The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)’s National Prescription Drug Take Back Day is a one-day event intended to bring national awareness to the increasing prescription and controlled substance misuse. The service is free and anonymous, “no questions asked.” This initiative addresses a vital public safety and public health issue. Unused or expired medicines that are stored in home cabinets…
The Returning Citizens Stimulus (RCS), a new program through the Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO), supports 32 Tulsans who have been released from incarceration in the past 12 months and are unemployed or underemployed. The program started in April as a result of COVID-19. The Family & Children’s Services Women’s Justice Team (housed within the Women in Recovery – WIR – program)…
COVID-19 can’t stop a WIR graduation Family & Children’s Services (F&CS) Women in Recovery (WIR) is an outpatient alternative to incarceration program. WIR participants have strict weekly structured agendas that include addiction and trauma treatment, parent education, job readiness training, GED and other education groups and recovery support. Due to COVID-19, face-to-face contact was replaced…
COVID-19 is the enemy, which makes Jennie’s recovery more precarious. There are hurdles that make getting counseling harder, make getting human contact harder and make getting food, clothing and shelter harder. But conquering hurdles is nothing new for Jennie. As a child, she witnesses the spiral downturn of her parents, who were drug addicts. Adverse childhood experiences essentially led Jennie to opioid addiction. Within a couple of months, she was…
The coronavirus is stressful for everyone, but even more so for people struggling with substance use disorders. According to a poll published by the Kaiser Family Foundation, the coronavirus is harming the mental health of over half of Americans. This can result in a rise of depression, anxiety, suicide and substance abuse. For those in…
