40 Projects

As told by my roommate, age 20, to Blake.

How did I come to break my leg?

I was fiddling around with my brothers on our parents’ bed.  Eventually one of my brothers had pushed me off, it felt as if I was falling out of the sky, hitting the ground eventually and breaking my leg. As I hit the ground I screamed,”My leg just broke!” The demeanor of my face suddenly changed as I was asked about breaking my leg, it’s almost like I was being asked to explain one of my worst nightmares. The mood suddenly shifted from content and cheery to fear and disgust. It was as if I had to relive this moment all over again. I began speaking with a soft tone, and my hands became sweaty and clammy.

I lived in a predominantly white neighborhood near the hospital, so it took about a blink of an eye to arrive. My leg wouldn’t work, it was like the bluetooth that connects my leg to my brain had been interrupted. My father had to carry me into the hospital, and I can remember how sweaty his hands were. He could only imagine how expensive this trip was going to be. The nurse immediately placed me in a wheelchair and rolled me into a room. On the other hand, the nurse’s hands were cold to the touch as she placed the jet black blood pressure cuff around my little nine year old arm. I was so close to the nurse that I could smell her body fragrance linger off of her flower coated scrubs as she took my vitals. I sat as still as possible with my busted leg sticking straight out. Some of the slightest movements would cause a jolt of pain to run down my leg. The inside of the hospital resembled a ghost town, I was the lone patient amongst a number of staff members. The care was none other than stellar because everyone was focused on one person, me! I jokingly said, ”I picked the perfect time to crack my leg!” The statement totally changed my demeanor and I cracked a smile that lit up the room. The place reminded me of those run down towns that cowboys come across in the old western films. I began to explain my surroundings and how everything looked. The words flew off of my tongue as if I was just there yesterday. “All four of the walls were pearly white, the light bounced off the walls like a basketball on hot pavement,” I stated. The scent of lysol and lemons flourished throughout the room. Medical equipment was scattered throughout the room, like toys in a playroom.

I couldn’t help but to give the healthcare workers compliment after compliment. It was as if I had hit the healthcare lottery. Every doctor, nurse, and specialist received an A+ on my report card. I was grateful that I lived in a town the size of a popcorn kernel. If this scenario were to take place in a hospital located in a large city, the insides of the emergency room would be as busy as a beehive. Forcing workers to focus on other beings rather than myself. Everything I murmured about the experience was positive, I was beyond grateful that I didn’t have to deal with long wait times, or rude and cruel physicians.

As a nine year old girl, I imagined as if healthcare was just nurses and doctors. I was certain they were the only two people that could fix all of one’s problems. But what I wasn’t aware of was the vast amount of specialists present in the hospital. It’s as if I was a puzzle and each specialist had one piece, forcing them to work together to put my leg back together. The experience was nonetheless satisfactory, and I knew that if I ever had to walk through the same doors, I would be greeted with the best care. It put a smile on my face, cheek to cheek, knowing that our community was in good hands when it came to available healthcare.

The abuse and overdose rates of drugs in teenagers are a concern of mine. Beginning to abuse substances at an early age is more detrimental to the body than abusing as a grown adult. This is because the body isn’t fully developed. What also makes teenagers different from adults, is the amount of impulsive decisions they make. The curiosity of trying a substance for the first time has the potential to lead to addiction. In my opinion, the worst time to be battling addiction is as a teenager. We must think of all the important decisions we make as a teenager that influence us for the rest of our lives. A few examples include friendships, work life, and even college. As adolescents begin highschool and even college, their friendships start to change. Those they associate themselves with, may put them in difficult scenarios and almost force them to do unwanted things. The term can also be referred to as “peer pressure”. Speaking from personal experience, I had a close friend distance himself after the COVID-19 pandemic. He used to enjoy the healthy and clean habits our friend group was associated with. Unfortunately, he has now linked himself to drugs ever since the pandemic. Another important decision teenagers make is knowing what they want to do with the rest of their lives, more specifically college. When individuals attend college, it’s like a whole new world.

The amount of opportunities available is limitless, especially when you no longer live with your parents and make your own decisions. New friendships can also come with consequences. Substance and alcohol use at college is at an extremely high level because mom and dad don’t know, right? Far too many times I have seen an intelligent individual fail, due to substance abuse. It begins with going out and getting drunk on a weekday or even smoking marijuana with friends. They then decide to skip class because they don’t feel very well, but they can say they had so much fun the night before. The individuals begin putting substance abuse, or “fun”, over their academic goals. Don’t get me wrong, a night out every here and there is a great social life, but it can easily become a problem. To be more specific, I want to focus on the relationships of substance abusers. Is it more common for individuals to abuse when they associate themselves with a group of friends? Are isolated teens more likely to have an addiction? How does one’s family affect them?

The human brain is very complex and makes thousands of decisions every single day. Addiction can have both long-term and permanent effects on the human brain. Just consider that statement for a second. That awesome “high” you experience from the substances, can hurt the rest of your life. Too many people give up a healthy brain, for a few years of drug satisfaction. Drugs also can change the dopamine path in the brain. Dopamine is a very important neurotransmitter that is associated with movement, cognition, and reward. There are also environmental and genetic factors that have the ability to affect the brain. I have been reminded by my grandparents many times that I have addictive genes in my DNA because of the choices my father makes. I have been able to prove otherwise, as of now. But it always gives me a purpose to make the right decision.

