Leslie Wingard got her Christmas decorations out recently and came across her son Joe’s stocking.

“With the holidays coming up, they’re very hard,” she said. “Do you put their (Christmas) stuff out? My husband and I were still having this discussion. Do we still put his stocking up?”

Wingard’s son, Joe, died in 2020 at age 35.

After Joe died, Wingard looked for help in dealing with the loss. She started with grief support groups.

“The minute they found out our son died of a drug overdose, I was treated like the plague,” she said.

A Christian, she went to clergy members for help and their responses were the same, she said.

“I went to a professional counselor at year two and I was told I should be over it, he was a drug addict, this is how I knew it was gonna end,” said Wingard, formerly of Brookfield.

The stigma attached to drug addiction set assumptions on her son and herself, she said. Even her own doctor treated her differently in determining her medical care because of her son’s death, she said.

It wasn’t until Wingard met people associated with a group called GRASP – Grief Support After a Substance Passing – that she found folks she could talk to who did not attach the stigma to her son or her experience.

“I got to talk to professors and doctors, but, most of all, every single person who was an attendee has lost somebody to drugs,” said Wingard, who lives in Hermitage. “It was the first time in four years I was not judged, and my child was not judged. They understood.”

Wingard has created an organization called Joe’s Place to bring the positive experience she got from GRASP to the Shenango Valley. The group offers support meetings for adults who lost a loved one to substance abuse and separate meetings for teens – who can experience such losses differently than adults – in Mercer County. Wingard would like to expand them to Ohio, should she find a suitable meeting space. Ohio residents are welcome to attend the Pennsylvania meetings.

Wingard also is looking for community groups, schools and other organizations that will allow her to speak on the subject of loss due to substance abuse.

“We are not professional counselors,” she said. “We are a support group only.”

But, she has lined up supportive crisis agencies, pastors and health professionals who can see to needs beyond those offered by a support group.

“We want to help people heal,” Wingard said. “We want them to feel comfortable. We want them to know we care and you’re not alone. And then we want to educate other people who stereotype and stigmatize.”

The support group sessions can include art and music therapy, yoga and guest speakers, or the participants can just express what is on their minds, she said.

“We grieve,” she said. “That’s part of life. I want a special group, a special community, for adults to come to that they can share their pain and know we understand what you’re saying.”

The teen sessions address the unique experience of those who have lost a sibling, who often are “the other child” when parents are spending so much time dealing with a child who is an addict, she said.

“We’re educating them on how not to do drugs,” Wingard said. “I have resources lined up for them and activities lined up for them to do.”

Wingard can be reached at 724-301-8577.  The Joe’s Place web site is at joesplacepa.weebly.com, and Wingard maintains a Joe’s Place Facebook page.

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Joe’s Place offers the following support group sessions:

Adults

  • 6:30 p.m. the third Monday of the month at First Baptist Church, 301 W. State St., Sharon
  • 6:30 p.m. the third Wednesday of the month at the ROAR Center, 912 E. State St., Sharon.
  • 6 p.m. the second Wednesday of the month at Common Grounds Coffeehouse, 144 N. Pitt St., Mercer.

Teens 13-17

  • 6:30 p.m. the third Tuesday of the month at First Baptist Church.
  • 6:30 p.m. the third Thursday of the month at the ROAR Center.
  • 4 p.m. the second Wednesday of the month at Common Grounds.