Vital Signs- everything parents should know but quite often do not. And why you should read this!

August is Overdose Awareness Month, and while there are a lot of awareness months and days that come across our feeds, this is one that I really hope parents will stop and pay attention to.

Not because I think we should live scared. Actually, the opposite. I think we should be informed.

As a Beauty for Good Ambassador for Victoria’s Voice, one of the programs I have been sharing is called VITAL SIGNS. It is a free online program created for parents, caregivers and educators to help us recognize some of the early signs that a child may be struggling, whether that is with mental health, substance use, vaping, alcohol, marijuana, drugs, bullying, low self-esteem or other behaviors that can put them at risk.

And before anyone thinks, “That isn’t my kid,” I want to say something that I think is really important. This isn’t a course for “bad parents,” and it isn’t a course you take because you think your child is using drugs. It is a course for parents because we are parents.

Our kids are growing up in a world that looks very different from the one we grew up in. They have access to things we never had access to, they are exposed to things much earlier, and sometimes what looks like normal teenage behavior can be something more. None of us comes home from the hospital with an instruction manual explaining exactly what to watch for at age 12, 14, 16 or 18.

I have three daughters. I know what it is like to look at your child and wonder if something is just a phase, if they’re having a bad week, if you’re overreacting, or if maybe you should be paying closer attention. Parenting has a lot of those moments.

That is exactly why I like this program.

VITAL SIGNS came from an unimaginable loss. Jackie and David Siegel lost their daughter Victoria to a drug overdose in 2015 when she was just 18 years old. Afterward, they began looking back at signs they had missed, misunderstood or underestimated. They could not change what happened to their family, so they created VITAL SIGNS in the hope that other parents might have information they did not have at the time.

That part stays with me, because sometimes awareness isn’t knowing exactly what to do. Sometimes it is simply knowing enough to ask another question.

The course gives parents practical information about drug awareness, mental and behavioral health, communication, parenting strategies, warning signs and ways to start conversations with our kids. It also includes tools for families, conversation starters, activities and additional resources.

And it is free.

Actually free.

Not “free until you get to lesson three and suddenly need a credit card” free.

You can take the free VITAL SIGNS course here and go through it online at your own pace.

I would love to see parents take this course before they ever think they need it. That is the whole point of prevention.

We talk to our children about wearing seatbelts before there is an accident. We teach them how to swim before they fall into deep water. We talk about internet safety before something happens online. This should be the same conversation.

Taking a course about substance use does not mean you are accusing your child of anything. Keeping naloxone in your home does not mean you expect someone to overdose. Talking openly about fentanyl does not put the idea into a teenager’s head. It means you are prepared.

It means you know more today than you did yesterday.

It means that if something ever feels different with your child, you may recognize a sign sooner, ask a better question or have a conversation you otherwise might not have had.

Victoria’s Voice talks a lot about not missing the signs, and I think that message applies far beyond drugs. Our kids need adults who are willing to notice them, listen to them and have uncomfortable conversations with them, especially the uncomfortable ones.

So during Overdose Awareness Month, I am asking parents for one thing: give yourself the information.

Take the course. Send it to another parent. Talk about it at the dinner table.

You may go through the entire program and never need most of what you learn, and I sincerely hope that is exactly what happens. But when the information is free, accessible and could someday help you recognize that a child needs help, I cannot think of a good reason not to know it.

That is what Beauty for Good means to me.

The crown may give us a microphone, but what we choose to do with it is the part that actually matters.