HOUGHTON — One of the goals of Keweenaw County Sheriff Curt Pennala’s concept for the Mental Health presentation in Eagle River on May 27, 2021, was to help the public reach a clearer understanding of mental health, to begin the elimination of the social stigma regarding mental illness and those who want or need professional help, but are afraid to seek it, because of the pervasive stigma. The presentation, he said, was organized, because “it was time for the community to have a conversation in regards to mental health and the stigma attached to it.”

Topics of the event included services available in the region as well as those that are lacking. With September being Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month, the conversation Pennala hoped for is continuing. This week, it is directing community focus to eliminating the stigma attached to those wanting to end the cycle of addiction and begin treatment and recovery, those who are already in recovery, and family members who have been impacted by a family member’s addiction and behavior.

Prevention Specialist and Drug Counselor from the Western U.P. Health Department Gail Ploe said that the Facing Addiction through Community Engagement program was begun in order to take a look at what is missing in the local communities and what can be done to bridge those gaps.

“One of the things that became very obvious early on, was that we don’t have a lot of support programs for family members,” she said. “We don’t have a lot of education programs for children; young children, middle school, high school, kids who are maybe dealing with family addiction, and so some of the initiatives that we’re working on will address those things.”

Ploe said that one of the things receiving focus is learning about Adverse Childhood Experiences, or ACEs. Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are potentially traumatic events that occur before a child reaches the age of 18. Such experiences can interfere with a person’s health, opportunities and stability throughout his or her lifetime-and can even affect future generations.

An Aug. 17, 2017 report, Children Living with Parents Who have a Substance Use Disorder, by Rachel N. Lipari, Ph.D. and Struther L. Van Horn, M.A., stated that parent substance use disorders (SUDs) can have negative impacts on children, including lower socioeconomic status and more difficulties in academic and social settings and family functioning when compared with children living with parents without an SUD. Children having a parent with an SUD are at risk of experiencing direct effects, such as parental abuse or neglect, or indirect effects, such as fewer household resources.

The report was compiled long before the COVID pandemic skyrocketed excessive substance use, and relied on data from the 2009-14 National Surveys on Drug Use and Health (NSDUHs) to determine the number of children living with a parent who had an SUD (alcohol use disorder or illicit drug use disorder). The numbers are staggering:

Approximately 8.7 million (12.3 percent) children, aged 17 or younger, lived in U.S. households with at least one parent who had an SUD. About 7.5 million (10.5 percent) children lived in households with at least oneparent who had an alcohol use disorder, and about 2.1 million (2.9 percent) children lived in households with at least one parent who had a past year illicit drug use disorder.

The annual average of 8.7 million children aged 17 or younger living in U.S. households with at least one parent who had an SUD highlights the potential breadth of substance use prevention and treatment needs for the whole family-from substance abuse treatment for the affected adults and prevention and supportive services for the children, something Gail Ploe said FACE was organized to look at.

The report divided the statistics into households with alcohol use and households with illicit drug use, and children’s ages.

Overall, about 7.5 million (10.5 percent) children, aged 17 or younger, lived in households with at least one parent who had an alcohol use disorder. An annual average of 1.2 million children, aged 0 to 2 (10.1 percent of this age group); 1.2 million children, aged 3 to 5 (9.9 percent of this age group); 2.4 million children, aged 6 to 11 (10.2 percent of this age group); and 2.7 million children aged 12 to 17 (11.3 percent of this age group) lived with at least one parent who had an alcohol use disorder.

About 1.6 million children, aged 17 or younger, resided in a two-parent household with at least one parent who had an illicit drug use disorder, and about 538,000 children resided in a single-parent household with a parent who had an illicit drug use disorder.

“In other words,” the authors wrote, “about 3.1 percent of children residing in two-parent households lived with at least one parent who had a past year illicit drug use disorder, and 2.6 percent of children residing in single-parent households lived with a parent who had an illicit drug use disorder.”

The report went on to state that of the study subjects: Among the 538,000 children residing in single-parent households with a parent who had an illicit drug use disorder, 111,000 lived with their fathers and 427,000 lived with their mothers. About 3.8 percent of children residing in father-only households lived with a father who had an illicit drug use disorder, and 2.4 percent of children residing in mother-only households lived with a mother who had an illicit drug use disorder.

“As substance use and SUDs among parents often occur in households that face other challenges (e.g., mental illness, poverty, domestic violence),” the authors reported, “the recovery process may need to extend beyond substance use treatment to produce the changes in a family that are necessary to ensure a healthy family environment for a child.”

There is hope for those wanting to end the cycle of addiction and abuse, however. Addiction is a treatable disorder, states the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Research on the science of addiction and the treatment of substance use disorders has led to the development of research-based methods that help people to stop using drugs and resume productive lives, also known as being in recovery.

“Research shows that when treating addictions to opioids (prescription pain relievers or drugs like heroin or fentanyl),” the NIDA states, “medication should be the first line of treatment, usually combined with some form of behavioral therapy or counseling. Medications are also available to help treat addiction to alcohol and nicotine.”

The first step in arresting and reversing the epidemic of addiction on a community-wide scale, however, is the reminder that addiction is a brain disease, it not something people choose to do. And like other chronic diseases such as heart disease or asthma, treatment for drug addiction usually isn’t a cure. But addiction can be managed successfully. Treatment enables people to counteract addiction’s disruptive effects on their brain and behavior and regain control of their lives. What those suffering an SUD need to feel safe going into treatment and recovery is not social stigma, but community compassion, encouragement, and support.

To learn more, please visit the National Institute on Drug Abuse website at https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugs-brains-behavior-science-addiction/treatment-recovery.