Many factors can influence substance use in teenagers. A few factors I would like to discuss are peer relationships and family relationships. Some unavoidable family factors include social economic status, divorce, and child abuse. A correlation between the factors and substance abuse has been noticed in many teenagers. Peer relationships, on the other hand, are very avoidable. The easiest way to avoid addiction is by associating yourself with a group of friends who partake in healthy activities. In some cases, teenagers become motivated to use drugs if it allows them to join friend groups. Do you want to hang out with those people if that’s what they expect of you? There was one certain study that stuck out to me, which led me to an intervention idea. The study had to do with a group of junior high schools. They were measuring the likelihood of smoking based on the individual’s friend groups. There were three different categories: kids with many friends, individuals with few friends, and isolates. Isolates were individuals that didn’t have any friends. To my surprise, it was found that isolates were more likely to smoke. As everyone knows, peer pressure is an important concern when it comes to substance abuse. I would’ve assumed that individuals with more friends were more likely to smoke.

The availability of specific substances is a major contributor to abuse. It is very common to see the most abundant substances get abused the most, as they are very easy for individuals to obtain. In today’s society, I would say that alcohol and nicotine are the two easiest substances to abuse, especially in Iowa City. The amount of alcohol and vape shops nearby has a negative effect on the situation. Each day I walk to class I pass roughly five to ten stores based on the route I take. It also doesn’t help that bars line the streets across from our campus. Simple “gateway drugs” like caffeine and nicotine, open the door for individuals to begin abusing harder drugs like LSD and cocaine. Marijuana could also be added as an easily obtained substance, especially because it has become legalized in some states. Music is a very common trend among substance abusers. Everyone has their own unique music taste, but for addicts, it is very common for them to listen to rap, rave, and heavy metal. It is known that music is linked to cognitions, emotions, identity, and memories. These same characteristics can influence substance usage

The intervention I want to conduct will address isolated individuals. I want to create an opportunity for substance abusers to find a friend group through music, as I believe they can influence each other to slowly repent from drug use. To be more specific, I want to invite a group of individuals who are interested in music to come together and form friendships. I will not limit the amount of individuals that can come, that will only limit the opportunities for the isolated individuals. We will meet at an event center or community rather than a local high school. The last place teenagers want to go to is a school. I want this event to be available for individuals from many different school districts, allowing for new connections. It will be very hard to find success if we invite many kids from the same school. As they have the opportunity to socialize daily, yet choose not to. In order to gain leverage and interest, I will provide pizza for everyone who shows up, who doesn’t like pizza? We will allow the individuals to eat first, and hopefully create some small talk with their peers that are around. After everyone gets to know each other a little bit, everyone will separate into groups based on their taste in music. This allows everyone to bond over a common interest, which usually sparks some great conversations. Computers will be provided for individuals who prefer making beats, and other electronic forms of music. On the other hand, we will also have physical instruments available as well. The group will get around 30-45 minutes to create a song, we will bring the group together and everyone will share their creations. I believe it is very important for these individuals to present what they’ve made, as it gives them something to be confident about.

Everyone will then come together as a group and participate in some sort of musical activity. Some examples of music activities could include freestyling, acapella, and rhyming. After around 30 minutes of the group activity, we will get ready for the closure. The first thing I will ask of the teenagers is that they share socials and phone numbers with some individuals that they bonded with during the activities, as this will hopefully promote friendships. If we get a really good turnout at the first event we could begin holding these interventions biweekly. This is another great reason for the teenagers to share phone numbers, because hopefully Jackson texts Bailey, ”I’ll go to music intervention tomorrow if you go.” That is the whole purpose!

We will end every gathering with some inspiration. For the first meeting, I will talk about the importance of friendships. It will go along the lines of: Which way does a tree fall? Many tend to say a tree falls down, which is partially correct. A better answer is that a tree will fall the way it leans. Now everyone should close their eyes and picture themselves as the tree. Which way do you want to lean? Towards bad habits like drinking and smoking, or towards good habits like exercising and enjoying outdoor activities? I brought you all together so you can establish friendships with individuals that will allow for the promotion of good habits. I know everyone here is struggling with substance abuse and their own problems, but I want you guys to establish ways of communication and seek out the positivity in each other.

Reflection on the intervention is a very important step. The goal of this intervention is to have a group of isolated teenage addicts come together and share their passion for music with each other. I hope for every individual to become more comfortable with each other after every session, I will also encourage the appearance of new individuals who would like to participate. Success of this intervention would be very important for me, when will I know I have succeeded? I will know I have found success when it is a group of friends gathering every other week to interact with music, rather than a group of addicted, isolated teenagers.

References

Ennett, S. T., and Baumann, K. E. (1993). Peer group structure and adolescent cigarette smoking: a social network analysis. J. Health Soc. Behav. 34, 3, 226–236. doi: 10.2307/2137204

Henderson, E. (2001) Understanding Addiction. University Press of Mississippi 2001.

Powledge, Tabitha M. “Addiction and the Brain: The Dopamine Pathway Is Helping Researchers Find Their Way through the Addiction Maze.” OUP Academic, Oxford University Press, 1 July 1999, academic.oup.com/bioscience/article/49/7/513/236613. Accessed 22 Nov. 2024.

Whitesell, Mackenzie, et al. “Familial, Social, and Individual Factors Contributing to Risk …” Familial, Social, and Individual Factors Contributing to Risk for Adolescent Substance Use, 2013, onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1155/2013/579310. Accessed 22 Nov. 2024.