Community Links Key Part of Addiction Prevention

WILDWOOD – Each individual is different. While there are often several factors in common, each person struggling with addiction reached that point in a unique way, facing unique factors, Joe Faldetta said at a presentation in Wildwood April 14. 
That means each person seeking recovery has individual needs and challenges. In every case, a vital part of recovery is a connection to other human beings.
He said that is part of how the community can fight what he and many others describe as the opioid epidemic.
“It’s not about the big thing. It’s not about the big government program that’s going to sweep away the opioid epidemic. It’s about each one of us in the community caring about our community and helping people in ways that we can,” he said.
Faldetta spoke at the 13th annual Healthcare Resource Day at the Wildwoods Convention Center. Over 40 organizations offered information and health screenings, including cholesterol and blood sugar screenings, HIV testing, peripheral artery screening, and more, according to Megan Santiago, a health educator with the Cape May County Department of Health.
Many turned out for the event, but it was nowhere close to the number of people who attended the Feis on the Beach, an Irish dance exhibition and competition in the larger main room of the Wildwoods Convention Center on the boardwalk on the same day.
The big turnout for the annual event, along with warm, sunny weather on a Saturday, meant a big crowd along the boardwalk as well.
Inside, Faldetta presented what organizers described as a major highlight of the event, his talk on “A community-based approach to addiction and recovery.”
“If I was honest about what my presentation was about, I really should have called my presentation ‘Joe answers two questions,’” he said. “Why they won’t stop? And what can we do?”
Cape Assist is a substance use prevention and treatment agency with offices at 3819 New Jersey Ave., Wildwood.
Faldetta has worked with Cape Assist for 12 years, starting with prevention, and later working on the treatment side, currently as a “substance use navigator,” helping people access programs to help them get clean and stay clean.
But he said the Saturday talk was not based on his own expertise, but rather distilled from some of the best things he’s heard on the topic. He used self-deprecating humor throughout the 40-minute talk.
“Most of what you’re going to hear today is stuff I heard from other people that I thought was really important,” he said. “I’m really more or less just a glorified parrot.”
He spoke about the chemical aspects of addiction, how different substances act in the human brain, building tolerances until, instead of bringing a high when used, they cause acute discomfort or worse when they are not used.
According to Faldetta, if that were the only part of the equation, substance abuse would be an easy fix that could be addressed with available medicines. But there are other factors at play, he said, including attempts at self-medicating underlying depression or psychological issues, means of addressing trauma from childhood, and disconnection from family and community.
“We’re all here at 11:20 on a Saturday morning, and very legally, all of us now could be drunk,” Faldetta said. “Why not? Why aren’t we?”
The reason is the connections and people in our lives, he said. “That’s why we’re not using. We could. But we’re connected to our lives, and we’re enjoying our lives.”
Some have reasons not to want to be present in their own lives. Worse, the process of addiction further alienates the individual, he said, sometimes leading to arrest and imprisonment, homelessness, and disconnection from family and friends.
“When I can’t be there to be present in my own life anymore, I’m going to connect with this substance as a way of connecting because I can’t stand my own life,” he said.
Part of addressing addiction as a community is trying to keep those bonds and connections even as substance abuse puts them under the most strain, he said. He described it as a delicate balance. Support and love do not mean lending someone your car, letting them live at your house, or providing money that will allow the person to use, he said, but it does mean letting the individual remain important to you.
“It’s saying ‘Joe, I love you, even if you’re high,’” he said and let the person know you’ll be ready to talk later. Having meaningful work to do and connections to family and community are vital elements of recovery, he said.
Small steps can be important, he said, including reaching out to neighbors and finding ways to mentor young people.
No one sets out to become addicted, Faldetta said. But behavior that may seem harmless in the beginning can lead some to disastrous consequences.
He likened it to taking a kayak over Niagara Falls. No one would decide to do that, he said. Many would be happy to get in the water well upstream, even though organizations like Cape Assist may be shouting warnings about the coming waterfall. Many will get out of the water before it’s too late, but others won’t listen.
“And then when they go over the waterfall, on the treatment side, we won’t be like, ‘Told ya so.’ No, we’ll be like, ‘Alright, let me help you out,’” he said.
To contact Bill Barlow, email bbarlow@cmcherald.com.