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In 2012, Jim Hood suffered a parent’s worst nightmare: His son Austin died of an accidental drug overdose. He was 20 years old, and a student at Loyola University in New Orleans.

Here in Westport, Jim and his wife Julia — Austin’s stepmother — felt unbearable pain. Austin had been a wonderful young man, and a brilliant musician. He had a loving heart, a keen wit and a hopeful spirit.

His parents also felt helpless. During Austin’s struggles with addiction, Julia says, “There is so much I wish I had understood differently.” As they tried to help their son with his addiction issues, they felt as if they’d been dropped into a foreign city. They had no maps, and did not speak the language.

Jim Hood, and Austin.

They did not fully understand that addiction is a disease– not a choice or a personality trait. They did not realize that an addict’s brain is “hijacked, and chemically altered.”

Nor did the Hoods know that drug addiction is often tied to mental health challenges. Every year, over 5 million American teens and young adults are diagnosed with a serious mental health challenge. More than 200,000 die from drug overdoses and suicide — 5 times the number killed in automobile accidents.

A dozen years later, Hood’s grief has not lessened. But he draws solace from the fact that through Generation SOS — a non-profit he serves as CEO — he is helping keep countless young people alive.

And sparing them and their families the pain he still suffers, every day.

Austin Hood

Generation SOS was founded several years ago in New York. Six high school students died of accidental overdoses within a few weeks. The schools’ lack of response was shocking — “a sad example of the shame and stigma surrounding addiction and overdose,” the website says.

The organization offers peer-to-peer mental health support to teens and young adults at middle schools, high schools, colleges, places of worship, and community organizations nationwide,

All services are free. “We can’t let money get in the way of saving lives,” says Hood.

Young speakers share their addiction and recovery stories. They’re raw, filled with anxiety and loneliness. Yet each speaker’s story includes courage and hope.

They reach young audiences in a way that other speakers — older adults, teachers, those who counsel “Just say no” — cannot.

Two Generation SOS speakers, and an attentive audience.

Hood is inspired every day by the impact those speakers have.

Recently, Generation SOS was invited to Long Island’s Huntington High School. It was their first-ever all-school assembly.

It was planned for one period. Ten minutes in, the assistant principal extended it for as long as needed. It lasted almost 2 hours.

When the speaker ended, dozens of students lined up at microphones. One student spoke about coming to school high every day. Others talked about suicidal ideation, and cutting.

“Fifty or 60 kids asked gut-punch questions,” or made compelling comments, Hood says.

Finally, students headed back to class. But another 35 to 40 remained. Some shared stories with Hood and the speaker that they’d never told anyone.

“It was heart-wrenching,” Hood recalls. “These kids bared their souls to strangers. We told them to get help, that there’s no shame in an illness.”

Generation SOS has been invited back — this time with a Spanish speaker. (Hood notes that more than 90% of the time, they’re asked to return. When they do, someone often says, “You saved my life.”)

When students go home and tell parents what they’ve heard, “their eyes are opened,” Hood says. Many parents “would rather have a sex talk” than one about substance abuse and mental illness, he says.

Here in Westport, Staples High’s “Get Real Day’ last year included 2 assemblies. “You could hear a pin drop,” Hood says.

Hood coordinates the efforts of Generation SOS’ Connecticut chapter. It has established partnerships with Staples’ Teen Awareness Group, Weston High School, and other public and private schools in the state and Massachusetts.

Last week they signed a partnership with New York Edge. They provide after-school and summer activities to over 30,000 young people, in more than 100 schools in all 5 boroughs and Long Island.

Generation SOS evolved from a earlier organization co-founded by Hood. Facing Addiction launched in 2015, with 50,000 people on Washington’s National Mall. Joe Walsh, Steven Tyler and Sheryl Crow performed; Surgeon General Vivek Murtphy and Senator John Portman spoke; Presidents Obama and Bush, plus Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr appeared on video.

Jim Hood

Hood builds on that work. “Many people acknowledge that mental health and substance abuse/addiction/overdose crises are terrible when they strike an unfortunate family — but they are like lightning. They think it doesn’t happen to many people,” he says.

“But they are much more similar to a few bad weather days that spin out of control. Suddenly, your life hangs in the balance.

“If only we could get more people to understand that, and open their hearts, minds and (in time) wallets, so we can end this silent war that is stealing a generation of our youth.”

Generation SOS’s CEO says, “I’ve never worked this hard in my life.”

He does so in memory of his son Austin. And because he knows there are countless other Austins out there.

“”We lose 400 to 500 kids to drugs and alcohol every day,” Hood says. “And those are just the deaths.

“So many other kids live in isolation. They feel like losers. They don’t realize other people feel the same.”

When they hear real-life stories — from real-life people, their age or just a few years older — who once felt that way, for the first time they have hope.

Their generation’s SOS is being heard.

(To learn more about Generation SOS, click here. For their Instagram, click here.)