Addiction is a Disease - not a Disgrace!

The WORK of TAM is "Sharing Without Shame." The WORK of TAM is to support our members. The WORK of TAM is to support our grandparents, and our grieving moms. The WORK of TAM is to support our families who have been devastated by the disease of addiction. The WORK of TAM is to offer understanding, comfort and hope to our members. The WORK of TAM is performed by our individual members, who protect each others’ children, by traveling to a hospital bedside, providing transportation, food, and toiletries, sending letters to a prison, and visiting a child in jail, or in treatment, as TAM moms do. The WORK of TAM is members meeting, posting, sharing, supporting, researching, and informing society about the deadly disease of addiction. The WORK of TAM is to propose a law, in order to make treatment more accessible and more affordable through insurance or the state, as a TAM mom has. The WORK of TAM is to appeal to the state legislators and ask them to place an obscure, currently legal, but deadly drug (Kratom) on the watch list to be regulated, as a TAM mom has. The WORK of TAM is to appeal to lawmakers and the court system to permit us to secure guardianship over our adult children, which a TAM mom in Kentucky has accomplished. The WORK of TAM is to lobby lawmakers to permit parents to keep the opioid overdose medication in their homes, and to require first responders to carry it on their vehicles, as TAM moms in Maryland have. The WORK of TAM is to de-stigmatize addiction. The WORK of TAM is to focus the attention of our nation on addiction by marching in Washington, D.C. in partnership with FED UP! The WORK of TAM is to create a quilt, sewn with loving hands, of patches depicting our lost children. The WORK of TAM is to proudly display that quilt in D.C., demonstrating to the nation that we are not ashamed of our children. The WORK of TAM is to secure a proclamation from her town, designating May 17 as “The Addict’s Mom Day,” as Barbara Theodosiou has. The WORK of TAM is to hold events in our communities (”Walk a Mile in My Shoes.”) The WORK of TAM is to host candle lighting ceremonies (“Lights of Hope”) to commemorate our loved ones in recovery, in active addiction, or who have died. The Work of TAM is to host a record number (62) “Lights of Hope” events in every state in our nation, as the mothers of TAM accomplished in 2015. The WORK of TAM is to collect the “Voices of The Addict’s Moms” and ask Barbara, in her speeches, to give voice to moms who have never had a forum to share their feelings. The work of TAM is partnering with Federal agencies, such as SAMHSA, and NAMI, to become better informed, and keep abreast of the latest research and best practices in the field of addiction, which TAM does. The WORK of TAM is for moms to contact every police department in every state and ask them to adopt the Gloucester, Mass. Police Department P.A.A.R.I. program that offers rehab instead of prison, as TAM moms have. The Work of TAM is to run marathons, wearing a shirt with her deceased boy’s picture, and the names of TAM children who have died, as a TAM mom does. The WORK of TAM is to publish a very important article about our broken community mental health and prison systems, in which our children, specifically the ones diagnosed with Co-Occurring mental and addiction disorders, fall victim. The article brings to fruition a 2 year odyssey of research, interviews, meetings, conversations, and experiences, and will appear in print in the Nov./Dec. issue of Counselor Magazine. It is Barbara's wish that the article will be the impetus for discussions at the community, grass roots levels, and effect much-needed reforms. The WORK of TAM is Barbara, speaking at events, being interviewed, appearing in print media, and appearing on television, as she has. The WORK of TAM is Barbara being featured on CNN, and on a live CNN online chat. The WORK of TAM is Barbara and TAM being featured in "The Fix", a global addiction magazine. The WORK of TAM is Barbara, garnering nation-wide publicity for being the recipient of several awards: the 2013 Behavioral Health Advocacy Award by the South Florida addiction community, one of the top 100 “Women of The Year” by Broward County, Florida, one of the 2009 “People Who Make A Difference,” by CNN Comcast Newsmakers, and the 2014 “Maria Shriver Architect of Change “ award. The WORK of TAM is for the members to conduct a nation-wide search on social media for Barbara’s Daniel, who was missing for a week before Barbara learned that he had died. The WORK of TAM is represented by the heart and soul of not only Barbara, but of our wonderful members, who every day make an important contribution in the field of addiction in an effort to save our families and our beloved children from the demon. THAT IS THE WORK OF TAM. "I want to find every mom who is sitting alone in the dark, with tears running down her cheeks, feeling broken and desperate," (Barbara Theodosiou.) THAT IS THE WORK OF TAM.