Overdose Awareness Month focuses on education, reducing stigma

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (WNKY) – August is Overdose Awareness Month, a time dedicated to raising awareness about overdose deaths and substance use while working to reduce the stigma surrounding addiction.

Kaitlyn Slaughter, manager of the CAYA Collaborative Care Regional Prevention Center, said overdose can affect people in every community.

Slaughter said education is an important part of preventing overdose deaths and helping people respond when someone is experiencing an overdose. That includes learning how to recognize the signs of an opioid overdose and how to administer Narcan.

She said CAYA offers Narcan trainings and provides free Narcan through those trainings. Free Narcan is also available through kiosks in Warren County and other counties within the organization’s 10-county region.

Slaughter said having open conversations about overdose and substance use can also help reduce the stigma.

“When you find that silence associated with stigma, you’re feeding the stigma as well,” Slaughter said. “So when you can talk openly about it, and not whisper it, you’re not feeding it.”

Slaughter said overdose awareness should extend beyond the month of August and become something communities talk about regularly.

“This is something that actually needs to be talked about every day,” she said.

According to Slaughter, Kentucky recorded more than 1,400 overdose deaths last year, although she noted that number was a decrease from previous years. She cautioned that she was not certain of the exact figure.