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Fourth Community Opioid Summit focuses on addiction’s impact on families
YOUNGSTOWN
Vic and Victor Daprile understand how an individual’s addiction affects the family because they have lived it.
The father-son pair shared their story Friday at the fourth Community Opioid Summit organized by the Mahoning County Juvenile Court judge and Mahoning County Mental Health and Recovery Board. Attendees filled Our Lady of Mount Carmel’s parish hall, where the two-hour event took place.
Victor shared how his actions when he was addicted affected his parents.
“If you had what I needed, I was going to take it from you. That’s just how sick I was,” he said. “My mom would have to sleep with her purse.”
He reached a point where he could no longer hold down a job and was getting money to buy drugs by stealing from Home Depot stores. Everything changed for him when, one day in April 2014, he got caught.
At that point his father, Vic, saw an opportunity to help him.
Based on advice he heard from others whose loved ones struggled with addiction and in Al-Anon meetings, he decided to tell the U.S. Marshals where they could find and arrest Victor, then made sure Victor couldn’t post bail.
“I was feeling safe that he was in jail, but scared to death,” Vic recalled.
Although he was angry at the time, today Victor sees it was the best thing that could have happened to him.
From jail, he got into a local treatment center and pleaded into Mahoning County Drug Court, from which he graduated with honors. He has now been in recovery since his arrest in April 2014.
Both father and son are aware of how Victor’s addiction affected the family, but there has been time to heal.
“I have four children and five grandchildren. I focused on one for a long time,” Vic said. “Today I can visit with all of them.”
Vic opened his story by calling himself “the proud dad of a son who is in recovery.”
“His story is our story,” he said.
For other family members who are dealing with the addiction of a loved one, Vic said he learned that Victor could only recover because he wanted to get better. He also learned there are support systems and qualified professionals who can help you through the process.
Lastly, he said, “Parents need to be supportive, but get out of the way.”
The summit organizers decided to focus on addiction’s impact on families based on feedback they got at the previous events.
Friday’s event also featured experts in prevention and recovery, as well as a member of the local Drug Enforcement Administration Task Force and Youngstown Municipal Court Judge Carla Baldwin.
The summits will resume in 2019.