CINCINNATI -- In 2012, Amy Parker reached a breaking point. Her addiction to heroin had become so severe it eliminated all options but two: Find help immediately or find more heroin. If she hadn't been admitted to treatment the day she made the decision to seek it, Parker is certain she would have relapsed.
"It's that desperate," she said.
And a drug user's moments of clarity and conviction can be that brief.
Now a peer recovery supporter at BrightView, a local treatment center, Parker emphasized the importance of ensuring people dealing with addiction can strike while the iron is hot and get treatment when they're prepared to receive it.
That's why Parker said she likes FindLocalTreatment.com, a service that can help people seeking addiction treatment find recovery centers near them with room to take on a new patient.
"Part of our tech team interacts with the treatment platform to make sure it's up-to-date at all times," Brightview Dr. Shawn Ryan said.
The goal is simple: Don't let the process of finding help stand in the way of recovery.
In the three months since the site launched, FLT has had thousands of hits. The most common addictions for which users seek help are heroin, alcohol and prescription opioids.