While having robust and sustained recovery programs for those suffering from opioid addiction is critical to the war against drugs, where communities see the highest return on investment is when it creates a similar or even more significant commitment to the area of prevention.
That is the point that Talbot County Public Schools Superintendent Kelly Griffith, Talbot County health officer Dr. Fredia Wadley, and Talbot County Dept of Social Services director Linda Webb are all eager to make during Mid-Shore Goes Purple campaign in September.
In fact, prevention works best when it can be applied to young children who have had adverse childhood experiences, or ACEs as professionals call them. These include such things as divorce, incarceration of a family member, child abuse, mental illness in the household, and other stress-inducing conditions that can be directly linked to drug addiction behavior later in life.
Now, these three organizations have teamed up tonight for a special presentation starting 6 p.m. at the Easton High School Auditorium, called “Creating a Conversation about Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and Building Resiliency,” with featuring speaker, Tonier “Neen” Cain-Muldrow, a trauma survivor and internationally-recognized Trauma Informed Care Expert.
As part of the program, the highly-acclaimed documentary “Healing Neen” will be shown followed by a community conversation on how best to educate the public about the impact of childhood trauma on the brain and building resilience for a successful and long life.
The Spy sat down with Fredia and Linda at the Bullitt House in Easton yesterday to discuss the enormous research that backs the claim that early childhood intervention can show dramatic results in preventing both drug addiction and mental health issues.
This video is approximately three minutes in length. This event is free to the public. The first 200 participants will also receive a copy of the book, “Healing Neen.” For further information, call 410-770-5750.
Write a Letter to the Editor on this Article
We encourage readers to offer their point of view on this article by submitting the following form. Editing is sometimes necessary and is done at the discretion of the editorial staff.