[COMMUNICATED] Tonight, Wednesday, at 8 p.m., the Lakewood Coalition will be sponsoring an important and groundbreaking evening of education and awareness addressing drug and alcohol abuse in our community.
The event will be held at the Zichron Shneur Shul in conjunction with the 1st yahrzeit of Yossi Josephson z”l whose struggles with drug addiction led to his untimely passing.
Rabbonim, educators and parents will gather to learn how we can help end the silence, the stigma and the secrecy surrounding this communal tragedy.
http://torahtwelvesteps.org
I have and continue to support this tremendous mosad and do my best to help its leadership and counselors in all ways possible to continue, through Torah-true counseling and education, to help Yiddishe communities to realize the dangers of addiction and the treatment failures directly resulting from the medical model of addiction.
Torah and the Twelve Steps is a faith-based full-day drug and alcohol addiction recovery program with 24/7 supervision in Kosher housing. Torah and the Twelve Steps prove through objective evidence of their success that no secular treatment can be as effective as Torah with the Twelve Steps.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvFI8oKdD2A – HaRav Brudny- Necessity of this Torah Based Rehab Program with a track record of success!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMFAYlF65HQ – R’ Ronnie Greenwald, zt”l, “I’ve never seen a rehab with such wisdom”.
Excellent article in the Voice this week about this issue. It’s about time! I applaud everyone involved in stopping the denial and coverups. I look forward to attending this evening of awareness.
Why do they call it drug and alcohol “abuse”? Call it “usage”, because that’s what it is. Everyday common place drug usage amongst out teenage youth. Don’t minimize the issue by sensationalizing it. This problem is huge and affects way more Lakewood families than you can ever imagine. If there is anything less than standing room only at this event then this town has a lot of growing up still to do.
Only way to help this issue is for people to stop being embarassed. When people ask me how my son Shua died 7 years ago I tell The TRUTH he had a drug problem. That doesnt take away from the fact that he was an awesome person struggling to find his way and always ready to help others. It was his challenge .. not my fault not a reflection of my parenting. Parents have to stand up and speak about it not just professionals. We need to tell the truth about this issue…My son would want me to keep talking about it so I do. Whoever wants to judge me or say it cant happen to anyone in their family, well thats their problem. The only way to really help besides being open about the issue is to educate teenagers about the effects of drugs and to help them with their emotional issues in a caring way and not try to make everyone fit into a closed box. People are not made to fit into a box until they die.
Not only youth.
#4: I commend you for your honesty. You are 100% right. I’m sorry for your loss.
Will this be recorded and available for watching afterward for those unable to attend tonight?
Kol Hakovod Mrs. Finkelstien for your openness and honesty.
You can not imagine how powerfully your attitude impacts everyone to be truthful. We are all Human!!!!
Ruby, I hope you were able to attend this event. There is a much bigger difference between “usage” and “abuse”. Coming from someone who lost 2 brothers to drug addiction, you could never have too much knowledge about this topic