Nov 12, 2015 3 min read

CommUNITY, a group formed after the killing of Washington & Jefferson College football player Timothy McNerney in October 2012, has held marches in the wake of violent incidents in the city. After the shooting death of 10-year-old Ta’Niyah Thomas in March 2014, the group rallied to provide an opportunity for the community to grieve and strategize ways to end violence.

“This year, we decided the community needed more than just another march or rally and needed something more educational,” said Pam Kilgore, CommUNITY member.

In response to a rise in prescription and heroin overdoses in the county, the first of a series of workshops Wednesday focused on addiction.

Educators from Washington School District and Washington & Jefferson College and other residents gathered in Citizens Library to discuss strategies for prevention.

“Washington County is extremely blessed with the services we have,” said Tammy Taylor, Washington Drug and Alcohol Commission prevention coordinator. “But we need to work to change the stigma … associated with addiction. Just because somebody suffers with addiction, that does not mean they cannot be a working, productive citizen.”

Because Washington County has all levels of recovery care – from prevention services to recovery houses – it has a large recovering population, Taylor said.

Participants were given a chance to ask questions and share their experiences with those affected by the epidemic. Because most who attended work in education, discussion primarily focused on students.

“As a school, we have to do our part to educate the youth on the effects of drugs, which I think we do. Students hearing from a teacher is one thing, but students hearing it from people they respect in their community is a whole different situation,” said Chet Henderson, Washington Junior High School principal.

“So I think the bigger challenge here is to change the perception in the community on what drug use is and what it looks like.”

Educators agreed that both students and adults need to let go of the stigma associated with drugs and discuss it openly. They also discussed teaching students more effective coping skills and finding ways for educators and community leaders to be proactive instead of reactive.

“I know that we can say, yes, there is a predominant drug and alcohol problem, but we’re doing things. We have to work at it across the board,” said Taylor, adding that students often think that “everybody does drugs,” when, in fact, a majority of people don’t.

“I think that’s our job as community leaders to raise that awareness and make it so that it’s not the in thing to do or the cool thing to do or the thing you turn to when things aren’t good,” Henderson said. “I think, for us to fight the battle, that’s something we have to do as a community … give kids an outlet that’s positive.”

For information on future commUNITY events, visit www.communityinwashpa.wix.com/communityinwashpa.