Senior Design

Jordann S. | Product Design | Drexel University I want to help substance abusers’ loved ones to understand and become aware of their illness in order to cope with their disease and have self-empowerment. This blog is for any information and updates relating to my senior project of the year 2013-2014. The goal is to help the social world in a huge way by making a small, but meaningful change. ADDICTS = SUFFERERS AFFECTED LOVED ONES = SUPPORTERS

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The light shines to physically show other supporters that they are never alone in the fight against addiction.

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Interacting with the light shows your progress in healing! Check out what each color symbolizes! Learn, Connect, and Heal together!

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NEW APP DESIGN! Learn, Connect, and Heal together!

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3D printing my model!

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Modeling

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App design for Supporum™

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I noticed that the majority of supporters that are taking the initiative to get help (going to Al-Anon meetings, using a therapist, etc.) are over the age of 40.

According to addictions specialists and my secondary research, addiction develops during adolescence, which means the number of supporters in their adolescence is great, but they are receiving little to no help.

Therefore, my design focus is targeted towards (but not limited to) the younger demographic ranging between 18 and mid 30s.

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I’ve been putting myself aside to save hopefully somebody else’s life and now that I’ve come to terms that I can’t, I have to move on with my life and that means changing a lot

Khloé Kardashian 

http://www.eonline.com/shows/keeping_up_with_the_kardashians/news/501416/khloe-kardashian-shares-marriage-struggles-as-bruce-and-kris-jenner-announce-separation-see-the-kuwtk-recap

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Khloé Kardashian perfectly puts into words how most supporters feel when they finally realize it is time to take care of themselves.  One of the hardest parts of being a supporter:

"I've been putting myself aside to save hopefully somebody else's life and now that I've come to terms that I can't, I have to move on with my life and that means changing a lot," Khloé Kardashian said.

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There may be a new way to identify and, in turn, control our negative emotions that occur throughout our bodies. Could this relate to the negative emotions that arise when caring for someone with a drug or alcohol addiction? What if we, as supporters, could take a step back and consciously lessen our negative emotions when coping with addiction?

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An article from the Philadelphia Inquirer this past Thanksgiving, 11/28/2013, explains an appropriate way for a supporter to approach a suspected sufferer, but supporter can only help when a sufferer wants the help!

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Inspired by Clarence Williams' "Orphans of Addiction", I gathered photos from the scrapyard in North Philadelphia.

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Clarence Williams won The Pulitzer Prize in 1998 for these photos (10 shown, 15 in total) which illustrate "orphans of addiction". These children are described as being orphans because their parents were addicts. One of the many situations of how addiction strongly affects the people around the addict.

http://www.pulitzer.org/works/1998-Feature-Photography

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Focusing my research!

I focused my research into FOUR main categories based on the different levels of addiction: Before Use, Active Using, Getting Help, and Recovery.

I then pulled the quotes and key points back out from my interviews and applied those points to the subcategories.

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Brainstorming and coffee on Friday with The Way We See The World in New York!

This company also has the goal of achieving social innovation with each of their projects, so we put our heads together and dug deeper with my insights from my research!