Heartbroken: Grief and Hope Inside the Opioid Crisis

The author, Ellen Krohne, warns us in the introduction to keep the tissues handy, and she wasn't kidding.There is an opioid crisis, we all know that much. What many of us do not know is how families are directly impacted by this crisis, how they try to help their loved ones who suffer from addiction, and that no family is immune from this potentially impacting them.If you are someone like myself that has not knowingly interacted with many people impacted by this crisis, you will learn a good amount of helpful knowledge. There is a stigma attached to the opioid crisis, which the book goes into detail about. It may be commonly believed that addiction is a choice, or that a family did something wrong to have a child become an addict, or that more tough love would have prevented a tragedy from happening. The book shows otherwise.Chapters 3 - 9 tell the stories of 7 grieving families who lost a loved one to opioids (although the family from chapter 9 was not yet ready for their story to be told, so it was much shorter). There are significant differences in each family discussed in the book. Some families were well aware of their loved one's addiction, some were not, some provided tough love, and others were more nurturing. All of the families have dealt with grieving in their own way, and I found one of them pretty unique to say the least. Another interesting take away from the book is how often people say rude things to the families who lost loved ones to an overdose.If you have little ones at home this book will put some fear in you. Part of you will feel helpless about avoiding the possibility of this happening to your family. As Krohne shows, it can impact anyone. What we can do is hope for change and try to do our part to help mitigate the risks to our society.Ellen Krohne is a talented writer, and I would also recommend checking out her prior book "We Lost Her" if you haven't yet. If you are considering buying "Heartbroken" it is good to know that all profits from the sale of the book will be donated to Heartlinks Grief Center.

I lost my dear son to an opiate overdose 22 months ago. He struggled with this disease for twenty years after being given a prescription for Vicodin when having his wisdom teeth removed at age 16.This book explained so much in so few pages. How the stigma of the disease of addiction affected my son and now affects my grieving and what disenfranchised grief is. Why loving someone who is suffering with addiction also cause trauma. We carry that trauma before we enter into the horrible grief when we lose them.There is so much information in this book regarding grieving a child lost to substance abuse syndrome . Also, how to affect change in our communities. And how to possible prevent addiction problems in the future with in my case, my grandchildren. Opiates have effected most people in this country. They may effect you or your loved ones in the future. Please read this book.If you have lost a loved one to opiates, this book will help you.

Although the stories told by the families in this book were very sad, it helped me realize that there is truly a crisis here. Stigma sticks in my mind and this book educated me on how this disease can affect anyone. There is no discrimination. This book also educated me on the signs and symptoms of this disease. I like the fact that Ellen supported her facts by having a professional and a counselor to explain. And most of all, after reading such sad stories, there is Hope. it was very helpful and encouraging to know there are groups and people willing to help.This is a very informative book but also a compassionate book. A must read for anyone!

This book is great but it is hard to read. The stories of the families and how they deal with family members who are trapped within the opioid crisis in our country is heartbreaking. This is not a fiction book - the stories are about REAL families and that is what makes this book hard to read. The information about opioids is invaluable - I have learned so much even though I thought myself pretty savvy. We all need to know about this disease that has spread through our communities. If you aren’t an expert on opioids, you need to read this book. It’ll be hard - but read it! Have your teens read it, too!

I know this author personally and LOVED her first book, “She Left Us”! I looked so forward to reading this book, as I heard about the meetings that were happening in our area, concerning drugs, which I had not been able to attend! This book is a must read for anyone coping with DRUGS of any kind..........usage - regarding self, family or friend! For myself, (I’m very lucky to not have this habit in my immediate circle - that I know of)! I found the actual stories of the families whose stories were told heartbreaking and very well written......However, not having experienced this myself, thankfully, the supporting chapters were hard for me to totally grasp! That being said - if the shoe fits - grab this book - digest it - and I promise you will not be sorry!