Drug Endangered Confrence

This last week Justin and I were both able to attend the DEC conference. This was special because Justin and I work in two different agencies but they both sent us to the same training. It was fun spending all week working/playing with my husband. We spent three days in Salt Lake City taking classes and listening to speakers. My favorite part of the conference was at the end when they had two young boys who were victims of parents on drugs talk to us and tell us there story and how it had affected them. One of the boys told this story of how his mother was on and off meth and how she had attended 7 different treatment centers but it wasn't until someone told her that she was worth something and that she could do it. Later in the same meeting the mother actually stood up and told us that she had been clean for 6 years and it all started when she was molested as a child and she felt that she could talk to no one. Then eventually she told us how she turned to drugs to cope and then when she almost lost her child and when that person said that they wanted to help her and that she was worth something it changed her life. She finally did treatment for her, not for her children not for her father but for her she was successful. It was a powerful moment in the conference to see that us as social workers can help those people to take the first steps to change. It was great and I hope more and more people get to see those stories and help people to make change in their lives.