Matt: What’s up, everybody? This is Matt and Greg with Project Unbroken. Make sure to hit that subscribe button and please share this video, we are trying to get the word out about Project Unbroken and the way that we can help people struggling with addiction. Today we wanted to talk a little bit about social circles and their impact on opiate abuse or substance abuse in general, and how who you surround yourself with can have an effect on how you’re acting or what that may lead to with bad habits, et cetera.
Greg: We specifically want to talk about kids in this case, and we’ve done a video on social circles and the importance of that, which you can also find. But today, we want to talk about when you have a child, social circles I would say is one of the huge things to pay attention to. Who are your kids hanging out with? One of the big things for me is when things change. I know for me and you, all through high school we drank and smoked a little bit, but when we got out of high school and that big change, we kind of fell into a newer group of friends I guess, new people, and that’s when we started doing pills and things started changing.
Matt: Yeah.
Greg: I think one of the big things that parents want to look out for is the people your kids are hanging around with, and then when those things change, you need to really perk up. When they’re leaving high school, maybe they’re changing schools, maybe they start hanging out with a new group of friends, anything along those lines is when you really probably want to hone in and pay even more attention to what they’re doing.
Matt: Absolutely, and not even that you have to just necessarily try to hawk them and see if they’re using drugs, but pay attention to the subtleties. Are they behavior differently? I know when we moved to Philly and started down that path, I became way more secluded, I was way less social than I usually was, I lost a ton of weight, I was pretty depressed. Stuff like that should be raising some flags.
Greg: That’s a really good point. Behavioral changes with social changes.
Matt: Exactly. When something shifts like that, a lot of times that can be the catalyst for things to go sideways, and like Greg said, going to college, or if you’re moving, or if there’s a divorce and the living situation is changing. Anything like that, if you start to notice some really maybe bizarre psychological or bizarre behavior from your kid, that’s a pretty big red flag.
Greg: I think a lot of times, a parent, what they think is well it’s just a change, they’re coming out of high school, but that’s when you need to be the most alert because that’s when they could be changing that group of friends or just feeling different about life. “I’m out of high school, what do I do with my life now?” “I’m changing schools, I left all my friends, what am I going to do?” You know what I mean? Although that could change their behavior, the action alone, I think it definitely increases the chances of them going down a path like that.
Matt: I think what happens is, is any change, I mean with my three year old, she’s in this kind of daycare thing and they have different age groups and when they make a shift in age group, they’re like, “Hey, how’s she doing?” They’re really monitoring that. Human beings in general, change is stressful, and what happens when we find stress is we try to find a way to relieve it. Drugs are how typically, or it’s a way to relieve stress, and for us at that time I think that’s what was going on. There was a lot of stress going on, we were supposed to go to college but we didn’t really go to college, there was a lot of hectic stuff going on and I think that at least what I was doing was kind of medicating myself in a way.
I wasn’t even sure what I was doing, but maybe if you’re around the wrong people and it’s available and you’re like, “You know what? I feel a little bit better when I’m doing this”, that can really spiral out of control quickly.
Greg: Yeah, I think you made a really good point there. Again, pretty quick video today, but I think the big thing is any time you have a change in a situation like that, if they’re acting differently don’t just chalk it up to the change. Know that that can open up a door where they need to relieve something and they could do it by using drugs or something along those lines.
Matt: And pay attention to it, don’t just assume it’s a phase. Talk to them, be open about it, say like, “Hey, you don’t seem like yourself. Is everything alright?” You may have to dig deeper than you really want to, and again in our last video we talked about don’t just leave it at like, “Hey, you’re not doing drugs, right? Good. We good?” You have to kind of dig there, because the person going through it, they’re not going to admit they’re having a problem. It might take a little bit of digging, but if you see something is wrong, go with your gut. There’s probably something going on there, and if it’s not substance abuse yet, there’s a very good chance it could lead to that, so address it immediately.
Greg: Awesome point. Alright everyone, I hope you all enjoyed this video. Please make sure you subscribe and also share if you can, we’re trying to get the word out about Project Unbroken, and also go to our website projectunbroken.com. We’ll see you all in the next video.
Matt: See you, guys.
