CAUSE PEOPLE TO MAKE DECISIONS THEY LATER REGRET. >> MY FAMILY IS IN A STATE OF SHOCK. IT IS NOT THE HEATHER THAT WE KNOW THAT WOULD DO THIS TO HER CHILD. REPORTER THOSE WORDS SPOKEN BY HEATHER ATKINS MOM MAKE PERFECT SENSE TO TYLERCH SMIDT. >> AT THE DARKEST POINTS OF MY ADDICTION, I WAS A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT PERSON. I NNCA DISCERN THE TRUTH FROM A FALSE. REPORTER:OW N IN HIS NINTH YEAR OF RECOVERY, HE IS THE LEADER OF A FAITH BASED RECOVERY PROGRAM CALLED LIVING IN TESTIMONY. BASED ON HIS OWN LIFE AND OTHERS, HE SEES THE SITUAONTI INVOLVING ATKINS AND HER SON A LESS SHOCKING. >> IIST NOT SURPRISING, BUT IT IS HEARTBREAKING. MANY PEOPLE ARE STRUGGLING’S WITHIN THE CONFINES OF THE HOUSE AND DO NOT KNOW WHERE TO TURN. REPORTER THAT IS ESPECIALLY TRUE WHELIN AND DEATH DECISIONS ARE BEING MADE UNDER A CLOUD OF DRUG-INDUCED CONFUSION. ALMTOS TRIAGE HOUSING WE CAN TAKE SOMEBODY OFF THE SHOULDN’T MIDNIGHT, BRGIN THEM MEN, CLOTHING, WASHER CLOSE, FEEL THEM, GIVE TMHE TEMPORARY SHELTER, THEN WE COORDINATE THE TREATMENT. RERT:PO 220 MEN HAVE BEEN CONNECTED T THE TREATMENT WITHIN 24 HOURS. SIMILAR WITH A WOMEN’S PROGRAM. >> TYHE DO NOT NEED JUDGMENT OR HARSH CRITICISM. THEY REALLY NEED A HELPING HAND. STEV: HEATHER ATKINS MOMLS TEL WLWT TTHA SHE THOUGHT HER DAUGHTER STOPPED USING DRUGS FIVE YEARS AGO. E YSSH HER DAUGHTER SUFFERS BOUTS OF DEPRESSION. MO
Recovery expert talks about powerful hold of drug addiction in situation involving boy left in Colerain
Tyler Schmidt explains impact illicit drugs can have on people teetering on the edge
Updated: 11:16 PM EST Feb 21, 2022
Heartbreaking but hardly surprising. That's how a local recovery expert feels about the situation involving a mother who is accused of leaving her child alone in Colerain Township. The police officer who arrested Heather Adkins, the mother of a child who was found alone in Colerain, said she had been treated for using a heroin and meth, a drug combination that one expert says can cause people to make decisions they later regret."My family, you know, is in a state of shock because it's not the Heather that we know, you know, that would do this to her child," said Sharon Eads, Heather Adkins' mother.Eads' comments make perfect sense to Tyler Schmidt."At the darkest points of my addiction I was, you know, just a completely different person," Schmidt said. "I couldn't discern the truth from the false."Schmidt, now in his ninth year of recovery, is executive director of a faith-based recovery organization called Living in Testimony.Based on his own experience and the stories he's heard from others battling addiction, Schmidt finds the situation involving Adkins and her 6-year-old son less shocking than many might think. Police said Adkins left her son alone on a road in Colerain Township Thursday night. Thankfully, a passing motorist saw the little boy and called for help. "This is heartbreaking, but it's not surprising," Schmidt said. "A lot of people are struggling within the confines of their house and just don't know where to turn."That's especially true when potentially life and death decisions are being made under a cloud of drug-induced confusion. Recognizing this reality, Schmidt and his team have used grant money from the state of Ohio to launch a Short Term Refuge program in Lower Price Hill."Almost like triage housing, where we can take someone off the street at midnight, bring them in, clothe them, wash their clothes, feed them, give them some temporary shelter and then we coordinate the treatment," Schmidt said.Since the program was ramped up in June, Schmidt said 220 men have been connected to treatment options within 24 hours.A similar program for women will launch next month at a Living in Testimony site in College Hill.In the meantime, Schmidt hopes Heather Adkins gets the help she needs — and not a public lashing."They don't need judgment or harsh criticism," he said. "They really need a helping hand."Sharon Eads told WLWT she thought her daughter stopped using illicit drugs five years ago. Eads said her daughter does suffer bouts of depression.
Heartbreaking but hardly surprising. That's how a local recovery expert feels about the situation involving a mother who is accused of leaving her child alone in Colerain Township.
The police officer who arrested Heather Adkins, the mother of a child who was found alone in Colerain, said she had been treated for using a heroin and meth, a drug combination that one expert says can cause people to make decisions they later regret.
"My family, you know, is in a state of shock because it's not the Heather that we know, you know, that would do this to her child," said Sharon Eads, Heather Adkins' mother.
Eads' comments make perfect sense to Tyler Schmidt.
"At the darkest points of my addiction I was, you know, just a completely different person," Schmidt said. "I couldn't discern the truth from the false."
Schmidt, now in his ninth year of recovery, is executive director of a faith-based recovery organization called Living in Testimony.
Based on his own experience and the stories he's heard from others battling addiction, Schmidt finds the situation involving Adkins and her 6-year-old son less shocking than many might think. Police said Adkins left her son alone on a road in Colerain Township Thursday night. Thankfully, a passing motorist saw the little boy and called for help.
"This is heartbreaking, but it's not surprising," Schmidt said. "A lot of people are struggling within the confines of their house and just don't know where to turn."
That's especially true when potentially life and death decisions are being made under a cloud of drug-induced confusion. Recognizing this reality, Schmidt and his team have used grant money from the state of Ohio to launch a Short Term Refuge program in Lower Price Hill.
"Almost like triage housing, where we can take someone off the street at midnight, bring them in, clothe them, wash their clothes, feed them, give them some temporary shelter and then we coordinate the treatment," Schmidt said.
Since the program was ramped up in June, Schmidt said 220 men have been connected to treatment options within 24 hours.
A similar program for women will launch next month at a Living in Testimony site in College Hill.
In the meantime, Schmidt hopes Heather Adkins gets the help she needs — and not a public lashing.
"They don't need judgment or harsh criticism," he said. "They really need a helping hand."
Sharon Eads told WLWT she thought her daughter stopped using illicit drugs five years ago. Eads said her daughter does suffer bouts of depression.
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