindfulness, meditation and labyrinth exercises — walking meditation that helps people slow their thoughts or feelings and process them.
But Druce-Jones said society needs to explore creative, virtual ways for more people safely express their grief.
“I think we need a whole lot of them and to recognize loss comes in different ways and it’s not necessarily around death,” said Druce-Jones. “People have los homes, jobs, connections with their community … and watching others suffer with illness.”