Art > Empty Fix Series > Protect Them

Protect Them

Psychological injury – abuse, neglect, social isolation, bullying, grief – makes people vulnerable to addiction.

In one of my first interviews, I asked a young man at a Salt Lake City homeless shelter how he had gotten addicted. He said sadly, “It doesn’t matter how each of us got into this circus tent. What matters is what is keeping us locked in here. Don’t ask how we got addicted, ask why.” I took his advice and the answers astounded me. Their stories of psychological traumas, large and small, broke my heart.

To communicate the harm of psychological injury and its connection to drug addiction, I bought a shipping container, found a fabulous muralist – Rodrigo Pradel – to paint it, and filled it with child safety items that create a tunnel through which visitors pass.

At the entrance a sign notes that Americans spend over a billion dollars a year on child safety items, then it asks the stinging question: Are we really keeping them safe?

As they walk through this mass of car seats, safety gates, water wings, hockey pads, bike helmets and more, visitors hear voices from seven hidden audio speakers — seemingly out of nowhere — recounting the injuries they suffered such as abandonment, family breakups, bullying, and abuse.

To communicate the harm of psychological injury and its connection to drug addiction, I bought a shipping container, found a fabulous muralist – Rodrigo Pradel – to paint it, and filled it with child safety items that create a tunnel through which visitors pass. 

At the entrance a sign notes that Americans spend over a billion dollars a year on child safety items, then it asks the stinging question: Are we really keeping them safe?

As they walk through this mass of car seats, safety gates, water wings, hockey pads, bike helmets and more, visitors hear voices from seven hidden audio speakers — seemingly out of nowhere — recounting the injuries they suffered such as abandonment, family breakups, bullying, and abuse.

Painted shipping container from "Protect Them" by Suzanne Brennan Firstenberg
Protect Them Slider

Exposure to drugs is happening at very young ages. Many of the people I interviewed had their first exposure to drugs at the very beginning of adolescence – ages 11-13. Their access to drugs often came through older siblings or cousins. Almost all access came through close circles of extended family or friends. It is not some devious dealer lurking in an alley who will expose your kids to drugs, it is people you know and speak with often who can catalyze this journey.

Interviewees often recounted in surprising detail painful situations from their childhoods for which they were ill-prepared and unprotected. Even those who at first said they used drugs “to fit in,” upon closer examination revealed underlying reasons as to why they felt excluded or separate from others.

We can’t protect them from all psychological injuries, but we can help them process, understand and build strength from their experiences…if we are present. Deep, emotionally supportive relationships with adults are too often crowded out by technology — both the child’s thirst for technology and the parent’s being tethered to it. Children need nurturance by safe, caring adults in their lives. Our focus on “stranger danger” has led us all into thinking that we alone can keep our children safe. It isn’t working out that way.

Another fascinating observation was that the majority of my interviewees exhibited strong emotional intelligence. They were keenly attuned to their emotions and to my responses. They were very observant of their environments and demonstrated significant sensitivity to externalities — sound, light, temperature, other people. In her book, “The Highly Sensitive Person,” psychologist Elaine N. Aron explains that 20% of the population exhibit this more intense relationship with the world around them. They likely process psychological pain differently, more deeply, and are then more burdened — locked into that circus tent — by the stigma. They simply are more vulnerable to addiction.

Because both the psychological injury and the access to drugs happens most often within the context of the extended family and close friends, how will we protect kids from drug addiction? Let’s step back a moment. If highly sensitive people are more vulnerable, it makes sense to identify them early on and take special care in helping them relate to and deal with their relationships and environment. Skilled pediatricians can play a role. We should pilot school programs that could address the unique opportunities for educating highly sensitive children differently. We should significantly expand the budget for and the role of school counselors and psychologists. Greater psycho-social support of children within the learning environment may prove critical to prevention.

Protect Them Slider

Exposure to drugs is happening at very young ages. Many of the people I interviewed had their first exposure to drugs at the very beginning of adolescence – ages 11-13. Their access to drugs often came through older siblings or cousins. Almost all access came through close circles of extended family or friends. It is not some devious dealer lurking in an alley who will expose your kids to drugs, it is people you know and speak with often who can catalyze this journey.

Interviewees often recounted in surprising detail painful situations from their childhoods for which they were ill-prepared and unprotected. Even those who at first said they used drugs “to fit in,” upon closer examination revealed underlying reasons as to why they felt excluded or separate from others.

We can’t protect them from all psychological injuries, but we can help them process, understand and build strength from their experiences…if we are present. Deep, emotionally supportive relationships with adults are too often crowded out by technology — both the child’s thirst for technology and the parent’s being tethered to it. Children need nurturance by safe, caring adults in their lives. Our focus on “stranger danger” has led us all into thinking that we alone can keep our children safe. It isn’t working out that way.

Another fascinating observation was that the majority of my interviewees exhibited strong emotional intelligence. They were keenly attuned to their emotions and to my responses. They were very observant of their environments and demonstrated significant sensitivity to externalities — sound, light, temperature, other people. In her book, “The Highly Sensitive Person,” psychologist Elaine N. Aron explains that 20% of the population exhibit this more intense relationship with the world around them. They likely process psychological pain differently, more deeply, and are then more burdened — locked into that circus tent — by the stigma. They simply are more vulnerable to addiction.

Because both the psychological injury and the access to drugs happens most often within the context of the extended family and close friends, how will we protect kids from drug addiction? Let’s step back a moment. If highly sensitive people are more vulnerable, it makes sense to identify them early on and take special care in helping them relate to and deal with their relationships and environment. Skilled pediatricians can play a role. We should pilot school programs that could address the unique opportunities for educating highly sensitive children differently. We should significantly expand the budget for and the role of school counselors and psychologists. Greater psycho-social support of children within the learning environment may prove critical to prevention.

Painted shipping container from "Protect Them" by Suzanne Brennan Firstenberg