Hero Story

Lauren Rousseau has served with FAN (Families Against Narcotics) for at least five years. She has been involved in the battle against addiction and the effort to remove the stigma of talking about this dreadful disease for far longer than that.

Lauren has spoken on this issue across the State of Michigan and community events arranged by Families Against Narcotics and at larger events also organized by FAN as well as attending and organizing her own speaking engagements on these issues. She has spoken before large gatherings of professionals from the legal and medical professions and has regularly engaged public officials and business leaders.

Lauren joined Families Against Narcotics and immediately thereafter noticed that there was no chapter in Wayne County. She then set about using her organizational and leadership skills to set up one up. She assembled a team, collected and encouraged volunteers, set up the chapter as an independent non-profit with partnership with what is referred to as 'FAN Central', solicited and attached to the organization a diverse Advisory Board and away she went. Lauren has orchestrated or overseen the production of more than 60 public meetings hosted by the Northwest Wayne Chapter of FAN. She has helped by direction and involvement to create a communications system to broadcast the message of Hope and Community in the face of despair and confusion to Michiganders all over the State and beyond. She has created a web of professionals united in the work against addiction and the stigma attached to it as well as joining to them individuals from all walks of life.

The people she has helped are the most fascinating aspect of all this work. Lauren has successfully uncovered and continues to publicize and communicate the strange pattern of infection that addiction has as a disease. She has helped professionals such as nurses, doctors, educational professionals and administrators, members of families from every socioeconomic sector in the state regardless of race, religion or national origin or any other population segment you can think of. She has advocated for more effective and compassionate laws and services to provide to those who have no means to access help themselves and to relieve the burden from those families who otherwise might be economically destroyed by the battle against this disease. She has helped mothers, children, fathers - she works tirelessly to help all of her fellows in Michigan and beyond.

Lauren has directly helped thousands of people and her impact goes far beyond that. Suffice it to say that the most important person that Lauren has helped is the the one she is working with now. Her focus and attention is remarkable and greatly appreciated by those she has assisted or facilitated the means to get the information or services necessary to respond effectively to the disease of addiction and remove the barriers that stigma has in our society, so that, we can all work together to solve the problem.

Her Service is special because she is able to a see and identify a problem and then design an operation towards solution. What is really special is that she is able to put those designs and plans into place. She has provided a framework that not only allows her to fight addiction and remove the barriers of stigma about addiction but to enable others to join in and use their individual skills and talents to push ahead. She is encouraging, organized and able.

Here is some information from the team's website that can help to form a background to Lauren's service because it was her that galvanized the creation and operation of this Families Against Narcotics (FAN) chapter and its operations:

https://www.familiesagainstnarcotics.org/northwest-wayne

"The Northwest Wayne County FAN chapter began with conversations--among parents who had lost children to heroin overdose; among family members struggling with loved ones in active addiction; and among treatment professionals dealing with families in desperate need of resources and support. There was growing awareness of FAN chapters in other parts of the state that were offering families support, working to end stigma, and creating positive change in the treatment of addiction in the community. FAN chapters existed in Macomb, Genesee, and Kent Counties, and at least eight chapter regions existed in Oakland County. But there was not a single FAN chapter in Wayne County. A group of us living in northwestern Wayne County--all impacted by addiction in one way or another--decided it was time to change that.

Too often, families are left to struggle with the burdens of addiction on their own, feeling ashamed and stigmatized. We strive to provide families, friends, and recovering people a place to come together and realize that they are not alone, that addiction is in fact a disease, and that this disease can be managed if we all do our part. Our monthly forum offers a support network for those affected by addiction. Through guest speakers and personal stories, we aim to raise awareness and provide education. "