TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV) — Officials from the United Way of the Wabash Valley said the group is hoping to help move the community forward in a positive way by implementing a new way to track substance use disorders in the area.
The United Way developed a community measurement dashboard that shows the impact substance use can have.
Abby Desboro, communications and marketing director for the United Way, said this dashboard helps the Substance Use Disorder Council track the issue and then work with community organizations to tackle it.
“Substance use doesn’t just affect the individual user,” Desboro said. “It really has a ripple effect on families. The entire community in general. It’s something that we should all be concerned about and working to make better in our community.”
Jeremy Touchet, executive director with the Wabash Valley Adult and Teen Challenge, said he struggled with addiction for 20 years and has seen the effect it has on families.
“In the family nucleus, when drugs are injected into that family, what happens is drugs become the priority,” Touchet said. “If drugs become the priority, then the children get neglected.”
Touchet added that the neglect can lead to mental health struggles including anxiety and depression.
“Addiction is a generational thing,” Touchet explained. “You know our children learn from us and we see a lot of homes that have addiction as parents roll downhill onto the children.”
Desboro said over the last year, substance use disorders have continued to rise, which has lead to an increase in arrests.
“The arrests are up, I mean we have a lot of arrests,” Desboro said. “When we were compiling the data, it was eye opening to see the amount of substance use related arrest. So I think it’s something that we’ll have to watch over time.”
Desboro said the United Way is also putting more educators into schools to better help prevent the problem of substance use disorders in the next generation.
