The Opioid Epidemic: Stephen’s Story

Introduction

This documentary was created by the family members of Stephen, who overdosed on July 9th, 2018. After experiencing a traumatic event, Stephen began to struggle immensely with substance abuse, particularily with heroin, an opioid, and ultimately lost his life. His family discusses not only Stephen’s battle with mental health and addiction, but also the family’s history as well. From the impact of trauma, dual diagnosis / comorbidity, to family history, you’ll get to hear from Stephen’s family members on the impact he had on their lives and how an opioid overdose had fatal consequences.

Quotes

“These days we’re trying to take stigma away from mental health problems and our mental health problems have always let to addiction, and that’s because the pain that people feel from their mental illnessess isn’t treated properly or openly spoken of. The pain is so severe that they’re looking for any way to stop the hurt.”

“When I was 14, I saw two of my best friends die in a car accident. I was supposed to be in the car with them and from that day forward I didn’t go one day without smoking weed or drinking and eventually that just wasn’t enough anymore.”

“According to the National Child Traumatic Stress Network, a person will begin using drugs and alcohol after experiencing a trauma up to 76% of the time.”

“For somebody who has a full-blown addiction, withdrawal management is much more tricky because the brain has been changed as a result of the disease of addiction and the symptoms are more intense and seem to obviously be alleviated by reuse of the substance … withdrawal management is crucial because relapse is so common during or right after withdrawal management.”

Stephen’s Letter: Dear Drugs
“Dear drugs, I have to leave you. Don’t think it’s because I hate you, no, it’s because I love you more than anyone or anything in the world. You’re all that matters. Not my family, friends, money, work or school even come close to how important you are to me and you pretty much have pushed all of these things away from me. Don’t get me wrong, you were always there for me in my worst of times but the relief was only temporary and caused so much more pain in the long run. When things were good, it was great. When it was bad, it was awful. I can’t put myself through it again. I won’t survive. My best friend is dead from staying with someone like you. The more I’m away from you, the more I realize what is most important. My family is always number one and you won’t be the one to come before them anymore. Don’t worry, I’ll think about you every day. I’ll want to call you but won’t. You’ll always be part of me but you won’t define who I am.”

“I realized that I have a blessing with my family, that we can share our story, whether it’s mentall illness, mental health, or the addiction and the loss of my cousin Stephen, so that no one out there feels alone and they know that this is real. They know that it’s a disease and the know that if they’re struggling that help is available and they’re worth it.”

“I created a scholarship in memory of Stephen – Michael’s Giving H.A.N.D is the organization I speak for in schools … I share my story of mental health recovery and also my brother’s struggle and also my cousin’s overdose. I decided to create that scholarship because I felt like I had to do more … proceeds of my book The People You Meet in Real Life support the scholarship and it’s other incredible stories of people who have been through different things and just letting you know that there’s hope out there.”