Community is where change happens
This is a call out to all my like minded friends in recovery. Yup, I am calling you all out! Loudly!!!
I need you to get involved in your community in a big way.
I know there are many of you who have achieved amazing success as a person in recovery. I know you have been able to, much like myself, go from being in a perpetual state of despair, to, a constant state of having hope and promise in your life. You have amazing careers, loving families, and, you are in a place where your life, that was once, in constant crisis, is now in constant stability.
I am asking you, no, I am begging you, to get involved in your community. Take your success and spread it around. Whether you spread your success through getting involved in a community based mentor program, or, involvement in helping your school district create a recovery high school, or, maybe you will find ways to bring people in recovery into your workplace. I don't know what it will look like for you, but, I know this........I NEED you to speak loudly about your own success as a person in recovery in new and unique ways. Find a way to show your community that recovery works, and lives DO change.
We hear, all to often, about the damage of active addiction. What your community NEEDS to hear about, is the power of a person who has success in recovery. Why am I asking you to this? Here's why....
Local, state and federal governments are listening. For all to long they weren't, but, now they are. They are looking for ways to change how our tax dollars are spent to try to have a positive effect in your community in the arena of substance use disorders. They WANT to hear from those who have found success in recovery. Governments are realizing that the idea that just locking people up doesn't work. Governments are realizing that just giving a short stint in treatment isn't working. Governments are realizing that just using one method of treatment isn't working. But, here's the deal, because governments have only done things a certain way, they need to learn how to do things different. That's where you come in. Tell your local leaders, tell your state leaders, tell you federal leaders what DOES work.
Is your success due to having access to different methods of treatment? Is your success due to access to ongoing recovery support in your community through access to mental health care? Is your success in recovery due to access to medical care? Is your success in recovery due to access to job opportunities with a not so favorable past? Is your success in recovery due to access to educational opportunities? However your success in recovery came to be, I need you to talk about it to those in leadership positions.
We, the ones who are enjoying success in all areas of our lives as people in recovery, MUST talk about it loudly. Not just to a few people, but, to many people. We ARE the ones that can help lower the thousands and thousands who will die this year due to overdoses. We ARE the ones that can help our young people find their own path to recovery. We ARE the ones that can effect change on massive levels.
I can not enjoy the success I have as a person in recovery without helping others find a way to do the same that works for them.
I am asking you to speak loudly in your community about your own success in recovery and how you have done it. It doesn't matter how you achieved your success. I know there are multiple pathways to get to, and, stay in recovery. Your community leaders need to hear about all of them. Whether you did it through your support group only, your church only, or, you have found success through a mentor. Many pathways are multi-faceted; I get that. It really doesn't matter the pathway you used, the important thing, it to talk about it loudly.
Recovery works, lives change.
I need you to get involved in your community in a big way.
I know there are many of you who have achieved amazing success as a person in recovery. I know you have been able to, much like myself, go from being in a perpetual state of despair, to, a constant state of having hope and promise in your life. You have amazing careers, loving families, and, you are in a place where your life, that was once, in constant crisis, is now in constant stability.
I am asking you, no, I am begging you, to get involved in your community. Take your success and spread it around. Whether you spread your success through getting involved in a community based mentor program, or, involvement in helping your school district create a recovery high school, or, maybe you will find ways to bring people in recovery into your workplace. I don't know what it will look like for you, but, I know this........I NEED you to speak loudly about your own success as a person in recovery in new and unique ways. Find a way to show your community that recovery works, and lives DO change.
We hear, all to often, about the damage of active addiction. What your community NEEDS to hear about, is the power of a person who has success in recovery. Why am I asking you to this? Here's why....
Local, state and federal governments are listening. For all to long they weren't, but, now they are. They are looking for ways to change how our tax dollars are spent to try to have a positive effect in your community in the arena of substance use disorders. They WANT to hear from those who have found success in recovery. Governments are realizing that the idea that just locking people up doesn't work. Governments are realizing that just giving a short stint in treatment isn't working. Governments are realizing that just using one method of treatment isn't working. But, here's the deal, because governments have only done things a certain way, they need to learn how to do things different. That's where you come in. Tell your local leaders, tell your state leaders, tell you federal leaders what DOES work.
Is your success due to having access to different methods of treatment? Is your success due to access to ongoing recovery support in your community through access to mental health care? Is your success in recovery due to access to medical care? Is your success in recovery due to access to job opportunities with a not so favorable past? Is your success in recovery due to access to educational opportunities? However your success in recovery came to be, I need you to talk about it to those in leadership positions.
We, the ones who are enjoying success in all areas of our lives as people in recovery, MUST talk about it loudly. Not just to a few people, but, to many people. We ARE the ones that can help lower the thousands and thousands who will die this year due to overdoses. We ARE the ones that can help our young people find their own path to recovery. We ARE the ones that can effect change on massive levels.
I can not enjoy the success I have as a person in recovery without helping others find a way to do the same that works for them.
I am asking you to speak loudly in your community about your own success in recovery and how you have done it. It doesn't matter how you achieved your success. I know there are multiple pathways to get to, and, stay in recovery. Your community leaders need to hear about all of them. Whether you did it through your support group only, your church only, or, you have found success through a mentor. Many pathways are multi-faceted; I get that. It really doesn't matter the pathway you used, the important thing, it to talk about it loudly.
Recovery works, lives change.
Comments
Post a Comment