Honoring loved ones during overdose awareness month

DECATUR, Ill. (WAND) — It's been 15 years since Tyler Yount died from an overdose, but his family remembers it every day. Kathy and Mike Burkham created the Tyler Yount Foundation for Overdose Awareness to honor his legacy and prevent future overdose deaths.

When Tyler died in 2009, the stigma surrounded drug use was much worse and resources were harder to come. But Mike Burkham is happy progress has been made.

"When somebody dies of an overdose, it's like throwing a rock into a pond," said Burkham. "It's a ripple effect. It affects everybody. And sometimes people don't realize that that problem is going on in their own family, or they want to deny it."

Burkham says one of the best ways to reduce the over 100,000 overdose that happen each year is to take action and be transparent about your struggles. This is a hurdle that the recovery services team at Crossing Healthcare has faced as well.

"Sweeping it under the rug offers no real solution, and so that's where we come in, that's where we advocate for it," said Drew Rodgers, Alumni and Outreach Manager for Crossing Recovery Services. "We try to break the stigma. This isn't this would be less of an issue if more people were willing to come forward and say, 'Hey, I have these problems too.'"

Crossing has NARCAN available at their locations, as do most health departments. For a free and confidential assessment on recovery processes, call (217) 330-5676. The Illinois Warm Line is available 24/7 and can help connect you with resources. That number is 866-359-7953.