Our American Family Screening at Ware Centre, Lancaster
March 17, 2024 |
| Our American Family Screening at Ware Centre, Lancaster |
Hope you had a lovely weekend.
I spent the better part of my weekend in the library condensing the scope of independent study and doing (simple) statistical analysis - got some interesting raw data from Propublica. After dedicating two days to this, I finally narrowed down my focus to the correlation between pregnant women with substance use disorder and the impact drug laws/policies in the US have on help seeking and access to treatment.
 |
| Took this on Saturday morning - The draft I had at the end of Friday (in my hand) and the first couple of edits I made on Saturday morning (see board) led to a nice correlation summary on Saturday evening. Looking forward to getting feedback from my Professor tomorrow 🤞🏾🤞🏾🤞🏾 |
Speaking of women, children and substance use, I would like to share some of my take-aways from Our American Family; a documentary I watched on Wednesday at the Ware Centre here in Lancaster.
It was produced by Hallee Alderman and Sean King O'Grady, and highlights a family in Philadelphia dealing with ‘generational addiction’. (I am not sure about the phrase ‘generational addiction’ - using the words the producers used).
 |
| Documentary description and program for the evening |
The family of six is made up of Bryan, a stepdad to Linda’s three adult(ish) children - Nicole, Chris and Stephen, Nicole’s daughter (who Linda has custody over, after Nicole overdosed with her in the room).
The pre-screening conversation was moderated by the director of the Ware Centre, and had three panelists The panelist I would like to point out is Judge David Ashworth - he started treatment courts here in Lancaster. I actually learnt about him and his treatment court work during my Leadership Lancaster fellowship. We went to Lancaster County Prisons then the Court on our Law and Order day (think that is what it was called).
| Pre-Screening Panel: Robin Zaremski - Ware Centre Exec Director (and moderator for the night), Kayla Weiler from Penn Medicine, Judge Ashworth, and Chris Dreisbach who is in recovery and founder of Blueprints for Addiction Recovery |
During his presentation at the Ware Centre, he mentioned that treatment courts began in US in 1979 (there are around 3000 courts) with the aim of behaviour modification. The Lancaster chapter began in 2005, and has seen over 256 graduates and 65 ‘clean’ babies.
Some of the key things the panel mentioned include the importance of speaking up and power of education, the need to look at addiction as a brain disease, and a disease that is not just focused on the individual but also families. They also mentioned some resources for families - Al Anon meetings (families), family therapy, joining forces (for kids) - I will add these and any other resources I find to the Crisis-Help Line Page.
Three things I got from the screening:
Role of Genetics: Though we do not meet Linda’s first husband, the father to her three children, we learn from the family’s conversations that he was dependent on substances. Nicole and Chris end up being dependent, and Nicole has a baby with someone who is dependent.
They, however, have a younger sibling, Stephen, who is not dependent. We do not have sufficient evidence for correlation/causation but I would like to point out that this cycle does not mean that Nicole’s baby will automatically be dependent on substances. She might be predisposed, but that doesn’t automatically mean she will be dependent.
Panini/Sandwich Generation: I talked about caregiving and the panini generation in this post. It is basically the generation that takes care of their aging parents and their young kids.
Linda is a version of this generation. We learn that her mum had anorexia, and so Linda’s life revolved around taking care of her mum and her needs from a young age. When her kids start using she has to go looking for them in the streets (including Kensington) and make sure they are either home or in rehab, and later, she has to look after her grand-daughter as her daughter seeks treatment.
Stability/Center/Grounding: Bryan, her second husband, and Stephen, her youngest son, are the still waters in the family. Though we get to see instances where they feel neglected, and sometimes invisible, because it was always Nicole this, Nicole that, they brought a lot of calm in the scenes they were part of. Bryan is firm but loving, they was a tranquility about him that is amazing.
I liked that we saw the efforts of recovery by those who actively used drugs, and the support of having a family rooting for you. Even though there were some arguments and tantrums thrown at times, that support unit angle was priceless. It almost feels full circle - though the addiction is ‘in the family’, they are fighting it as a family.
 |
| Documentary’s producer with Linda (dark hair) on stage for the post-screening conversation |
In the post-screening we got to hear from the matriarch in the flesh, yes Linda and the producer took the stage and some of my take-aways from their conversation and answers to questions from the audience: Need for self preservation instead of giving up hope, Need to set boundaries and the importance of therapy and having conversations, everyone in the family, including Nicole’s daughter, sees a therapist.
You can watch the documentary on Apple TV, Amazon or Tubi TV. As mentioned in both the pre and post screening conversations, education and conversations are important.
Until the next post,
Wishing you a lovely week ahead.
Sending love and light,
Sitawa
Sitawa
0 Comments