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continued from page 16

A Community
Conversation On Th e
Opioid Epidemic

Temple Israel presents the Alicia Joy
Techner Memorial Parenting Conference.

T

he opioid epidemic affecting the entire Metro
Detroit community will be the subject of the
annual Alicia Joy Techner Memorial Parenting
Conference Wednesday, March 7, at Temple Israel.
Held since 1979, the Alicia Joy Techner Memorial
Parenting Conference seeks to bring the Southeast
Michigan community together for
public conversations about modern
parenting challenges. The series is
sponsored by Ilene and David Techner
of Birmingham in memory of their
beloved daughter Alicia, and is open
to the community and presented at
no cost for attendees (though advance
registration is requested).
Ken Daniels
Detroit Red Wings TV announcer
Ken Daniels, who lost his son Jamie
to addiction, will speak at the event,
entitled “If Only I Had Known.” It is
designed to share personal stories
from a variety of perspectives so par-
ents can feel more informed, empow-
ered and educated about the opioid
crisis and how it is undoubtedly
Steve Feldman
affecting families they know.
Other scheduled speakers include
Steve Feldman, COO of Feinberg
Consulting/Feinberg Addiction
Services; West Bloomfield Police Chief
Michael Patton; and the Hon. Edward
Sosnick, Oakland County Circuit
Court Judge (retired).
“Alicia Joy Techner would have
Chief Michael
been 40 years old last year,” said David
Patton
Techner, funeral director at the Ira
Kaufman Chapel in Southfield. “Ilene
and I take great pride in knowing that
the community members who will
benefit from this conference would
have been Alicia’s peers and friends,
alongside her siblings. These resourc-
es, in her memory, will help them with
the balance of challenge and reward
Hon. Edward
that comes from the parenting experi-
Sosnick
ence.”
Kari Provizer, director of the Robert
Sosnick Family Life Center at Temple
Israel, said, “We appreciate the
Techners stepping forward to make
possible an event that will call atten-
tion to a community crisis that is still
not achieving enough attention.”
The free event begins at 7 p.m.
David Techner
at Temple Israel, located at 5725
Walnut Lake Road, just east of
Drake Road, in West Bloomfield.
Registration is requested via Kate Boman at
(248) 661-5700 or kate@temple-israel.org. •

18

March 1 • 2018

jn

Jade Marx at the motel
where she’s staying

ANTHONY LANZILOTE

“I’m hopeful because she’s alive.
Where there’s life, there’s hope.”

— JILL SHERMAN MARX

worse if I went back to using.
“My life has made a complete 180 in the right
direction. I have not felt this healthy, both mentally
and physically, in the past eight years,” he adds. “I
am now back to working as an active lawyer and
look forward to the rest of my life. I want to leave
this chapter of my life behind me; however, I never
want to forget it either because it’s what has got-
ten me to this point.”

JADE’S STORY

Jade Marx, 21, grew up with her twin brother and
two younger siblings in West Bloomfield. She was
a typical kid, involved in BBYO, at Temple Israel
and had her bat mitzvah. She was an amazing
athlete, excelling at softball. She’s been struggling
with addiction since she was 13.
Her parents enrolled her in Frankel Jewish
Academy her sophomore year after she had been
hanging out with a rough crowd the year before at
North Farmington High. “Her brother was already
there. We thought putting her in FJA would be the
magic,” says her mom, Jill Sherman Marx, who
works as a fitness instructor.
Soon after, Marx got a phone call from the
school social worker because Jade was self-harm-
ing, cutting. “I knew about this behavior from

one of my clients,” Marx says. “I
understood it was a self-sooth-
ing behavior, but I was horrified
that my daughter was doing it.”
A short time later, Jade threat-
ened suicide. That began a
vicious cycle of numerous visits
to the ER and mental hospitals.
Jill Sherman Marx Jade admitted to using drugs,
and her problems continued to
grow worse. During her senior
year, she got in trouble with the
police and was sentenced to pro-
bation, drug classes and com-
munity service but wasn’t taking
it seriously, her mom says.
“I knew we had to get her
help, but there were no inpatient
Darrell Marx
treatment centers in Michigan
that would take a 17-year-old,”
Marx says. She and her former
husband, Darrell Marx, found a treatment center
in Hawaii willing to take their daughter. It was a
30-month program.
“I can’t tell you how agonizing it was to send my
child away for 30 months, but it was the only way I
could help her,” she says.