B.C. father shares barriers he faced getting help for teen daughter before her overdose death

PORT COQUITLAM, B.C. -

 Each day, Greg Sword said he questions whether there was something he could have done to prevent his teenage daughter from dying of an overdose.

“You can’t find the answers and it eats you alive,” he told CTV News.

On August 20, 2022, Kamilah Sword, 14, died of an overdose in her bedroom.

Prior to that day, she had overdosed a few times, and on two occasions, she ended up in the hospital, Sword said.

“I’m reaching out to the counsellors and all I ever got was, ‘Until she reaches for help, we can’t do anything for her,’” he said. “My daughter will never ask for help.”

He questions why a parent cannot get their underage children the help and support they need.

“The parents should be able to commit their children so that they don't have to go through this pain, that they have options so they can fight for their kids and not just watch them struggle and not be able to do anything,” he said.

He explained his “goofy” and “adventurous” daughter was struggling with anxiety and peer pressure after COVID-19 restrictions were lifted and began experimenting with drugs.

A Metro Vancouver teen explained how easy it is for youths to get their hands on drugs, some of which are advertised as safe supply. 

MORE SUPPORTS FOR FAMILIES NEEDED: CCSA 

Dr. Alexander Caudarella, a family physician and the CEO of the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction, said many of the treatment services available are not designed for youths.

“Younger people are afraid of a lot of the services that are available and choose to not be there, choose to not engage, and that's a big problem,” he said.

“Often it's felt that keeping them, especially against their will, is not going to do very much good. And this is where some of the questions we need to be asking ourselves is, why are so many young people refusing to engage and not be interested, and why have we not developed those services for them?”

To combat that challenge, he said there needs to be more services to support families, which have shown to influence a youth becoming more engaged with treatment.

He highlighted the community reinforcement approach, which is the idea that the environment and community – including families, friends and schools -- can play a powerful role by reinforcing alternate positive behaviour.

“What they found is, by working with the person who was concerned, not the person who needed help, but the person who was concerned and by teaching them skills, helping them know how to deal with it, they could increase, as much as seven times, the likelihood that that person would end up in treatment, that that person would engage with services,” Caudarella explained.

He said governments can also take a proactive approach by having services that help families improve communication skills, learn coping mechanisms and gain a better understanding of drugs to prevent a child from using substances in the first place.

“Given the fact that we've been in a drug and overdose and toxicity crisis for almost a decade, I think it's really important to zoom out and start taking that bigger lens and asking, how can we help those people even before they have their first overdose? How can we help those families? Because often, I think most of the time, those family members are aware that their families are at risk,” he explained.

MINISTRY RESPONSE

Sword hopes to see more widely available services for those who need it, without the child having to consent.

“Our elected officials should have programs to help these children, help families cope with this, and not just rely on the children to go, ‘We need help,’” he said.

In a statement, the Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions wrote, “The safety of youth is the government’s top priority, especially when it comes to ensuring they have access to the care they need following a substance use emergency.”

It went on to acknowledge that not every youth would ask for help.

“It is vital that young people have access to a voluntary system of care so that when they do ask for help, help is there. We know that for too many young people, that’s still not the case,” the statement continues.

“That’s why government is building an integrated, culturally safe and trauma-informed continuum of substance use care for youth,” the statement reads. “Government knows there’s more to do and won’t stop working until everyone can get the help they need and deserve.”

A guide for parents of children with substance use disorders is available online.