I am thrilled and honored to join Becky, Blaise, Christy, and Misty as the newest Five Mom in the fight to stop medicine abuse.

When I heard the Five Moms campaign was looking for a new Mom to join its efforts, I just knew I had to get involved. Unfortunately, I’ve seen the impact that substance abuse can have on families and communities firsthand. I am a mother with a son in recovery and a high school math teacher that has seen too many drug-related tragedies take place in my community.

I felt that more needed to be done to educate teens and parents about the dangers of substance abuse. Therefore in 2011, I founded the Northport Community Book Club, which promotes reading and discussing books on drug addiction and recovery to start the conversation between parents and teens about the risks of substance abuse. The book club helps to bring my community together to focus on the important and often difficult discussions about addiction, recovery, prevention, education, and the impact of drugs and alcohol on the community.

I am passionate about educating parents and teens in my community, and as a part of the Five Moms campaign, I look forward to reaching even more parents and teens to educate them on the dangers of substance abuse, and provide them with the right tools to make a positive change in their hometowns.

As members of a community, we all play a role in ensuring that teens make healthy and safe choices. There are several steps that each of us can take to help the teens in our towns and cities make the right decision about cough medicine abuse. I believe we can each do our part, however small, to make a difference.