Losing a child
is the most painful trauma and grief any parent will ever experience. I found that out firsthand on August 28th, 2021, when my 30-year-old son lost his life to a disease called Substance Use Disorder - formerly known as Addiction.
Luke, Susan & her husband James
Susan Bartz Herrick, MFA, EdD., is a retired professor at UNC-Fayetteville, St. Andrews University, and Methodist University. Early in her career, she was a Community Liaison Specialist at HCA Cumberland Psychiatric Hospital and Treatment Center, giving seminars on Mental Health Disorders and Addiction.
Susan Bartz Herrick
Author, Educator, Substance Use Disorder Advocate
Helping people and families navigate
Substance Use Disorder!
Awesome Organizations Helping With
Substance Use Disorder:
The Last House Sober Living® is a network of structured sober living homes located in the heart of West Los Angeles. There is a large sober living community in California, and we are proud to be apart of this.
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
“ “Slow Dancing with the Devil is a book about a mother’s agonizing journey through the opioid epidemic of the 2010s. The book is written with such details, so much so that for readers whose lives or the lives of loved ones’ were touched by the epidemic, the book is a vivid account of their own suffering and the suffering of many American families impacted by the epidemic. For those who have never been impacted directly or indirectly, the book is an intense documentary of the human suffering of those inflicted by the disease of substance use disorders and the unrelenting grief of their families. It is a factual documentary of this country’s blunder in handling a disease unlike any other disease before or since. The book is a must-read for everybody in this country and a cry to strategize a unified front and approach in combating this disease.”—A. Omar Abubaker, D.M.D, Ph.D., professor and chairman, Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, VCU School of Dentistry and VCU Medical Center”
SUSAN'S MISSION
At just age nineteen, Susan son's Luke was in a near fatal car accident which led doctors to prescribe him opioid medication for pain.
What should have been a road to recovery, turned into a decades long dance with addiction...
Luke’s story is one that is all too familiar, yet tragically overlooked. Like many addicts, Luke did not fit the damaging “addict stereotype.” He was an IVY league student, had an emerging career as a Hollywood actor, was sober for long periods of time and was an active member of the Los Angeles AA community. His death at age 30, ultimately came when a relapse led him to take anxiety medication Klonopin that was unknowingly laced with fentanyl.
The book explores Luke’s personal story and Susan's mission to educate the public and reframe the conversation around addiction. Susan's goal with this book includes highlighting substance abuse disorder (SUD) as a disease, shifting recovery methods to science based treatment, shining a light on negligent medical treatment and pharmaceutical practices, and revealing stigmatized public policies to create real change.
“ Slow Dancing with the Devil is a book that should be read by every parent, friend, or relative of teens or young adults growing up in the ‘opioid era.’ As Susan eloquently and sadly implores within these pages, we must reframe our opinions and biases in caring for those afflicted with SUD. This compassionate and comprehensive approach is more critical now than ever amid an opioid crisis fueled by the most dangerous drugs ever known to human civilization. This story of tragedy and loss is also a tale of resilience. A strong woman who did not and would not give up. His story lives on as an education for all of us”
“A call for a strategic reset in fighting America’s opioid epidemic. Current policies are counterproductive. This is a classic example of a lack of knowledge & poor outcomes. Currently, SAMHSA reported only 0.4% of all 1,700,000 providers in America take care of 2.4 million that are in treatment. The treatment arm has been criminalized for 22 years; 1000s of doctors have been prosecuted for taking care of these complicated patients. Everyone is frustrated, patients can’t get help, and families left behind are suffering”
