To register ~ http://www.attackaddiction.org/?p=1174

FOMO—Fear Of Missing Out—took enough away from me in my addiction. I spent countless nights wishing I hadn’t gone out or drunk as much as I did. In sobriety, I’ve never regretted not going to the party. A new year should symbolize growth, bettering yourself, or beginning again. Don’t let FOMO take that away from you. 

If there is one thing that describes my addiction, it was the yearning for connection. Ironic, isn’t it? The thing I spent the most time striving for is the thing that I ultimately couldn’t get, even from the substances that I thought were helping me find it.

As far back as I can remember, I wanted to be popular. In 5th grade I remember the girls who were considered “cool” inviting people to their “boy-girl” party. I patiently waited for an invitation that never came. Then in middle school, my peers started getting boyfriends and girlfriends and slow dancing at school dances, but I was never included. I did everything I could to make it seem like I should be included in these exclusive pastimes, but I never felt like I succeeded… until I started drinking.

Taking shots, chugging beer, puke, and rally; these dangerous drinking habits are what ultimately gave me the street cred I needed to become part of the in-crowd. Boys finally found me cool and desirable and girls wanted to be friends with me. This theme followed my entire drinking career. I evolved from a scared child with a couple friends to an outgoing woman with more friend groups than you could count. Keeping up with my new reputation was exhausting, but it’s how I lived throughout my entire time at college.

When I first heard about FOMO — Fear Of Missing Out — something in me clicked and I realized this was the feeling I always got when I couldn’t stand not being at the party. FOMO was what motivated me to drink every night from Wednesday through Sunday during college. I needed to be at every outing and party because if I wasn’t, I risked my popular, cool-girl reputation. I risked not seeing the drama or hearing the gossip. Just like the acronym-dubbed phenomenon, I was fearful I’d miss something, and I couldn’t let that happen.

Now that I’m sober, I’ve realized that so many of us former drinkers had an intimate relationship with FOMO. It’s often what drove our drinking. It can also be what drives our return to using, or our obsession with still going to the places and parties we frequented while we were in active addiction. The holidays can be an especially daunting time for FOMO. In particular, New Year’s Eve is known for lavish and booze-filled celebrations. If you’re sober and worried about FOMO creeping in this NYE, here are some tips to help you play it safe.

Read entire article ~ https://www.thefix.com/4-quick-tips-staying-sober-and-avoiding-fomo-new-years-eve

By Zoe Read, May 9, 2019 - Delaware’s director of the Division of Public Health urged federal lawmakers to continue financial and legislative support to tackle the opioid epidemic.

Dr. Karyl Rattay testified during a U.S. House committee hearing focused on the Trump administration’s response to the drug crisis. She focused the need for funding wraparound services and evidence-based treatment.

“Addiction is a chronic disease. It is extremely complex and so too is the solution to this epidemic,” Rattay said.

“The ideal treatment system is engaging, comprehensive, coordinated, integrated, high-quality and person-centered,” she said. “It meets people where they are in their communities, provides an immediate connection to treatment following an overdose, and a warm handoff — no matter the setting.”

Read the full article HERE

Of the estimated 70,000 deaths from drug overdose in the United States in 2017 — the most recent year for which finalized figures are available — more than two-thirds were caused by opioids, including prescription pain relievers, fentanyl and its analogues, and heroin. Since 2000, the US Congress has passed several bills to address this opioid epidemic, starting with the DATA 2000 legislation that allows more physicians to prescribe buprenorphine, an opioid derivative used to treat opioid addiction. Other initiatives have focused on expanding treatment options and strategies for pain control, as well as slowing the flow of illicit opioids from overseas. Two years ago next month, US President Donald Trump declared opioid addition a public-health emergency. Last year, federal research funding to control opioid misuse and manage pain reached US$1.1 billion.

All of these efforts have specifically targeted opioids. And that is part of the problem.

Historically, substance misuse has come in waves, with a new drug supplanting the previous one: the ‘heroin chic’ of the 1990s followed the ‘crack babies’ of the 1980s. By the time federal programmes target a specific drug, the issue is being attacked where it was, not where it is. Funding should be targeted to substance misuse, not to the drug du jour.

Read the full article HERE.

"Not only are we fulfilling the grant requirements by donating time to those efforts, we're fulfilling our core values by growing relationships," said Greenline Business Group's Gabe Humphreys about the HeNN app.

When the University of Delaware was awarded a Center for Advanced Technology grant from the Delaware Biotechnology Institute for developing an app that would help opioid users and their families, there was a condition: The project had to include philanthropic contributions from local businesses.

Devs from Wilmington data technology company CompassRed and Greenline Business Group — the company behind Danio Diary, Danio Connect and the Eye Need a Witness app — supported the app’s development, along with others from the university.

The free app, called HeNN (Help Near and Now), provides resources for those seeking help for opioid addiction, including a listing of services and clinics in the area, with a map feature to show users where the resources are and how to get there. Similar to an app like Yelp, users can read and leave reviews for the places listed. There is also an events calendar in the app that shows when and where users can find support group meeting and counseling for the post-treatment recovery period.

Gabe Humphreys, Greenline’s director of technology and operations, worked with UD professors Tammy Anderson and Hui Fang, donating dev time and pro bono consultation to help fulfill the grant requirement.

“We’re based out of the Delaware Technology Park,” Humpreys told Technical.ly, “and the university, who is one of the sponsors of the technology park, also has space there. … Somebody in the technology park was working with Dr. Anderson and connected us.”

