The Weight of a Feather
1.
Lynda, what inspired
you to write The Weight of a Feather
(Morgan James)? After
my son went into recovery, I thought about all the parents still going through
the devastating experience I had just left.
I remembered how isolated I felt during the time that my son was
addicted and how I struggled to maintain hope after I had exhausted every
resource and avenue I knew. I shared my
story because I wanted other parents to know that they are not alone in their
struggle and to provide hope that recovery is available, even in what seem to
be impossible situations.
2.
How did you come to
confront opiate addiction in your own family? I suspected my son was dabbling in drugs, but I did not really know
the extent of it until he informed me, flat out one day, that he was addicted
to heroin. “Well, we’ll have to find you
help,” I said, naively thinking that this was going to be a simple task of
finding the right resource and appropriate treatment, and we would be on our
way to resolving the situation. I didn’t
realize that resolving the situation was going to take years and dogged
persistence to ever reach recovery. As I
put it in my book, it was a game of “Chutes and Ladder”, forward and backward
before we ever reached the final square on the game board.
3.
Your book shares
touching stories, using sadness and humor to powerfully help us understand
the crisis our nation is in. How hard was it to relive these events and put
them into the book? I had at least a year’s distance from the
events before I started writing the book, which definitely helped, and I had a
driving force within me to help people understand the sheer agony that so many
families were enduring on a day-to-day basis.
The media is faithful in showcasing other tragedies – floods, earthquakes,
fires—and we are all moved with compassion.
But because of the stigma surrounding addiction, that compassion just
wasn’t there for families struggling with addiction or users. I think my
motivation kept me from getting bogged down with some of the sad parts of my
story. I wanted to say, this is me and
this is my story, and I am just one of millions of people who are dealing with
this here in America.
4.
What should the
government be doing to crack down on the opiate epidemic?
I think they need to get a better handle on the flow of drugs into and
within the country, along with a better system for monitoring the number of
prescriptions being written. Treatment needs to be immediately accessible
when a person reaches out for help, whether through detox or a MAT program on
an inpatient or outpatient basis. ERs
need to provide treatment, not referrals, and there needs to be parity in
treatment. Too many lives are being lost
while waiting for treatment to become available. Test strips to determine the level of
fentanyl in substances need to be more readily available to users. There also needs to be tighter regulations
and oversight of rehabs centers. It is
no longer unusual to read about clients dying in rehab centers because of lack
of supervision and medical attention.
Some rehabs are just “holding zones” with no effective treatment
available to clients. Many users have
co-occurring disorders, i.e. mental health issues, that need to be addressed
along with issues related to addiction.
Finally, there need to be effective supports available to help people in
the initial stages of recovery---real help in finding a job and housing, not
just counseling.
5.
How can parents be
better equipped to help a substance-abuser in their own house? They need to become educated, not
only about the disease of addiction but also about resources in their
community. They need to learn about
support systems both for themselves and their child. It is a good idea to make connections with a
family navigator or advocate who could help them in the process. They also need to maintain a relationship
with their child, in spite of their addictive behaviors, and communicate
confidence that their son or daughter can achieve recovery. So often users themselves lose hope so it is
important to know that there is someone in their life that is keeping that fire
kindled.
6.
How can we clear
roadblocks to get people into a recovery program? Make treatment
accessible immediately. Perhaps setting
up safe injections sites is an idea to be considered—not as a form of
enabling—but as a way of keeping users in contact with people who can help
guide and support them in finding treatment.
Develop a clear path to recovery; it is still too much of a maze that
people have to navigate through.
7.
Even with a Master’s
Degree in Social Work, did you feel equipped to handle your family’s tragedy?
It is ironic, but even though I was more familiar with “the system” than
most people, it didn’t really help me. The
opiate crisis hit almost everyone --- parents, educators, clinical and medical
professionals---like a tsunami. No one
was quite prepared or trained to deal with it, and there has been a lot of
scrambling and confusion trying to find the right path to resolve it on both a
small and large scale.
For more information, please see: http://thefamilyrecoverysolution.com/2018/10/09/lynda-hacker-araoz-mothers-journey/
DON”T MISS THESE!!!
How Do You Become An
Influencer?
Where’s Your Literary
Megaphone?
Have You Set Your Book
Marketing Goals?
The Book Marketing
Strategies Of Best-Sellers
Step out of your book marketing prison
Do authors have the
right attitude to succeed at book marketing?
While popularity of
social media grows, traditional media still leads the conversation
Authors should see
book marketing like going to a gym regularly
How to model success
of authors for your own book publicity
How to be persistent
when marketing books effectively
How authors convince
media of their uniqueness
Authors should zoom in
on book marketing now
How authors can
communicate better when promoting a book
How authors can sell
more books
No. 1 Book Publicity
Resource: 2019 Toolkit For Authors -- FREE
Brian
Feinblum’s insightful views, provocative opinions, and interesting ideas
expressed in this terrific blog are his alone and not that of his employer or
anyone else. You can – and should -- follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and
email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels much more important when
discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog
©2019. Born and raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in Westchester. His
writings are often featured in The Writer and IBPA’s Independent.
This was named one of the best book marketing blogs by Book Baby http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs and recognized by Feedspot in 2018 as one of the
top book marketing blogs. Also named by WinningWriters.com as a "best
resource.” He recently hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.