WILKES-BARRE, Pa. — Substance abuse specialists in Luzerne County say they are working to head off a crisis.
Staffers at Wyoming Valley Alcohol and Drug Services in Wilkes-Barre say they receive a lot of calls these days.
“We’ve seen an increase in everything. We’ve seen an increase in calls from concerned family members, we have a family support group, and we’ve been kind of directing them to that, and that group has doubled," said Stefanie Wolownik of Wyoming Valley Alcohol and Drug Services.
The number of people they are helping has spiked in the past year, and they are seeing more and more people developing drinking problems, and more struggling with depression and anxiety, too.
“There’s relapse, there’s been a lot of relapse, and it’s worse now because there is that isolation component to it. What we’re seeing on both the prevention end and the treatment end is just an increasing need for things to get back to some sort of normalcy," said Wolownik.
Staffers say they want to prevent any more issues if they can.
“Our numbers actually attending here at the counseling center sessions and group sessions. They are showing up. They didn’t have time before, and they just don’t want to be a statistic during COVID," said Wolownik.
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Sarah Buynovsky also spoke with Wolownik about how to talk to kids of all ages about the dangers of drugs in this Parent Pod.