A Connecticut mother, whose son died of a heroin overdose in 2015, displays a tattoo to members of a family addiction support group in 2016. She got the tattoo to commemorate the year anniversary of his death.
Study authors expect these personal losses will continue to rise as overdoses claim tens of thousands of lives annually. Thefrom the Centers for Disease Control is 111,380 deaths in the U.S. during the 12-month period ending in September 2023. Unlike what happens after other types of losses, like suicide, Athey said there’s little formal outreach to people who witnessed an overdose or were left to mourn the death. These steps could help avoid more overdoses, a phenomenon known asoften discussed around suicide. Bereaved friends and families aren’t typically connected to clinics that offer counseling, medication or guidance.
Leslie Gomes Preston heard similar remarks about her daughter, Kiara Smith, who died after an overdose in 2016. Some parents cope by hiding their grief or cutting off conversations about their dead child. Not Gomes Preston, a resident of Cape Cod. She joined a“I love to talk about it because to me, it proves she was here,” said Gomes Preston, adding that she talks to her daughter daily and feels Kiara's presence in those moments when she remembers something at just the right time.
“Where there’s a death that spurs suffering, that spurs more deaths that spurs more suffering, and there’s an exponential increase,” said Athey. “So thinking at the community and geography level is one way to take a first attempt at addressing this problem.”
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Source: PreventionMag - 🏆 141. / 63 Read more »
Source: News4SA - 🏆 251. / 63 Read more »
Source: petapixel - 🏆 527. / 51 Read more »
Source: BuzzFeed - 🏆 730. / 51 Read more »
Source: ladailynews - 🏆 332. / 59 Read more »
Source: physorg_com - 🏆 388. / 55 Read more »