WAUKESHA, Wis. — The Waukesha County Health and Human Services released a series of mini-documentaries about addiction and recovery on Fentanyl Awareness Day.
"I was 23 years old doing pain pills on and off, doing heroin on and off,” said Charlie Hart Sheehan in a mini-documentary called Road to Recovery in Waukesha County.
Charlie is one of the featured people in the mini-documentaries the county is putting out to help people better understand addiction and what options there are for help.
"I hit rock bottom way more than one time,” said Charlie.
Charlie says she was one mistake away from death multiple times and that still didn't cause her to stop using drugs. But now she is six years clean and she is using her experience to help others get sober as a peer support counselor for the county.
"I think it is the reason why I'm here,” said Charlie.
We watched Charlie see her story come to life on the big screen today as the Waukesha County Health Department showed a series of mini-documentaries about addiction at the Marcus Theater in Waukesha.
We learned about this special project from the people working behind the scenes, the health department leaders at TMJ4’s Let's Talk Waukesha Event. They connected us to Charlie and Lake Country Fire Department’s Assistant Chief Matthew Haerter and the fire's therapy dog Tesla, who sees the opioid crisis on the frontlines of the community every day.
"It doesn't take someone becoming addicted to die from fentanyl or from opioids. It can be a one-time experience because of fentanyl cut into something else you are doing,” said Haerter.
They want people to know help is availablehere.
“A great majority of my friends aren't here anymore because they were too ashamed to come forward with it, said Charlie.
You can see the mini-documentaries here.
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