Transcription
0:00:00
8:22 9.3 WZBG as we get into our interview this morning we get a visit with the folks from the McCall Behavioral Health Network once a month and this is a very important month for the McCall. They’ve teamed up with the Litchfield County or yes Litchfield County Opiate Task Force which they do on a semi-regular basis because this is Overdose Awareness Month. Joining us this morning is Lauren Pristo. Good morning Lauren. Welcome back to the show.
0:00:28
Glad to have you on with us this morning. We’re also joined on the live line this morning. Cameron Breen joins us. Good morning Cameron. Good morning. Thank you for having me. We appreciate having you on the show and Cameron is going to share some words with us as we talk about Overdose Awareness Month. Let’s talk about the importance of this month, Lauren, and why we go down this path every August with a big event coming up at the end of this month.
0:00:52
Yeah, Overdose Awareness Day is an important time to reflect on the impact of the overdose crisis and the lives that we’ve lost and also act for policies and changes that would save further lives. And I also wanna take a moment to reflect on the stories that are being told about people who use drugs right now.
0:01:14
When power structures generate a narrative that paints them as dangerous and disposable, it’s crucial to remember that compassion is also our most powerful tool. And Overdose Awareness Day is really about rejecting that idea and standing up for folks.
0:01:31
When we talk about Overdose Awareness Day, this is going to be a resource and fair and vigil. Let’s talk about what happens on the 27th at Copark.
0:01:39
Yep, next Wednesday we have our Overdose Awareness Day vigil and from 5 to 8 we welcome anybody and everybody to come join us. There’s a resource fair to kick us off followed by the vigil portion where we remember the folks who we’ve lost to overdose and read their names. It’s really special and moving and important for everybody to attend.
0:02:00
It probably does it a disservice to dismiss victims of this and people who fight this battle as a statistic, but the statistics have been getting a little better, haven’t they, in the past couple of years?
0:02:15
Yes, but we have to be careful about that because while locally we’ve seen a decrease in overdose numbers, we still continue to see folks pass away. And frankly frankly as long as the illicit supply of drugs is as dangerous as it is, we’re going tocontinue to see that, especially as that supply changes..
0:02:36
You began talking earlier about stigmatization of people who are in this battle. Cameron, we’d like to bring you into the discussion and again we thank you for for joining us. You’ve been a staff member at McCall, you’re with another agency now. Can you tell us about about your experience, a little bit about about what you have battled on your own?
0:02:59
Sure, yeah I used to work as McCall Behavioral Health’s Harm Reduction Coordinator. I now work as a Street Outreach Case Manager with Liberation Programs. A little bit about myself is that I have been in recovery for the past eight years. July 1st is eight years for me but there was a point in time when I was an intravenous drug user. I had experienced overdoses multiple times, and luckily, you know, I’m a person who made it to the other side of that, but I’ve buried countless friends and loved ones due to overdose and so I can just say that I’m, you know, 100% here to voice support for bringing awareness to overdose and reducing the stigmatization of people who use drugs.
0:03:47
What can you tell us about the about the way you felt and the way people interacted and reacted to you those who knew that you were in this battle and the way they treated you and the way you felt about yourself?
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Yeah, so honestly so honestly, to be completely honest with you, I felt entirely ostracized from the majority of the world, right? I looked out on the world around me and I did not necessarily feel that I was a part of and I did not know how to… I kind of wished that I could just be, quote-unquote normal person, whatever that means. What that did was further isolate me from all the things that make us human.
0:04:40
It isolated me from connection, it isolated me from opportunities, it isolated me from feeling as though I was a part of and feeling like I had something to show up for and to live for on a daily basis. When that gets really difficult for people, what happens in a lot of circumstances and unfortunately based on the systems we’ve created around people who use drugs, is that they lose all of that connection, and when they have nothing that they want to actively show up for on a daily basis, what happens is they continue to use drugs, and unfortunately in some circumstances, they continue to use drugs until they die.
