Addiction can affect anyone at any time, whether they are facing difficult challenges or seem to have the perfect life.
The best way to make a difference is to open up impactful conversations, according to Marie Schiff, the local optometrist who co-founded Start Talking Grove City.
Marie Schiff, Tani Mann, Kathy Alexander and Pastor Tom Alexander passing out resources to the community at a Grove City park event on National Police Night Out.
“Just because someone is in the throes of an addiction doesn’t mean they’re a bad person,” Schiff says. “We’re hoping to have more conversations, so that if we can reduce the stigma, people feel more comfortable and confident to say, ‘Hey, I have a problem. Where can I go for help?’”
Since the program’s inception in 2019, Schiff and several of the group’s members have helped organize events to pass out educational materials. With plans to expand, the group hopes to get more people involved and increase awareness in the schools.
Filling a need
The Grove City program is modeled after a statewide program, called Start Talking!, which was started by former governor John Kasich in 2014.
Schiff helped create the local chapter of this program to increase drug prevention programming in the community.
As kids go on to middle and high school, they may face peer pressure or personal struggles that could lead them to harmful substances.
“They’re (students) studying for their finals, and so they’re saying, ‘I’m struggling with focusing on this test,’ and one of their friends may have some ADD meds and says ‘Hey, I take this and it helps me do better on my test,’” Schiff says. “So, it may not just be like a party drug. It may be something where the kid is really trying to do better in school or in sports.”
Kert Lanam and Marie Schiff presenting information to parents at Our Lady of Perpetual Help.
Even with the best intentions, Schiff says substance misuse can sometimes be a slippery slope to addiction.
“Someone has to stand up and say, ‘Let’s break this cycle,’ but they need the tools and the support to help them get to that point to say, ‘Here’s how you stop doing that,’ or ‘Here’s another option that you can do instead of using drugs or alcohol to cope with pressures at work or at school,’” Schiff says.
Support at school
Start Talking offers both individual and group resources – including confidential help through website resources and group sessions through the district’s diversion program.
Near the start of every school year, Start Talking hands out informative packets, drug disposal bags and stress balls.
(L to R) Kert Lanam, Marie Schiff, Jill Dimel, Tani Mann and Julie Hartig at a medicine take back event at Jackson Township Fire Dept in 2021. There they passed out ADAMH medicine disposal bags, own stress balls and informational flyers.
The group hopes to increase student support in smaller ways – such as posters and social media messaging – and through a peer-to-peer program led by students.
Outside of looking for a staff member who could be an ambassador and lead the program, Schiff says they are also on the search for students who would pick up the torch and participate in the program.
“We just need people to take initiative to do that,” Schiff says. “People who want to be leaders and who have taken initiative in other aspects.”
Whether a student or community member knows someone who is facing addiction or they themselves are, Schiff and her team want to remind people that it’s never too late to ask for help.
“There’s always someone with some judgmental attitude about it, (but) everybody has a right for a second chance, a third chance,” Schiff says. “To us, there is no number of times, there’s no limit.”
Not just students
Although the group is expanding its student support, President Marie Schiff wants the community to know Start Talking Grove City is for people of all ages.
STGC Community event held at Amazing Grace Christian Church. For the event, speakers were brought in from Ohio Addiction Recovery, Franklin County Sheriff Dept, Grove City Police Dept, Jackson Township Fire/EMS Dept, Ohio Dept of Health and Franklin County Judicial System.
The group offers resources on its website, www.starttalkinggc.org, and hosts meetings on the second Thursday of every month at Amazing Grace Christian Church at 7 p.m.
Rachel Karas is an editor at CityScene Media Group. Feedback welcome at rkaras@cityscenemediagroup.com
