Blog: recovery

The Anonymous People, a new documentary film about the over 23 million Americans living in long-term recovery from alcohol and other drug addiction, examines the deeply entrenched social stigma has kept recovery voices silent and faces hidden for decades. Via the website:

The vacuum has been filled with sensational mass media depictions of people with addiction that perpetuate a lurid fascination with the dysfunctional side of what is a preventable and treatable health condition. Just like women with breast cancer, or people with HIV/AIDS, a grass roots social justice movement is emerging. Courageous addiction recovery advocates have come out of the shadows and are organizing to end discrimination and move toward recovery-based solutions.
The moving story of The Anonymous People is told through the faces and voices of citizens, leaders, volunteers, corporate executives, public figures, and celebrities who are laying it all on the line to save the lives of others just like them. This passionate new public recovery movement aims to transform public opinion, engage communities and elected officials, and finally shift problematic policy toward lasting solutions.

The Anonymous People - Theatrical Trailer from Greg Williams on Vimeo.

Are you a young person in recovery? Share your opinions to help other young people get the help they need !
What issues are particularly important to young people in recovery? You are invited to participate in a telephone focus group, to be held on February 28, that will try to identify what specific issues matter most to you, as a young person in recovery. How are your experiences as a teenager or young adult different than the experiences of adults in recovery?

How we tell our stories matters. Faces & Voices of Recovery, a non-profit advocacy group dedicated to making it posible for more people to get the help they need to recover, is developing a set of webinars to help young people in recovery learn how to tell their stories publicly so that they have the greatest impact. Faces & Voices will use your ideas to tailor its message training specifically to young people in recovery, helping them become as effective as possible as recovery communicators – bringing a message of hope to other young people seeking long-term recovery and to the public and policymakers.

Please share what you think. There will be two focus groups on February 28, each only an hour long. They are scheduled for 2:00 and 6:00, Eastern time. To join, please email Harriet Ullman at harrietullman@yahoo.com to let her know you're interested. 

Our friends at Faces & Voices of Recovery are conducting a nationwide survey to document key aspects in the lives of people in recovery from addiction to alcohol and other drugs. In particular, they are interested in learning more about what happens in the life of a a person in recovery.  
Survey results will be used to inform the public, policymakers, service planners and providers about the milestones people achieve while in recovery. 
The survey is available in English and Spanish and should take less than 10 minutes to complete. All answers will remain confidential.

In advance of our September 27th webinar, “Implementing Adolescent Recovery Supports & Developing Resources in Our Communities,” we sat down with Michelle Muffett-Lipinski, Principal of the Northshore Recovery High School to discuss recovery programming in schools and communities.
RECLAIMING FUTURES: What is a recovery school? How does it differ from a traditional school?
MICHELLE MUFFETT-LIPINSKI: When I speak about 'what is a Recovery High School,' I prefer to speak only about my experience creating and managing the Northshore Recovery High School. At my school, students are in all phases of adolescent recovery. All students attending Northshore Recovery High School have a DSM IV diagnosis of a substance use disorder which can include abuse or dependence or both. All students attending Northshore Recovery High School come willingly and understand they need the additional support we offer at the school to help keep them sober, make better decisions and eventually graduate high school.
Staff at NSRHS work closely with students' constituents. A typical enrolled student is involved with multiple agencies. We work closely with probation, mental and behavioral health, treatment and community supports to enhance student safety and improve positive outcomes.
We are a small community of about 70 students. We are funded by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health Bureau of Substance Abuse Services and a tuition for each student from the sending school
district. At the foundation of our school is honesty, integrity, restorative practices, accountability and service. Students attend all core classes and electives as enrolled in a typical high school. However, we also facilitate daily groups, ever evolving goal setting, contracts, and on-site drug testing.
RF: What is recovery programming and how does it fit into your school’s curriculum and culture?

Many of the 29 Reclaiming Futures sites helping communities break the cycle of drugs, alcohol and crime celebrate Recovery Month, hosted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) each September. They, along with our King County site, which includes Seattle, Washington, are spreading the positive message that prevention works, adolescent substance abuse treatment is effective and people do recover. 
King County convenes a multi-disciplinary planning committee (chemical dependency, mental health and community mobilization) to reach people across cultures and disciplines to reduce the stigma for people in recovery.
They actively develop the Recovery Oriented System of Care model, starting with mental health and gradually including substance use disorders. This year, King County is working with their County Council to include substance abuse disorders in the recovery ordinance so that it becomes a behavioral health recovery oriented system of care. (The recovery ordinance ensures that the publicly funded mental health system in King County is grounded in mental health recovery principles.)

In honor of Recovery Month, I'm sharing the Road to Recovery's latest video on the importance of community-based organizations. Reclaiming Futures is a huge believer in connecting young people with long-term community supports so that teens don't find themselves in the same situations that got them in trouble. 

From the Road to Recovery: