A new educational program in Princeton attracted parents, guardians and students to gather and discuss the issues of drugs, alcohol and vaping.
On April 9, through data, life stories and a mock bedroom display, the new program called Hidden In Plain Sight provided an education experience to the guests who assembled inside the John Witherspoon Middle School auditorium in Princeton.
Hidden In Plain Sight is designed to educate parents on concealment techniques by children who experiment with drugs and alcohol. The program is an extension of a national program presented by the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
“We found out about the DEA having this program in January. We then decided that this would be a good program to have for this community,” said Gary DeBlasio, the Executive Director of Corner House Behavioral Health in Princeton. “It helps parents have an awareness of what is going on with their child and what they needed to look for.”
The event began with a data presentation provided by students of the Corner House Student Board. The students explained that through their online google forms survey, which only polled high school students anonymously, they had 543 respondents from Princeton Day School, Princeton High School, The Hun School and Stuart Country Day School of the Sacred Heart.
The students broke down the stats from a range of topics that included how were they introduced to alcohol or drugs and whether they had tried alcohol, drugs or vaping.
Donna DiStefano followed the student presentation. She is an advocate who founded non-profit Parents In Connection for Kids (P.I.C.K.). She spoke to the audience from personal experience on dealing with a child who struggled with drug addiction. Her daughter Laura is in recovery from her addiction to heroin.
“I wanted people to know from my presentation that recovery is possible and that you can get through it as a family,” she said. “Letting parents know how they can change their behavior when they find out their child has an addiction is important. When you first find out you blame yourself. You think it was something you did. It is not about that. I want people to be open and free to talk to others and reduce the stigma.”
DiStefano played a video for the audience of her daughter Laura speaking first hand about her life story and her addiction. She also read two poems from her daughter titled “Little Blue Pill” and “Darkest Hour.”
After DiStefano, DEA special agent Timothy McMahon took the stage. He has been with the DEA for more than 20 years and became involved with the Hidden In Plain Sight program in 2016. According to his presentation, he has done his Hidden In Plain Sight demonstration and presentation 92 times.
He started by presenting about prescription pain killers and the effect of them on the state and national population, he then went on to talk about fentanyl and various forms of vaping.
During his presentation, there was a mock bedroom on the stage in the auditorium, where McMahon guided audience attendees through the various places in the bedroom where substances and other bad influence items can be hidden by children dealing with substance abuse.
“It is super important to have information sessions like this, especially for communities like Princeton,” he said. “A lot of parents in more affluent communities sometimes have the attitude it is not here. From what we have seen obviously what is going on today is affecting every community. It is just important for parents to come out and get educated. We just want parents and guardians to be aware.”
He said with the mock bedroom presentation he has noticed parent’s expressions, who had no idea that substance abuse items could be hidden so well in their children’s bedroom.
Helen Rudinsky of Princeton was one of parents who attended the event and said she felt she learned something new.
“My reason for being here is because I have a son in middle school,” she said. “I did not know about the various substance abuses my son may be confronted with as he goes through high school and life. I think information sessions like this should be mandatory for parents and the children. I am just alarmed that addiction can happen to any family.”
Corner House Behavioral Health was presenting this program in cooperation with The Princeton Alcohol and Drug Alliance and the Princeton Police Department, according to program officials.
For more information about other program events, contact Corner House at 609-924-8018.