More information on Hope & Support meetings >
GROUP IN FAIRFIELD STARTS JANUARY 7, 2017.
BEREAVEMENT GROUP
In addition to our weekly meetings, we host a weekly gathering for bereavement.
More information on Bereavement Support meetings >
Newtown: New Home for Parent Connection
Voices, July 30, 2016
Linda Zukauskas
NEWTOWN — Newtown Parent Connection has a new home at Duplex #63, 2-4 Washington Circle, on the Fairfield Hills campus.
Before the town purchased the campus, the building was used as two separate residences for doctors who worked at Fairfield Hills; it has since remained unoccupied.
This year, the town renovated the space.
Mike Burton, owner of Michael Burton Builders in Sandy Hook, and Eugene Vetrano, Salvatore Mancini, Architects, redesigned the space as one 5,000 square foot office with multiple spaces for offices and meetings. Read complete article >
PC Support, Part 2: Resident is Guardedly Hopeful About Son’s Recovery
Newtown Bee
John Voket, July 17, 2016
There are countless reasons why a young person makes the decision to experiment with drugs or liquor. While a number may continue to occasionally indulge in a recreational puff or two of pot, and many others go on to drink socially through adulthood with no ill effect, those intoxicants have a decidedly different impact on others.
Some graduate to more potent drugs, self-medicating a masked mental or emotional issue, unsuccessfully chasing a greater kick, or keeping their always-looming withdrawal symptoms in check. Others turn to alcohol, or a combination of drugs and alcohol, to quell inner demons that keep them careening down their paths of self-destruction.
For those who have taken that path, Dorrie Carolan and the Newtown Parent Connection (NPC) are there with assistance to help transition addicts into effective in-patient treatment centers.
Parent Connection Supporting Loved Ones Grappling With Opiate-Related Tragedy
July 9, 2016, John Voket
Dr James Gill, Connecticut’s chief medical examiner (ME), logged 729 opioid-related overdose deaths in 2015, and by the end of March, he had already logged 208 more to either heroin, the powerful painkiller fentanyl, or some combination of the two.
If that upward-trending number of overdose deaths continues, the ME believes Connecticut could see well over 800 deaths by year’s end.
And while a nagging stereotype of a destitute individual overdosing on cheap heroin in an urban shooting gallery still persists, the reality is quite the opposite for more and more state residents, including Newtown’s Kovack family. Read complete article >
Dorrie Carolan and her husband raised their four children in Newtown, CT. Starting the Parent Connection was never part of her plan. The issue of substance abuse became personal when her eldest son, Brian, became addicted and subsequently died at age 28 of a prescription drug overdose. Through the struggles caused by Brian's addiction, Dorrie became aware that this was an issue that affected many others in the community. She founded the Parent Connection in 1993 in an attempt to network with other concerned Newtown parents. It was the impetus behind many policy changes in town and within the schools. 
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