An information luncheon hosted by the Samaritan Centre in Sudbury took an urgent turn Friday when a participant overdosed in Memorial Park, where the luncheon was held. Organizers administered Naloxone, paramedics responded and the individual survived. The event, held in partnership with several local churches, was intended to offer information about Teen Challenge Canada – a faith-based recovery program that opened a Sudbury office three years ago – and to give people living with addictions and experiencing homelessness a message of hope. Tracey Whalen, 54, shared her story at the event. She said her addiction to alcohol began at age eight, after she was sexually abused at 10. Her addiction eventually spiralled into hard drugs. “By the time I was 38, I was an IV drug user, couldn’t function without a needle in my arm,” said Whalen, a graduate of the Teen Challenge program. “Many wrote me off and considered me something hopeless without ever being able to change, and God proved them wrong.” Living in Newfoundland at the time, she signed up for Teen Challenge in 2010 and flew to Ontario to complete it. She graduated in 2011 and now lives in Sudbury to be close to family. “Society might think you are a lost cause, your family might think you are a lost cause, you might think you are a lost cause, but nobody is hopeless,” Whalen said. The luncheon included music and guest speakers, but the primary goal was to promote the recovery program. “There is a lot of different ways to treat the addiction crisis that is happening in our country and specifically in our city,” said Mark Dennie, the Samaritan Centre’s executive director. “We offer one solution and that is faith-based programming.” Teen Challenge also had an information booth on site. “Because it’s getting worse and worse, we are seeing more and more overdoses,” said Leanne Watson, a coordinator with the program in Sudbury. “We have had some clients that have overdosed and died and it’s just time to speak up.”
