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We can stop addiction before it happens.
A Voice for Sean is a non-profit organization focused on education and advocacy for the general public and healthcare professionals about opioid addiction. Dr. Sharon Parsons established a Voice For Sean after her son's tragic death from an opioid overdose
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After a dirt bike accident, Sean began taking opioids to address the pain. Originally obtaining the drugs from a neighbor trying to help, Sean developed an addiction that lasted over five years and ended in his untimely death on September 21, 2015. He was 27 years old. While struggling with his own addiction, Sean helped other addicts find their way to recovery.
Since Sean can no longer speak up, this non-profit takes up the cause of addiction education and prevention for him.
After Sean’s death, Dr. Parsons' driving thought for creating A Voice for Sean was:
“I need to make something good happen from this.”
EDUCATION. COMMUNICATION. ACTION.
In 2021, almost 108,000 people died from drug overdoses. Opioid addiction—including prescription pain relievers, heroin, and synthetic opioids such as fentanyl—is not only devastating to public health but also impacts social and economic welfare.
While we address sufferers of addiction, we must also educate the public to prevent new addictions from happening.
Education is crucial to the elimination of opioid addiction. The more we understand about the rampant availability of opioids, the resources to address addiction, and how opioids manipulate brain chemistry, the better we can move beyond silence and stigma to create real change.
Like any health crisis, the opioid epidemic is a complex of issues that affects not only those with addiction, but also those in their social sphere. Family, friends, work associates, and more experience various elements of the toll that takes place when addiction is present.
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