By McKenzie Harrington-Bacote: We Must Support Students Impacted by the Opioid Crisis
By McKenzie Harrington-Bacote
In New Hampshire, the opioid crisis has devastated many families, and it’s a crisis that impacts my work every day.
My name is McKenzie Harrington-Bacote, and I am Senator Hassan’s guest for the State of the Union. I work as the Program Administrator in the Office of School Wellness for the Laconia School District, the office that assists and supports students coping with the effects of trauma.
I first met Senator Hassan when she visited the Laconia School District to see firsthand the work we do every day.
The number of overdoses in Laconia in 2017 was double the number of overdoses in 2016. This crisis is impacting families across the city. And children are too often its invisible victims.
We often hear statistics about the crisis, but we can’t lose sight of the fact that for children, those numbers represent their parents, their guardians, their siblings, aunts, uncles, and cousins. They are watching their loved ones suffer from substance use disorders and they themselves may be living in troubled homes because of it.
Our office supports students who have gone through traumatic experiences — and many of those students are impacted by the opioid epidemic.
We promote social, emotional, physical, and mental health and work with students from early childhood all the way through high school.
To address their needs, we have implemented evidence-based prevention and support curriculums, including group interventions with grief support groups and mindfulness groups; individual support for our most at-risk students, and wellness and self-care workshops for educators to help them cope with the effects of compassion fatigue.
I’m proud to say that through these and many other efforts, we have seen a more than 50 percent drop in disciplinary referrals for our students.
Many of our programs are supported through grants and funding from the federal government, and this funding is instrumental to ensuring that our educators have the resources they need to support our students and build a healthier school environment.
Tonight, I am honored to attend the State of the Union, and I hope that President Trump will join with leaders like Senator Hassan and support efforts like ours in the Laconia School District. The President and members of Congress must remember that our communities are reeling from this crisis, and our students need their support.
