I have so much fun traveling around the United States and seeing all the different communities and cultures that come along with my substance abuse and motivational speaking. I never know what to expect when I get the email that i'm being invited to a new community to be the speaker. There is such a level of spontaneousness that comes with the job it really keeps things fresh and exciting.
I've never heard of Bad Axe, Michigan prior to my trip there. I landed in a small city named Saginaw after a long day of connection flights to get me there and knew I was in for a treat! The airport was so small and I still had another 90min drive to get to the city of Bad Axe. Along the drive to Bad Axe, it was literally farm after farm after farm. Farms as far as the eye could see!
I actually remember thinking to myself as I was driving out there.. "Man, I can't believe people transport drugs out to a city like this in the middle of nowhere." It's true, people do transport drugs into these small cities and things like heroin have the ability to cripple communities like this with substance abuse issues, crime and deaths as a result of O.D.
I met my contact for the evening, her name was Tracey and she was very polite and accommodating! She had explained to me that the number one issue according to surveys for the past couple years was substance abuse amongst younger teens, this is where my substance abuse speaking came into play. The community event had a great turnout in my opinion for being such a small and quiet community. I think the most revealing part of how the evening went was during the questions and answers portion. There was just really good questions being asked about addiction and I was able to offer up as much insight as I could about the disease. Thank you again to Huron County Behavioral Health for bringing me to such a unique part of the United States, I loved it!
