Opioid Overdose Aftercare
If someone you care about just survived an overdose, you’re probably looking for what to do next to help the person and yourself. The person may be your child, partner, parent, friend, or co-worker, and your relationship may be intense and involved or more limited. You might feel terrified, angry, relieved, helpless, grateful, defeated, all of those, or some other combination of feelings. You may have just discovered that they use opioids; you may have known for a long time and have been through this before; or you may use with the person and know a lot about their use. You may have been the one to rescue them from overdose.
The naloxoneforall.org website has a very useful guide to overdose aftercare developed by John Welch. The guide is not just about caring for others but also looks at caring for yourself in response to someone else’s (or your own) substance use.