Peer coaching helps parents, addicted teens
It’s critical to become educated on trends in adolescent drug use
New national data on teen substance use from the Monitoring the Future (MTF) survey illustrate a problem that we know all too well here in New Mexico. Teen substance use is an ever-changing landscape and one in which parents must remain well-versed.
The study noted recent declines in teen misuse of prescription opioids, and while that is certainly encouraging, we cannot take our focus off the current prescription drug and heroin crisis that is still growing exponentially among other age groups across the United States.
The new survey findings also show that vaping, the act of inhaling and exhaling the aerosol often referred to as vapor produced by an e-cigarette, is becoming more popular among teens. The data underscore that it is critical for parents to educate themselves and stay on top of the latest trends in teen substance use, and what they need are the tools and support to protect and help their kids.
When parents discover their child is struggling with substances, there is usually embarrassment and shame. For me, I didn’t know where to start or whom to trust. I remember clearly going straight to Google and typing the words “Oxy Addiction.”
When my son Michael was only 14 years old, he began experimenting with marijuana. Two short years later, he was offered his first OxyContin pill, and he was eventually introduced to heroin. During this time, we used every tool and resource available to us. We did not understand addiction. We did not understand the grip that took hold of his entire being, his heart and his soul.
Eventually, this disease claimed his life. Our lives have never been the same.
Shortly after his death, I became involved in our community by becoming a volunteer with Healing Addiction in Our Community. We bring awareness and education to youths and their families by shedding light on the stigma and shame associated with addiction. I am thankful, too, to be a parent coach with Partnership for Drug-Free Kids where I help guide other parents to address their child’s substance use.
Evidence shows that for almost all health issues, empowering a parent or guardian with information will result in far better outcomes for their child.
Had I been educated about addiction as a brain disease, I possibly could have better advocated for my child. Now I advocate with “His Face, My Voice,” by using my personal experience — the struggles and the successes — to help others who are going through the same thing. As volunteer parent coaches, we hold another parent’s hand through their journey, using evidence-based principles to help them and their child. It’s the peer-to-peer support, shown to work with so many other diseases, now applied to the disease of addiction.