BATON ROUGE, La. (NBC 33)(FOX 44) – A new support group for people who’ve lost loved ones to drugs is starting by a woman who knows the grief all too well.

Gwen Knox lost her son, Brian, to an opioid overdose in 2015 and is the facilitator of the group. She said she experienced grief and guilt following her son’s decades long addiction.

“All of these feelings of pain and the loss of him, but there was also a relief.”

She says she didn’t realize how bad it got until he moved in with her during that last few years of his life.

“He didn’t look at his drug use as an illness or an addiction and neither did I until I was able to see those big beautiful eyes and could see his pain,” she says.

Knox says the main goal is to educate those in the group on the disease of substance abuse and moving forward, but also for the group to be a safe space.

“It will give people the opportunity to say I am not alone.”

The first meeting will begin April 2nd from 6-7:30 p.m. at the Capital Area Human Services, 4615 Government Street, Building Two in Room 102 and will continue every Tuesday. The 10-week long program that will be open to the public for the first two meetings and will be closed after.

Anyone interested can contact Knox to register at gwen.knox@la.gov or 225-925-1906.