Nonprofit to study substance abuse in Granby
Citing four recent deaths as a need to better address substance abuse in the Town of Granby, the Simsbury-based nonprofit organization, A Promise to Jordan, will be conducting a study, and is looking for volunteers to share their stories.
The organization was founded by Lisa Grey, whose son, Jordan Arakelian, passed away from a heroin and fentanyl overdose on June 30, 2018 at the age of 24. Since its founding shortly thereafter, A Promise to Jordan has been creating educational programs, hosting fundraisers and events, and bringing awareness to substance abuse and addiction, and fighting to erase the stigma of the disease.
Grey has begun conducting research to determine the need for programs and services to support residents of Granby who may be living with a substance use disorder, either currently or in recovery.
Grey will be hosting focus groups, and inviting Granby residents to share their stories. She has met with representatives from Granby’s social services, youth services board, the Board of Education, the police departments, and others to gauge what is happening in Granby related to substance abuse.
The next step is inviting residents and business owners in Granby to join in the sessions and help gather information on what is needed in the community to combat the problem.
“Are they in recovery, and need help maintaining that?” Grey said. “Or, parents who might be parenting kids they feel might be at risk for substance abuse disorder, and we’ll be helping them with some prevention strategies.”
Privacy is assured, as the individuals share their thoughts in the group, and those wishing to remain anonymous may also set up private meetings.
“Confidentiality is very important to us,” Grey said. “Even if they come to a group where there are other people, it will be made very clear that what is said here stays here. There will be no names in the final report. It will just be issues.”
Grey will be compiling the information and creating recommendations and strategies for the town.
“I will be putting all the information together, to formulate a plan to meet those needs,” she said, “whether its educational programming, like we already do in Simsbury, or maybe we find out that transportation to treatment is a big problem in Granby, so we’ll put together some kind of a program to treat that.”
In-person focus groups will be held at Farmington Valley YMCA on Aug. 23, Sept. 1, Sept. 8, and Sept. 15, and virtual focus groups will be offered on Sept. 7 and Sept. 17. The study is funded by the Pomeroy-Brace Fund of the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving.
Anyone interested in participating should contact A Promise to Jordan at info@apromisetojordan.org or 860-390-1391.
Among other upcoming events, A Promise to Jordan will also be presenting a program at 6 p.m. on Aug. 18 at the Simsbury Public Library, on counterfeit prescriptions.
“It’s a problem sweeping across America, and killing kids as young as 13 years old,” Grey said. “They’re buying what they think is a Xanax, Percocet, or Oxycontin prescription off the internet, and it’s actually 100% Fentanyl.”
For more information on A Promise to Jordan, visit www.APromisetoJordan.org.
