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For Stevenson, she has felt the need to do something to advocate and educate others on opioid abuse in memory of her daughter. After Tylar-Ann’s death, Stevenson and her husband first attended some meetings of The Compassionate Friends, another organization that provides grief support. They were a lifesaver.
At the time, she said, there weren’t many parents coming in who also had lost children to opioid overdose. That began to change as the crisis grew.
“For me, I think it was just having more of a connection with those parents that could share the same stories, because all of our stories are very similar,” Stevenson said. “It just gives us a purpose really to get out there and help people spread those thoughts and not be judged on what their loved ones passed from. … I also get the help from them, as well, and healing. It’s kind of a two-way street there, I think, when you go to advocate and want to start something like this.”