Helpline
Call 1.855.378.4373 to schedule a call time with a specialist or visit scheduler.drugfree.org
Helpline
Helpline
Call 1.855.378.4373 to schedule a call time with a specialist

Parent Testimonial

I think of that “click” I made on Partnership to End Addiction’s website as a light switch I found while stumbling in the dark. It shed light on a new path for our family that I will be forever grateful for.
On September 1, 2014, I drove my oldest son in an overloaded car to Worcester State University.  I had never felt such pride in my 18 years of parenthood. I dreamt of this milestone. For months, I planned, shopped and looked toward an incredibly bright future.
Valentine’s Day is normally filled with roses and candy, happiness and memories of celebrating the ones we love. I had always been a mom to make a big deal of holidays and birthdays and just as I was staring at my son’s Valentine’s gift bag, our phone rang. At 8:37 pm, on February 14, 2021, our world changed forever.
On a Thursday morning in October, Sandy Snodgrass was given the news that no parent should ever have to hear. Her son, Robert Bruce Snodgrass, was found dead. He had died from a fentanyl overdose.
What happens when some deaths are considered more socially acceptable than others?
How do we help a loved one who is struggling with substance use?
I sat down to tell Casey’s story and talk about what she and so many others go through, and how where there’s breath, there’s hope.
It was like a light switch — I asked myself, “Where did my daughter go?” I found out it was substance use and mental health issues at the same time.
When you lose a child, your life changes forever. There will always be an emptiness, and a missing piece at the family gatherings.
Thanksgiving, Christmas, birthdays or anything that was special to our family — our son who was using drugs found a way to bring heartache to the occasion. Here are my tips for dealing with it.
I learned that addiction hijacks the brain's ability to make rational decisions — and that I didn't cause it, can't cure it and can't control it.
The detective said to me, “If we had a 911 Good Samaritan law or a Narcan law, your son might very well be alive.”
I am working on my own recovery, so I am properly able to support his.
There is no other word but grief when your child is lost in the haze of drug addiction. But your child is still there. There are paths to hope.
“Tell them my story.” My 20-year-old daughter Casey said these words to me not long before she died of an accidental heroin overdose on January 15, 2017.
For this father, it took time to learn that relapse can be a natural part of addiction recovery.
When my son became addicted, I embarked on a journey to learn about preventing and treating this disease. I wish I knew then what I know now.
Find out what Arianna Huffington, founder and CEO of Thrive Global, has learned from her daughter Christina's substance use disorder – including the importance of reaching out for help.
At face value, they sound so simple. Just seven words strung together. But in taking a moment to step back and find perspective, they become so much more.
All of us — men and women alike, who contend with family members, especially children, suffering from substance use disorder, are haunted by loss.
These were men that drank and played hard during a time when there was less discrimination over a swing and a swig. Men whose substance use were denied or protected, sometimes even by the sportswriters who sat at the bar with them.
What do I wish I had done differently?
Detach from the actions, crimes, drug use, and lying. Love and support the person inside, not the addiction controlling his life.
Like many parents, I felt that my son's addiction was every bit of my problem as it was his. I didn't know what I was doing wrong.
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