Voices Project

Heroin stole my daughter and I will never let my girl be forgotten. Through her story I hope to help others. When you have children, you never dream that you will outlive them. Addiction stole my daughter and changed my life forever. My first born, my person, my baby girl, is gone forever. Shalynn Brooke Conner was a beautiful young lady whose smile could light up a room. Growing up, she loved life and couldn’t wait to see what the world had in store for her in the future! Shalynn had a zest for life that showed in everything she...Read More

I watched as my sister struggled from 2004-2014 with her heroin addiction. She, like so many others at that time especially, started off with Oxycontin and Perc 30’s. It was less than a year on those pills, and out of high school, before she was totally addicted. Her once beautiful face scarred with quarter sized scabs from her trying to scratch away the itch of withdrawal that would haunt her her the rest of her life. Worse than the loss of her beauty, and even perhaps the loss of her dreams, was the loss of her voice. Amanda Beth had...Read More

When I think back on the year 2010, I think of the nights spent drinking until I blacked out in a dirty house/apartment/trailer or field if need be, and ingesting lines of whatever was offered to me at the time. I rarely think of the fact that I was going into my senior year of high school because a majority of my time was not actually spent in school; it was spent sleeping off a raging hangover until my school counselor would call and implore me to get to class, and then upon arrival attempting to figure out how I...Read More

We moved to NJ when Chris was in the 5th grade. Prior to this he was diagnosed with ADHD and had started taking Ritalin. In elementary school Chris was in the gifted and talented program and he was so far ahead in math he was kept inside during recess to be taught math lessons one-to-one. Our family are members of the Catholic Church, where I was a youth group leader for 11 years. Chris was involved in multiple youth groups and attended the diocesan “Summer in the City” retreats to do community service. In high school he was inducted into...Read More

December 7, 2016 will forever be the most difficult day for all of us. That is the day we found out our beautiful son Jamie had died. Rumors surrounding his death circulated throughout our community, but Jamie’s story is not what anyone expected. There was no predisposition to addiction in our family. And honestly, I didn’t know how to recognize the signs. I do know that at times throughout Jamie’s life, he’d feel like he didn’t fit in, or would go to the extreme to fit in, as was the case while he was in university. When Jamie was about...Read More

I still worry. Just not as much. I have thoughts but let them fly. If the thought gets too rat-wheel, like it might spin all day and night, and all I want is to connect, then I do. I text or call. I leave a message, “I love you.” I forget how lucky I am, if I’m busy worrying. But I am, after all, and forever, a mother. It was a relief to find out that a speck of their children’s DNA is wedged into a mother’s body, somewhere; our suspicions corroborated. I want to see where he is, and...Read More

My name is Heather and I’m in long term recovery from major depressive disorder and substance use. I have been in recovery going on 5 years. I need to express how grateful I am for being given another chance at life. Opiates were my choice and it almost killed me. My use of opiates started out innocently. I had several knee surgeries and other ortho type ailments. I was given opiates. I’m not going to place blame on my physicians. Honestly, my brain liked the flood of dopamine opiates provided. I became addicted to the energy and euphoria it gave...Read More

Putting your grief into words is indescribable. Our family’s life was forever changed by an unspeakable tragedy when we lost our beautiful boy, our 21 year old son Cody, to a heroin overdose. This monster stole his dreams, our dreams, and the wreckage left behind is un-navigable. There is no healing, no moving on, your life is now work that you must think about attending each and every day. What does addiction look like? Surely not my gifted, gregarious, smart, compassionate son? Cody was the athlete that everyone wanted to be. Cody was talented, and smart. He had a beautiful...Read More

My story…. I’ve had a few spinal surgeries and when the pills ended is where my story really starts. I went through the nasty withdrawals and found myself on the other side. Until I started smoking pot to help my pain (physically and emotionally) You see I’ve been through a pretty crappy life… my father was/is an alcoholic. My mother battles with severe depression and anxiety, more so now as my childhood home burned to the ground last year. It was tough… they lost everything… so naturally they changed. I don’t speak to or see my mother really ever. That’s...Read More

I want to share a story here, not to bring light upon myself, but to something that I have struggled with for many years. These are my words, not something that I copied and pasted. I hope that this will bring awareness and hope for who ever reads this: I joined a group on Facebook today that consists of people that have some sort of addiction. I am an alcoholic and began my second journey of battling this disease 34 days ago. My first journey began about the same time last year. I had become a high functioning alcoholic and...Read More