Even if Your Heart Would Listen: Losing My Daughter to Heroin

* Author’s first book called Watermark (self published, 2015) was a Finalist in two categories, First Novel and Mystery, at Next Generation Indie Book Awards and will be re-published by SparkPress in spring 2020

* Millions of families in the US have a family member struggling with addiction, including a surge of grandparents who are raising their grandchildren because of their children’s addictions.

* Addicts are often stigmatized over other illnesses; a close examination at the broken system, out-dated treatments, and how mental health comes into play with spurring addiction is more important now than ever before.

* The majority of deaths caused by drug overdoses involves opioids, with over 80,000 people dying from overdoses each year.

* Millions of workers in several economic sectors are dealing with the impact of the opioid epidemic: primary healthcare, behavioral healthcare, pharmaceuticals, the insurance industry, law enforcement and corrections, homeless services, social work, public policy, and education.

* Roughly 1 in 10 people struggle with some level of substance use, including addiction to prescription drugs.

* The book drives home the point that opioid addiction and overdose can happen to anyone-it’s an equal opportunity killer.

* Through dissecting the daughter’s treatment and weaving in current research, the book indicts our current treatment systems.

AUDIENCE:

* Families struggling with an addicted loved one or who have lost a loved one to addiction

* People employed in the many fields dealing with the opioid epidemic

* Readers of memoir and/or stories about medical issues

* Readers interested in mother-daughter or parent-child stories

* People who have lost a child (in any way)