0:05:22
And so minimizing that stigmatization and creating spaces for people to feel loved and safe and to have that connection is where we actually will see, you know, lasting change, whether that be in one individual’s life or, you know, societally.
0:05:43
Cameron, I’ve had the privilege of interviewing a lot of folks who have who have been in the battle place where you are and continue in recovery like you have and I’m always intrigued by what was the turning point for them. Eight years ago, what was the turning point for you?
0:06:01
I mean there’s a there’s a lot that I can say to that and I don’t want to drone on by any means. But there’s a little piece that I can touch on. There’s a lot that went into, you know, me entering recovery and there’s just a small piece that I’ll touch on with when I actually entered this recovery around this time, because I entered recovery in 2017, and there was a late night in August. I used drugs alone in my bathroom. I was ashamed about it. It was a relapse. I didn’t speak to anybody about it, and my mother had woken up kind of in a panic in the room down the hall, was wondering why the house was so quiet and the bathroom door was locked. And they came into the bathroom to find me completely overdosed once they had gotten in there. And luckily, emergency services responded and we, they were able to revive me. This was not the only overdose that I’ve had.
0:07:09
I’ve had multiple. What really was the catalyst for myself was a situation which allowed me… What I can say is that those situations happened again and again and again and I could not find a way out. It felt like I was crawling up, trying to extend a hand and I didn’t even know where to go. But the catalyst for myself was that I had to go away to spend some time in jail and it wasn’t necessarily that the jail piece that was the thing, because I think culturally we kind of look at that and we say, you know, if we just throw as many negative consequences as we can at people who use drugs, then they will stop using drugs.
0:08:00
But the reality is, the substance use disorder is defined by one of the criteria is that people continue to use drugs despite negative consequences and then, societally, we throw as many negative consequences at them as we can with the expectation that they’ll stop using substances.
0:08:19
And that’s not the reality. What was the reality for me in that situation was my first response and my first idea that came in my head when I realized that I was going to have to spend some time in jail was that at least I’ll have people to talk to in jail. And that was the true factor that made me say, you know, I’m so isolated, I’m so alone right now and I don’t know any way out of this.
0:08:43
I couldn’t picture, you know, living with drugs in my life anymore and I couldn’t picture living without them. And so, I, you know, decided to do everything I could to enter recovery, but a lot of people’s stories look different and, you know, a lot of people’s recoveries look different and that can be a lot of things. I am a person that sounds as if they hit rock bottom, etc., etc., but the reality, unfortunately, is that there are too many people that their first rock bottom is six feet under the ground and if we don’t create spaces for people to feel safe and for people to be safe while that happens then what we’re going to continue to see happen is we’re going to lose our loved ones, we’re going to lose our friends, we’re going to lose our community members.
0:09:37
Cameron you have articulated the reason why we’re here this morning very very well and we appreciate your story. I applaud you for taking that first necessary step and wish you continued luck in your recovery or hard work and we appreciate your story. I applaud you for taking that first necessary step and wish you continued luck in your recovery or hard work and success in your recovery. Thank you. Lauren, I’ll give you a chance really to just recap why we’re here. And of course this event which is co-hosted by the Litchfield County Opiate Task Force.
0:09:58
Yeah, overdose Awareness Day as Cameron story really shows is an opportunity to remember that every life and every life lost was a person with a name, a story, and people who loved them deeply. Their absence is felt in our communities, in our families, and in our hearts. And on Overdose Awareness Day, August 27th from 5 to 8 in Coe Park in Torrington, we’re going to be remembering those lives.
0:10:23
Lauren, thanks for being our guest. Cameron, thank you so much for joining us on the live line and sharing your story. Thank you so much for having me. All the best to you. And Lauren, thanks so much. I hope that folks get a really useful takeaway from this event so that we can approach this problem with greater takeaway from this event so that we can approach this problem with greater empathy and compassion and make greater strides. Thanks for being our guest.