Jamie Elliott hopes to have a good turnout at the G.R.A.C.E. Ministries Addiction and Recovery Rally this Saturday. It’s a time for people to learn more about community resources for those who need help, and it’s also a time to hear from individuals in recovery who have turned their lives around.
The rally will begin at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 10 at G.R.A.C.E. Ministries, 961 Burr St. “I’m looking forward to this weekend,” Elliott told John C. Rose on Wednesday’s Town Talk. And he plans to stream the event live on social media for those who can’t attend but want to see and hear the day’s activities. Visit https://www.graceofhenderson.org/ to learn more.
Several men and women, all recovering addicts, are going to be on the agenda to share their stories, Elliott said, “how they first started in addiction and where they are now.”
Whether through information from community agencies or form first-person testimonials, the main focus of the event is education.
“We want to educate families on what drug addiction has done…you have to be there to listen and see with your own eyes what addiction does” to individuals and to their families, Elliott said.
People find themselves in the throes of addiction from a variety of ways, whether it’s becoming dependent on prescribed pain medications for a medical condition or to block traumatic experiences.
“Once the drug wears off, the trauma comes back,” Elliott said. Addiction knows no age – Elliott said he’s worked with pre-teens as well as a woman in her 80’s who abused pills – “it all started from her messing up her hip,” he explained. “We have to educate people on how to use medicine the right way,” he added.
Addiction so often starts out small, and then snowballs out of control. It starts out with one seemingly harmless interaction with drugs or alcohol and then progresses to more and more dangerous abuse. “Then you see your life just disappearing in front of your eyes,” Elliott said.
And it’s not just the addict who is affected, he said. “People tend to forget about the families,” Elliott added. Family members watch helplessly – or enable the addicted person – “they don’t know what to do or what to say…they worry themselves sick, day and night.”
The Saturday rally is designed to promote awareness – opening people’s eyes to the dangers of addiction, the possibilities for recovery and for the resources in the community to help people get the help they need.
“The more people we can get together, the more people will see what’s going on,” Elliott said.
If your organization would like to participate or set up a booth, contact Elliott at 252.204 3617 or Danny Satterwhite at 252.425.3620.
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