OPINION: Let's Promote Recovery
By Michelle Simons
Article was originally published at itemlive.com
I’m in long term recovery. That means I haven’t used any drugs or alcohol since December 2000. Recovery for most, me included, is a lifetime pursuit, but don’t let that discourage you. Life is also a lifetime pursuit of constant navigation and growth. For those in recovery, it just means that the consequences of remaining stagnant and not working on the things that got us using in the first place could be fatal. Similar to someone with a chronic medical condition, such as diabetes, that’s left untreated, the health and well-being of someone in recovery would most likely decline if not taken care of. This does not mean we are fragile, in fact we probably have access to more life skills than your average person, due to the generous amount of mutual aid, 12 Step support groups, treatment facilities, literature, and social activities available to us.
When we assume people will fail, they most likely will. When we tell someone addiction is a chronic relapsing brain disease as defined by NIDA (National Institute on Drug Abuse), what can we expect to happen? When we tell someone there’s something fundamentally wrong with them, how do we expect people to respond? The stats are grave, drugs and alcohol and people’s desire to relax or change the way they think and feel, will probably haunt our fellow humans until the end of time. Every drug treatment center, treatment modality, and addiction medication have a failure and a success story. Some of the most archaic treatment models are still credited to some of my predecessors for their long-term recovery, and some of the most modern and innovative medical models have multiple testimonies of failed attempts.
No one is exempt from experiencing problems with drugs and alcohol but we can build a defense system against it. Personally, this recovery has a been a long and intense but thrilling ride that far outweighs the thrills of the streets or any shock that jumping out of a plane could give you. I love it, I love everything about recovery. I love wanting to know more about what this power is that keeps my heart and your heart beating every day. I love the connections, the lifelines, and the brilliant, insightful people that I am blessed to sit and have conversations with every day.
Just because I work as an addiction counselor does not mean I’m an expert on anyone. The best I can say is I’ve learned a lot about myself over the past 18 years, and am excited to pass that on to anyone who is interested. My confidence that people can and do obtain and maintain lifelong permanent recovery is very real. If you want some proof, attend any of the abundant 12 Step meetings in our area and you’ll see thousands of combined years of recovery knowledge and wisdom sitting before you. If we promote recovery and permanent healing, then we will instill hope and encourage just that. If we’d prefer to sit around and shake our heads about the opiate crisis and how many overdoses occurred last month, then my suspicion is that we will encourage hopelessness, frustration, and multiply the tragedy.
Now for some hopeful statistics: This year so far Lynn has had 37 overdoses, seven of them fatal. This has decreased immensely compared to last year. In February 2018, Lynn had 72. We are currently looking at a 4 percent drop in overdose incidents comparing 2017-2018 and there are probably several reasons for this.
Some possibilities are: change in drug product, increase in recovery coaches and outreach, increased follow up on someone after an incident, people’s tolerance for fentanyl has potentially increased and the availability of Narcan, the overdose reversal drug.
The growing field of recovery coaching that Bridgewell headlined in the city of Lynn gives people struggling with addiction another connection that’s relatable. Not to say that social workers don’t play a role, but the coaches that meet a person after an overdose and can directly say, “Hey, I’ve been in that same place, how can I help?” versus “Let’s do an assessment and see what’s wrong with you.” This increased awareness that the credentialed experts don’t always have the answers and inviting someone that’s been in their shoes to the forefront offers a suffering person a unique way of connecting, which can make a world of difference.
Increasing the hope that if I can do this, you can do this, is the cornerstone of recovery. If we have people out there advocating for recovery, it will absolutely grow. Let’s have just as much public recovery celebrations as we do overdose vigils and see what transpires.
Michelle Simons, MS, LADC 1, CADC, is a Bridgewell clinician; city of Lynn public health division prevention coordinator and North Shore Community College adjunct professor.
