A panel of speakers with different experiences with substance abuse and addiction spoke at Clearbrook Treatment Center on Tuesday as part of National Overdose Awareness Day. From left: Meghan, guest speaker who is recovering from addiction; Jacob, former Clearbrook patient now in recovery; Mary Ann Oliveri, founder of Somebody’s Someone; and Wilkes-Barre City police officer Daniel Duffy.
Kevin Carroll | Times Leader
National Overdose Awareness Day marked in presentation at Clearbrook Treatment Center
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A video shown by Oliveri at the end of the panel discussion honored a number of overdose victims who lost their fight.
Kevin Carroll | Times Leader
Dave Oliveri, husband of Mary Ann, lights a lantern on Tuesday night.
Kevin Carroll | Times Leader
LAUREL RUN — The final day of August marks National Overdose Awareness Day across the country, and a panel of men and women who have lived with and experienced the perils of addiction gathered at Clearbrook Treatment Center to share their stories with the center’s patients.
Mary Ann Oliveri, who founded her nonprofit Somebody’s Someone to extend help and support to those struggling with substance abuse and addiction after suffering the tragic loss of her daughter Sarah, led the panel discussion.
With her at Clearbrook Tuesday were Meghan and Jacob, a pair of people recovering from addiction who were able to take the steps to regaining their good health and sobriety, as well as Wilkes-Barre City police officer Daniel Duffy.
“You all are truly somebody’s someone,” Oliveri told the assembled group of patients. “Somebody’s son, daughter — a family member that is loved and will be cared for.”
She touched on her daughter’s story, and how she felt compelled in the wake of Sarah’s death to start Somebody’s Someone as a way to fight addiction and to ensure that no one has to go through their fight alone.
“We were going to be her [Sarah’s] voice no matter what the outcome,” Oliveri said. “We will continue to fight for each and every one of you.”
As was pointed out by Clearbrook clinical director Kevin Whelley, it’s no coincidence that National Overdose Awareness Day falls on the last day of August, leading right into September, hailed as National Recovery Month.
Both Meghan and Jacob walked the patients through their own harrowing experiences with addiction, and expressed just how grateful they were for the chance to go through treatment and get clean — “live free,” as Jacob put it.
“I was never free when I was using,” he said. “I could finally feel happy and free for once.”
Meghan recalled how she met Oliveri’s daughter through treatment, and they became friends.
“After Sarah passed, I wanted to get a tattoo for her,” Meghan said. “On that same day, Mary Ann reached out to me … I couldn’t believe it.”
The final speaker, Duffy, offered his perspective from a different viewpoint on addiction: that of an officer who, all too many times, sees the consequences of addiction up close.
“So many times, the criminal behavior we see from those struggling with addiction isn’t a reflection on them as a person, but of their addiction itself,” Duffy said. “Working with Mary Ann has been so rewarding for me as a police officer.”
The presentation also included a video put together featuring the names and pictures of overdose victims, including Oliveri’s daughter Sarah, set to the song “Somebody’s Someone” by Daphne Willis.
As sunset came to Clearbrook, a sea of lanterns were lit and released into the sky, in remembrance of those lost to addiction.
While the event may have had a somber note to it, the presence of two survivors like Meghan and Jacob only served to reaffirm to Clearbrook’s patients that there are better days ahead.
“Waking up and not depending on a drink or drugs is the best feeling I’ve ever had,” Jacob said. “You could do it, but you’ve got to want it.
“Don’t push away help.”