TV Junkie: Faces of Addiction: New Peer Education Tool to Service-Learning

Lisa Burton

When Rick Kirkham, former correspondent for Inside
Edition, received a camera at age 14, he began recording all aspects of his
life. Over 30 years he collected more than 3,000 hours of film and 5,000
photos. Much of this footage depicts brutally honest scenes of drug addiction
and intense emotional struggles, which has been transformed into a 90-minute
documentary, TV Junkie: Faces of Addiction. It won the Special Jury Prize at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival,
has been featured on HBO, and is now available in a special 45-minute classroom
version. 

This Educationally Enhanced DVD (eeDVD) premiered last March
at The 18th Annual National Service-Learning Conference
held in Albuquerque.
The documentary, produced by Deep Ellum Pictures and modified for the
classroom by Scope Seven, features interactive tools, curriculum connections,
and printable lesson plans. These are linked to the The New York Times' standards-aligned Anti-Drug Education Program. As a package, the tools provide
powerful prevention materials for peer education service-learning efforts.

Kirkham said he did not film his life with the intent of
producing a documentary. As he explained, “You can’t plan something like this.”
Instead, he vowed to tell the truth of his experiences with the hope of
educating young people about the perils of addiction. Kirkham has been clean of
drugs for more than six years.

After attempting to end his life twice, Kirkham accepted
that he had a responsibility to prevent others from heading down the same path.
This realization led him to share his story with others, despite the pain of
reliving a disturbing past.  “Not many
people are blessed with a second chance and especially a second chance to help
others,” he noted.

High school students, teachers, and community organizers
attended the premiere. Carlos Hernandez, student at South
High School in Minneapolis, was surprised by the
effectiveness of the video. “I never planned to see anything like this,” Hernandez
stated. “It is proof of the problems in the world and can help kids realize it
before they get in trouble.” 

 Students agreed that the most powerful elements of the video
were scenes portraying family problems. Kirkham confirmed that people of all
ages are most affected by the family issues highlighted in the documentary. “It’s
not the police, the drugs, or jail,” Kirkham described, “but the horrific
details of a family’s inner workings that most impacts people.” He explained
that he has never seen this segment of the documentary and never will. “It’s
just too hard,” he whispered.

Kirkham plans to spend the year promoting the educational
version of TV Junkie: Faces of Addiction by traveling around the
country. He emphasized that the education of students matters to him, not the
money. Consequently, the video will be provided without cost to schools and
organizations that cannot afford it and can be ordered from www.TVJunkie.tv.