Efforts to aid addicts redouble after deaths

This article talks about the efforts of a Delaware HR program to get their clients into recovery. I've read dozens and dozens of articles on responses to the fentanyl overdoses and this is the first one with this tenor.

This is what I had in mind when I referred to recovery-oriented HR in an earlier post. This program appears to be taking advantage of a window of opportunity and using their relationship to help the addict into recovery.

After a spring and summer of at least 30 reported heroin overdoses in Delaware and nine deaths, they are sending a different message.

"We never used to tell them 'You've got to get clean now,' " said Basha Closic, program director of HIV Prevention Services at Brandywine. "Now we're telling them 'OK, we never used to harp on you guys before about getting clean, but it's time. It's not fun right now, it's deadly.' "

Closic wants those who do seek treatment to feel proud of that choice, rather than ashamed of admitting their addiction. She says that's where a series of barbecues, open houses and marches planned for this month come into play.

"It's saying not only did we have the courage to go to treatment but we're here and it's working or we went and it worked," Closic said. "There's nothing to be embarrassed about."