BERLIN – A Worcester County Warriors Against Opiate Addiction subcommittee is hoping to start a new program that will direct residents dealing with substance abuse to appropriate resources.
Warriors co-founder Heidi McNeeley, announced the new Angel Warriors program at the group’s sixth meeting Tuesday evening.
McNeeley, the Navigating Resources Subcommittee chair, says the concept came from the Gloucester Police Department in Massachusetts.
The program does not immediately punish offenders who come to the police for help, but instead assigns them to an “angel” who can direct them to treatment.
The Warriors subcommittee is currently partnering with the Worcester County Sheriff’s Office and other officials to help those who admit their drug abuse.
“There is nothing etched in stone as to what (officials) are required to tell them,” Worcester County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Nate Passwaters said. “The default is to tell them to call the health department.”
Passwaters says drug offenders will still be held accountable for the violation, but wants to see law enforcement be a part of the solution.
“When someone overdoses and you are with them at the hospital at 2 a.m. and tell them they have to wait for the health department to open at 9 a.m. to get help, that is when we lose them,” he said.
D3Corp, a web design company based in West Ocean City, has already offered to create a resources website for the program.
The site, which will launch soon, will have information, links and an “Ask an Addict” button for visitors to use.
Although the subcommittee has established a web presence, the group is currently looking for volunteers to serve as angels, or case managers.
In its first fundraiser last Sunday, the Warriors raised $3,200 from its “Rock for Recovery” event. These volunteers can now use this money to help an addict get treatment.
Bags of Hope Coordinator Angel Timmons told the group Tuesday that she has been following the local Massachusetts police department and expressed interest in working with the subcommittee to supply the willing participants with toiletry bags.
“I have been praying for a program like this to come to the area,” Timmons says. “We need something like this in Wicomico County.”
The subcommittee’s announcement came after Sen. Jim Mathias read aloud a commendation the Warriors received from the State Senate for their efforts to provide support and resources to the community.
“You are making a difference,” Mathias says. “As bleak as it is, you are continuing to be energized by each other.”
Since its first meeting in April, the Warriors have seen a large response at its meetings.
“The main goal is to bring hope to these meetings,” McNeeley says. “It can end and there can be hope along the way.”
The group has continued to move its meetings from one location to another. Yet, the Warriors plan to keep their meetings at the Stephen Decatur High School auditorium through the remainder of the year.
“The stage keeps getting bigger and bigger,” an attendee told McNeeley. “One day you will be on the roof.”
Within its monthly meeting, the Warriors were also joined by artist Debbi Dean-Colley and psychotherapist Kelly McMullen to discuss art therapy techniques and new wellness programs within the community.
Dean-Colley is currently looking to incorporate scholarships and grants for art therapy, but encouraged attendees to give the concept a try.
“I think it is something we have lost,” she says. “We don’t communicate and express through art.”
McMullen’s community wellness program will be a joint effort among citizens to provide treatment scholarships to five individuals.