Middletown, PA – Last evening, the Pennsylvania Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs (DDAP), in partnership with Penn State Harrisburg’s Douglas W. Pollock Center for Addiction Outreach and Research, held a free documentary screening of the film “Our American Family” – an honest portrait of five Philadelphia family members grappling with the legacy of generational addiction as they fight to heal resentments and pull each other out of the deepest depths.
The screening was held in conjunction with National Recovery Month and to raise awareness of DDAP’s stigma reduction campaign Life Unites Us.
“We know that stigma is still a barrier when it comes to individuals seeking treatment for substance use disorder, or even talking about it,” said DDAP Secretary Dr. Latika Davis-Jones. “This Recovery Month event was an opportunity to really dive into the power of story sharing and flip the script on stigma, whether it’s the brave individuals sharing through Life Unites Us, or it’s Linda Geraghty having a film crew follow her and her family’s SUD journey for a year.”
“The disease of addiction is relentless. While we’re preoccupied with concealing it, it works tirelessly to tear our families apart,” said Linda Geraghty, mother featured in “Our American Family” and recovery advocate. “I’m grateful for every chance to drag it out into the light through these crucial conversations.”
«Our American Family» follows a Philadelphia family’s journey with SUD, often showing open, honest conversations between family members around their kitchen table about their struggles and challenges with SUD from their individual perspectives.
Following the screening, Geraghty joined Secretary Davis-Jones and Dr. Weston Kensinger – Director of the Douglas W. Pollock Center for Addiction Outreach and Research – for a “kitchen table talk” on stigma reduction, including how Life Unites Us is effectively reducing stigma across Pennsylvania.
Life Unites Us launched in September 2020 and in addition to utilizing social media to spread stories of individuals and their family members living with SUD, the campaign hosts webinars to share tools and information to effectively reduce stigma and maintains an interactive data dashboard detailing the campaign’s progress.
“Since the launch of Life Unites Us, the campaign has shown impressive success in changing attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors to reduce substance use disorder stigma across the Commonwealth. Thanks to the brave individuals who are stepping up and sharing their stories through the campaign, we are reducing stigma, eliminating barriers to treatment, providing needed resources to friends and family members, and creating an atmosphere where recovery is supported and celebrated,” said Dr. Kensinger. “There is still more work that needs to be done to reduce stigma even further, however, because of life-saving work of the Shapiro Administration, the campaign, and our community partners, Pennsylvania has emerged as a national leader in SUD stigma reduction.”
The statewide campaign is funded by federal grant funding and is part of DDAP’s ongoing efforts to reduce the stigma of SUD. Additional partners include The Public Good Projects (PGP) and Shatterproof.
For more information about Life Unites Us and how to get involved, visit LifeUnitesUs.com, Facebook, Instagram, and X.
Learn more about the Shapiro Administration’s recovery initiatives and resources at ddap.pa.gov.
