When someone you love dies from an overdose and if that person who died has been struggling with addiction, the grief you might endure is different than grief felt by someone who has say, lost an aged parent, or lost someone due to illness. That statement is in no way meant to diminish the pain felt by those who have lost someone they love from something other than addiction and subsequently, overdose. Let me explain: my experiences growing up with a brother (and Dad) who was suffering and battling addiction from the time I was eight years old and he was 13, kept me in a state of “pre-grief” for 36 years, with the only reprieve being, when Steven cleaned up. It’s been fifteen months since Steven died. What it was like then: After my Brother’s and my Dad’s death, I drowned myself in gin and despair. I was grieving so intensely, that the consequences of my actions during that time, were of little concern to me. Everything was affected; my once thriving career, my income, my cred...
Have you lost a loved one to the fentanyl overdose crisis? I have. This blog is to honour my beloved brother, to hopefully assist those grieving from their loss, to bring awareness to the role mental health plays in addiction and to advocate against this overwhelming overdose crisis we are in the midst of. EVERY LIFE MATTERS.