08/31/2024
Hello to all mental health enthusiasts! π
Today marks the end of August as well as an important mental health awareness day - International Overdose Awareness Day.
πππ Overdose is, sadly, an international crisis across the world.
β‘οΈ According to various online sources, in British Columbia alone at least 192 people died from unregulated drug deaths in July 2024. In 2023, in the United States,105,303 drug overdose deaths were provisionally estimated. Online sources also suggest in Africa and Middle Eastern countries there is a public health concern regarding tramadol (https://www.overdoseday.com/facts-stats/).
Worldwide, the number of people using drugs is increasing. This tells us a lot about the state of mental health across "all" populations.
Drug use is widely seen as offensive among popular cultures but rationally speaking, drug users are simply broken human beings - many of whom have faced tremendous traumas that they dare not share to the world due to fear of rejection, shame, humiliation, discrimination, prejudice, injustice, guilt, and judgment. As a result many addicts suffer in silence.
Let us be kind π
Let us show others that we care about their suffering π and their healing π . Let us listen more π¦»π and judge lessοΈπππ―π§π«οΈ.
Today, I encourage you to take a moment to honour all the "millions" of people who have died through overdose from their trauma wounds. Please take a little time to reflect on their families, their children, their friends, and their communities.
Today we remember them and increase our awareness to share the understanding that the next person to die from a drug overdose could be one of your family members, one of your children, one of your friends, or one of your community members.
If you know of anyone struggling with drug use, please help them reach out for support. Your actions could help save a life, and another family from a life time of grief.
Enjoy the last day of August, and have a wonderful start to Septemberπ΅ π