'In Plain Sight' Substance Abuse Program Held at SSHS

The theme of Monday night's substance abuse program at — In Plain Sight — focused on parents learning the signs of substance abuse, how easily they can be overlooked, and stressing to parents to be more involved in their child's social life.

Valerie Wornian, a mother of a son with substance abuse problems, gave the most heartfelt and chilling speech to the audience of around 100 parents, describing how her son struggled with substance abuse demons and was in and out of rehab facilities — and jail — for more than a decade.

"You wear a big denial hat when your child gets into trouble," she said. "All the signs were in plain sight, but I didn't want to see them."

Wornian detailed how her son started abusing alcohol and marijuana at around 14, then slowly progressed to harder drugs like crystal meth. Her son was a good athlete as a teen, she said, but once he started hanging out with an older crowd, things started to spiral downwards. "Everything started deteriorating," Wornian said. "His grades started to go down, he was hanging out with new friends and getting into a lot of trouble."

Every time Wornian thought her son may have been using drugs or drinking, he always had an excuse that she believed. She stopped thinking with her gut, Wornian said, and began thinking with her heart. Wornian admitted that was the wrong move.

After her son was kicked out of a handful of rehab facilities and spent time in jail over a ten-year span, Wornian said that she and her husband finally cut their son off two years ago. It was only then that he realized he needed to help himself to get clean. Since then, her son has remained sober, kept a steady job and rebuilt his family. "We're moving forward," she said. "But you need to trust your gut. Don't think with your heart."

Another keynote speaker, RVC Police Commissioner Charles Gennario, underscored that RVC in terms of teen substance abuse problems is like every other village. He said drinking alcohol has become "socially mandatory" for teens, and it leads to the abuse of harder drugs. "It's crazy the amount of backpacks you see on a Friday night," Gennario said. "You know they're not doing homework on a Friday night. They're either doing burglaries or drinking."

Gennario pointed out that parents should question if their child leaves their home at night with a backpack. He added that he hates hearing parents tell him that, "it's only alcohol, or only pot." Money used to purchase marijuana, he said, goes straight to street gangs and drug cartels, which he said fuels the drug business.

He added that once kids start abusing alcohol and marijuana — police have caught kids as young as 12 drinking — it leads to other drugs like prescription pills, cocaine and heroin. Gennario presented a slide show depicting what certain drugs and paraphernalia look like, so that parents could be aware if they saw something like it around their home. 

Gennario also showed a video of a young girl from an upper-class suburban family who began abusing alcohol at age 13. As she grew older, so did her drug use. By 18, she had become a heroin addict, was arrested several times for DWI and theft charges, and was a shell of her former self.

Wayne Rothwell, director of children and adolescent services at South Oaks Hospital, spoke about how children begin using drugs. "It's curiosity, availability and being around people that use," Rothwell said. He stressed to parents to watch their children's Internet use, and underscored the impact of alcohol and marijuana on a child's brain.