By Joe Engle, Founder and CEO
May is Mental Health Awareness Month.
You’ll see campaigns. Messages. Awareness posts.
But for some of us, awareness isn’t a month. It’s every day.
Recently, I read a statement from a mother who stood in a federal courtroom and spoke about losing her son to addiction. She described sitting for hours, listening to families tell story after story of loss. Parents reliving the worst day of their lives.
She talked about her son. Who he was. What was taken from him.
And when asked if the outcome of that case brought closure, her answer was simple.
No.
There is no closure when you lose a child.
That truth doesn’t need explanation. I understand it.
I lost my son in 2011. That loss does not fade. It does not resolve. It becomes something you carry into every room, every decision, every conversation.
The court found Purdue Pharma guilty on multiple criminal counts.
Decisions were made, profits were prioritized, and the consequences are still unfolding in communities like ours.
But accountability, even when it comes, does not bring people back.
It’s why TiNHiH exists.
Because what matters now is what we do with what’s left in front of us.
We act.
We show up for the individuals and families who are still in the middle of it.
We build programs that give people a real chance to recover.
We create spaces where people are seen, not judged.
We fight for systems that respond before loss becomes permanent.
Every person who walks through our doors is someone’s child.
That perspective changes how you do this work. It removes distance. It removes indifference.
It demands more.
Mental Health Awareness Month should not be about awareness alone. We are well past that. The need is clear. The damage is visible across every community.
This month should be about responsibility.
Responsibility to invest in care.Responsibility to expand access.
Responsibility to treat people before crisis becomes loss.
At TiNHiH, we will keep doing what we have always done.
We remember. We act. We stay.
Because for the families who carry this loss, and for the individuals still fighting their way out, walking away is not an option.— Joe Engle
Founder and CEO
There Is No Hero in Heroin Foundation
