Action Post

Being that this issue is so close to me and I've already done so much research behind it, I believe that this is my line of practice in the Social Work field. Being that this issue hit home with individuals that are important in my life I would love to bring awareness to people of all ages and walks of life. I'm a firm believer that if you can reach and change the lives of at least 1 person you've accomplished your goal. For some kids things set in and they tend to remember things on what they should and shouldn't do as they become adults. Some take heed some don't, but I believe that the awareness should start in middle school all over.

When it comes to awareness the things that should be talked about are limitless. I don't think anything should be held back from the middle school aged children almost to scare them in a sense. Then I would like to do outreach work all over with resources for treatment and assistance for addicts, showing them that there is life after addiction. I would allow them their space being that I know that everyone isn't ready to deal with their demonds that drove them to their addiction. I would assure them that they're not being judged by lending a listening ear  and a helping hand to anyone that just want to vent about their struggles as well as work on them.

There was this show that I watched; there was a lady that did outreach work on the struggles with heroin. She allowed addicts to swap out old needles for new ones. Although this sounds as if she's promoting drug abuse she's not. I feel that she's saying I understand your struggle and I'm not judging you but I at least want you to try to be as safe as possible despite your situation. She also gave out free Narcan and HIV test. I'm sure with these items she has save many lives behind addicts using heroin, it's like a safety kit. This would absolutely be me. I believe that I was put here to help. Instead of throwing the needles out in the open there would be safety boxes all over. Anything to protect the innocent surrounding people from harming and/or infecting themselves.

I think raising awareness would be the most important and cautious thing to do at this point. I'm not just saying to talk about it once and then leave it alone. No! There need to be support groups billboards and commercials about how things are going downhill with this epidemic. The fact that there's Narcan in elementary schools is scary to me. The way that these children have to grow up is so unfortunate for them. With all of these new treatment centers opening up hopefully there will be big drop in this horrific epidemic.