Have you ever been haunted by a nightmare in your waking hours? I have.
For months, I couldn’t get the image of my son passed out in a snowbank that dark December night. What if I hadn’t found him in time for medical help, and he wasn’t discovered until the next morning? As time has passed since that night, my emotions changed from numbing fear to outrage. It didn’t have to happen.
He had been doing everything right on his road to recovery. He saw a psychiatrist and therapist, went to meetings and had been sober for several months. Yet he was stuck in place and couldn’t move forward. He had no peer support who could relate to what he was going through, help him believe in himself and show him it is possible to reclaim a life without substance dependency.
A local recovery community center would have made all the difference for my son. The days leading up to his overdose, he was dreading his birthday, feeling more and more isolated, hopeless and friendless. He felt he was going to face another birthday with no successes from the previous year, at least in the way society measures success. If only he had a place to go to in those days where he could have been with people who knew and could remind him that he had a monumental year combating his addictions and maintaining sobriety. If he was reminded of those successes, he may not have relapsed.
It has been said that the opposite of addiction is connection and that is what recovery community centers provide. The Maine Legislature will be voting on L.D. 488, presented by Sen. Chloe Maxmin to establish recovery community centers in seven counties in Maine. My county, Kennebec County, is one of these without a center, along with Franklin, Hancock, Piscataquis, Somerset, Waldo and York counties. This bill will make sure every county in Maine will have a recovery community center because we have seen how they help to change lives.
A local recovery community center provides encouragement, education and resources for an individual to heal, strengthen and grow in their recovery pathway, throughout all stages of their journey. It’s a drug-free place for those in recovery to gather where they can be their authentic selves and meet others who know a similar story to theirs and can relate in meaningful ways.
Lives are changed for the better at recovery community centers. I encourage you to go to the Maine Recovery Advocacy Project (ME-RAP) Facebook page and listen to the video of a recent discussion about how recovery community centers impacted lives. The following are parts of those discussions.
Chelsea Putnam, ME-RAP organizer, said, “Before I found out that the center was there I really didn’t have much support in my recovery, like the whole first year when I started. When I found the community center, I got a job there and I completely found recovery.
Marshall Mercer, ME-RAP organizer, said “When I found the recovery center, I was already in recovery for two years … In our regional centers, we learn to socialize again … I found out I had a voice in recovery … We’ve been given opportunities to work in our recovery centers to be leaders in our community.
Lorie Paddleford, ME-RAP organizer, said, “They helped me with resume writings and encouraged me to do the best that I can … I probably would not be who I am today. They most definitely gave me a foundation for recovery with support and guidance.”
Kayty Robbins, a peer supporter and volunteer coordinator at the Roads to Recovery Community Center, told us, “The center has changed my life, and it’s impacting our community in a huge way and we need more of them … all over our state and all of our country.”
L.D. 488 is set for a public hearing on April 12. Please contact your senator and representatives to support this bill and find out how to provide your personal testimony to support this effort.
Jeanne Marquis is a resident of China.
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