The version of the HeNN app currently available in Android and iOS stores is expected to see future upgrades, making it more functional, and even allowing users to access to the Open Beds database, a centralized clearinghouse where facilities can indicate whether they have available slots for receiving patients. This platform is actively used by Delaware Health and Social Services but is currently only available to medical professionals.

Another planned upgrade, Humpreys said, is a notification option that will let you know when you are within a specified area of a service you’re looking for.

“Basically it’s like an automatic Google Maps,” he said. “If you’re looking for a place to sleep that night, you’ll get a notification on your phone that there’s a place a mile away or five miles away. Right now it’s very Delaware-oriented, so the distances are small, but when we roll it out nationwide obviously someone in North Dakota, for example, is going to have to go long distances.”

Greenline’s dev experience made it a valuable technical contributor to the project, but that wasn’t all the team brought to the table.

“With Danio Connect, we’ve established so many relationships in Delaware with the medical community, so one of the things we’ve been able to do is to connect HeNN with Sussex County Health Coalition, which is spearheading the whole Delaware Goes Purple Initiative with ex-NBA basketball player and former substance user Chris Herren,” Humpreys said. “We were able to connect those two organizations as part of our Danio Connect platform. That’s part of what we’re doing.

“So not only are we fulfilling the grant requirements by donating time to those efforts, we’re fulfilling our core values by growing relationships.”

https://technical.ly/delaware/2019/09/05/henn-greenline-business-group-tech-firms-helped-develop-uds-opioid-addiction-app/

HeNN is excited to be a part of #DEGoesPurple

Join the Lt. Governor Bethany Hall-Long for this FREE sponsored event where Chris Herren a nationally known motivational speaker, former NBA Player will be presenting on his journey through addiction into recovery and his message of hope on October 9, 2019 at Delaware State University. Doors open at 6:00 PM and the event starts promptly at 7:00 Seating is limited .

Attendees are asked to wear Purple in support the Delaware Goes Purple Campaign to reduce the stigma of mental health and substance use disorder.

Chris Herren, a basketball legend from Fall River, Massachusetts, was an All-American, broke scoring records and was recruited by the nation’s top colleges. Herren realized his lifelong dream of playing in the NBA when he was drafted by the Denver Nuggets in 1999 and then traded to his hometown team, the Boston Celtics, before losing his career and almost his family to the disease of addiction.

Get your free tickets ~ https://www.eventbrite.com/e/delaware-goes-purple-presents-the-chris-herren-story-tickets-71289933109?aff=escb&utm-source=cp&fbclid=IwAR0wcrcE9zcXvEoXWu1NZQlxJLLlTqOTYmf03ckqqSkW8YSoziwuwWxlhuo&utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing

Do you know how to properly dispose of your unused or old prescription medication? For more information and locations of drop boxes near you, visit https://www.helpisherede.com/?fbclid=IwAR0Sot7P6cLb9boPbMSSNajZKqmReLak-CXo8x0q9OpBzBtibB9n_xjjGxg

https://www.facebook.com/DelawareGoesPurple/videos/552995935238573/

Are you a healthcare or mental health professional that is interested in learning more about mental health? Then our Inspiring Hope Conference is for you! Check out the breakout sessions we have that specifically apply to the professions.
To register, visit https://buff.ly/2ZwnM9u

The National Safety Council (NSC) is encouraging Americans to recognize International Overdose Awareness Day on Saturday, August 31st, to remember loved ones and act toward preventing overdose. The frequency of opioid overdose, specifically, has reached alarmingly high levels.

Drug overdose deaths have become incredibly common around the world, but specifically in the United States. Many drug overdose deaths are preventable, and of the 61,311 preventable drug overdoses in the country in 2017, about 70 percent of those (about 43,000) involved opioids.

The use and overdose of opioids has skyrocketed in recent years due to a lack of public education about the topic and over prescription of the drug by physicians and pharmaceutical companies. From 2016 to 2017, preventable opioid deaths increased by nearly 14 percent. Since 1999, they are up a whopping 633 percent.

International Overdose Awareness Day is a way for people to remember lost loved ones, come together in solidarity, and advocate for awareness and education about preventable drug overdose. “Opioid misuse touches one in every four Americans, and these deaths are completely preventable,” said Lorraine M. Martin, president and CEO of the National Safety Council. “It is also a time to reduce stigma and prevent future deaths by supporting education and advocacy efforts.”

Commemorating International Awareness Day can involve many forums and community gatherings like attending in a vigil, sharing art-based projects memorializing lost lives, or participating in an educational program that covers information on administering naloxone (the opioid overdose reversal drug) or disposing of unused medications in the home.

Other ideas for recognizing Overdose Awareness Day can be found at nsc.org/overdoseawarenessday. For example, you can do any of the following:

• Visit the NSC Facebook page for a purple frame for your profile image or share the virtual candlelight vigil on August 30th.
• Add the name of a loved one who died of opioid overdose to the Celebrating Lost Loved Ones map.
• Support NSC efforts by making a donation gift in honor of a loved one.
• Provide a safe space for telling the stories of overdose victims.

The NSC is already seeking ways to prevent future misuse of opioids and drug overdoses, and one way is by providing Warn Me labels sized to fit on insurance cards. These labels won’t cover up important

information, and they are meant to encourage patients to ask questions about the risks of prescribed opioids and what other existing, safer alternatives they may have.

Each day the world loses about 130 individuals to opioid overdose. On August 31st this year, join the community to put work toward an end to the problem.

https://ohsonline.com/articles/2019/08/22/international-overdose-awareness-day-comes-august-31.aspx?m=1