With Permission
BCC Assistant Director Catherine Stone; BCC Executive Director Peter Cimino; Kelly Wade Bettuchi of AT&T; State Rep. Lonnie Reed; Assistant Superintendent of Schools Anthony Buono; Board of Ed chair Michael Krause; and Michele Sember, parent.
On the heels of last spring’s forum and subsequent enactment of state legislation restricting opioid prescriptions, the Branford Counseling Center has received a $10,000 grant to help fight opioid and prescription drug abuse.
State Rep. Lonnie Reed (D-Branford) called AT&T after the meeting and applied for the grant on behalf of the counseling center; the grant will help identify and address early signs of addiction.
Peter Cimino, executive director of Branford Counseling Center, said that the funds will help the center “look at the opiate and prescription drug problem in the area through a group reaching the schools and community with speakers and educational resources. Described as a Local Prevention Council, the group, Cimino said, will consist of social workers from the high school and middle school, the Shoreline Y, parents, and members of the religious community, along with other local representatives. It will be directed primarily at high school students.
“We’re looking at a variety of options to come up with how we want to get the message across,” he said in an interview. “We’re in the planning stages. Meetings will be held in August and in September we will start to articulate what we need. We’ll look at a variety of things and come up with how we want to get the message across, then look at other grants.”
Cimino said in a press release, “Drug addiction is a terrible disease that affects the lives of so many people, and it is often difficult to understand. We urge our friends and neighbors in the community to join us in the effort to learn everything we can about addicting drugs so that we may find effective preventative solutions and save lives.”
Cimino said Branford Counseling Center does not treat active addicts, but rather works as part of follow-up treatment. “It depends on the stage of detox,” he said.
“The opioid drug epidemic has not spared our community,” said Reed in the press release. “During a recent forum in April, Branford mom Michele Sember described her family’s painful ordeal when a son, a Branford High School honor student and athlete, became addicted to opioids and heroin.
Other parents at the forum expressed fear that their children could also fall victim because the drugs are readily available and so highly addictive. They urged more effective prevention programs for the schools. The Counseling Center’s mission to design programs that protect our children is critical and I am very grateful to AT&T for helping to fund this effort.”
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