HELPLINE INFORMATION

The Trevor Dee Foundation web site has been up and running for a couple of months now and we have recently introduced the drug awareness drug poll. When we first dicovered that Trevor was involved with drugs, our inital reaction was "What do we do? Where should we go? Who do we talk to!!!!? How are we going to get through to Trevor that what he is doing is harming his body, his brain and his future!!?" In other words, panic was our first reaction. Our child was in danger and we wanted to protect him and make it all go away.

We sought help after the first few hours of deep crisis but unfortunately the help we sought was not effective. There are several reasons: 1. Because Trevor did not want to receive the help ; 2. The expert's diagnois was not accurate and tended toward undermining the level of drug use and addiction ; 3.Our awareness of his drug use and therefore our intervention was not soon enough. In retropect, we now believe that had we been aware at the initial onset of Trevor's involvement with his use of substances, we may have had a greater level of success in having him abandon his continued use. The common phrase "This is just a phase" does not make sense to us any longer. Using drugs, even in so-called casual and social frequency , does not give one a sense of comfort. Our children don't necessarily grow out of it. They can die from it! Parents should not have to bury their children.

We want something good to come out of this deep tragedy that has taken hold of our family. This Foundation and it's web site is our first step into helping those that still have a chance to save themselves before it is too late.

My hope as a mother is that if you are a parent wanting to help your child; a sister or brother who wants to help your sibling; a child wanting to help your parent; a friend wanting to help a friend, you will speak out. The question still remains who to call out to and where to find help. We have researched several organizations and find that one of the best and most responsive is The First Call for Help of Broward, Inc. All the information to contact them including their web site is listed below.

Please let me know what your response is from this helpline and if it proves to be beneficial. I welcome your email with your impressions or questions of this helpline or with your thoughts in general at: sharon@trevordee.org.

So, if someone you care about is taking drugs or abusing substances please get them help.

FIRST CALL FOR HELP OF BROWARD INC.

This is a 24hr/7days a week/365 days a year HELPLINE that will provide a confidential telephone crisis counseling, empathetic listening and community information and referral service for free.

First Call for Help of Broward Inc. is just a phone call away.

Just dial 2-1-1 or 954-537-0211 and a counsellor will be waiting to help you.

Their web site is: www.211broward.org

Please note that 2-1-1 is fast becoming a national HELPLINE number. Currently you can dial from almost 30 states to contact a HELPLINE that will provide the same 24hr/7days a week/365 days a year help and assistance that our local 2-1-1 provides.