Members of Dover Youth to Youth were in downtown Dover NH – along with students from other communities, including Rochester, Epping, Somersworth, Milton and Newmarket – to make the community aware of the problem of opiate addiction and our support of the Anyone Anytime awareness campaign.

The Anyone Anytime Campaign is designed to send the message to the public that:

Anyone can experience addiction

Anyone can ask for help
Anyone can recover
Anyone can save a life

11 year old Brielle Early of Dover Y2Y said, “We feel this is important because many people are impacted in very serious ways. We are particularly concerned about the fact that anyone anytime can become addicted to opioids.

We feel that this is a very serious problem and it is affecting our state and our communities. Last year about 400 people died in New Hampshire from opioid overdose. This includes 12 deaths right here in Dover.

By holding this informational demonstration we hope to help people understand that there are many major consequences and anyone can be a victim of the epidemic.

And anyone can ask for help, and anyone can recover”

To get this message out, Dover Y2Y held the rally with posters, large visuals, and chants. And explaining the message to pedestrians and passing out informational cards to educate the public about the campaign.

Over the next year, Youth to Youth will also be creating media like radio PSA’s and videos. By taking all these actions we hope to spread awareness of the dangers of these harmful substances and resources to help people.

Lindsey Otis, an 11 year old member of Dover Youth to Youth said: “Recovering from addiction is a process which involves the kindness of others”. We want others to know that there are people out there who care and want to help.

The Dover community has a variety of resources to help people seeking help for a drug addiction. One of the newest programs was launched last week by the Dover Police Department and SOS Recovery Center. The police department will open their doors Monday-Friday from 9am-4pm to people seeking treatment or recovery. Individuals wanting help will meet with a police officer who will connect them with an SOS recovery coach to help them navigate treatment options and recovery support systems.

Additional resources are available at AnyoneAnytimeNH.org. The Anyone Anytime campaign is an initiative of the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services.

Our effort to support this campaign is being kicked off during Youth to Youth’s week long Summer Training Program that teaches students the knowledge and the skills they need to take action to take on the drug problem in their communities.

Over 60 experienced and new members from programs in Dover, Rochester, Milton, Somersworth, Newmarket, Epping and Burlington, VT are participating in the training program this week.