It Takes a Recovery-Ready Community to Keep Loved Ones Connected and Healthy
And to Reduce the Harm from Substance Use
Reprinted from "Opioids" issue of Visions Journal, 2018, 13 (3), p. 17
My son Tyler fatally overdosed on heroin laced with fentanyl in a friend’s hotel room on January 27, 2016. He was 23 years old.
The Language We Use to Talk About Mental Health and Substance Use
Words matter. They impact the assumptions we make about others, the way we understand someone else’s experiences, and the value we place on others.
Filling the Loneliness Void
When you live in a small town, everyone knows your reputation. In school, James often found that he was the outcast and viewed as a trouble-maker. Eventually crime and drug use became a way to fit in with a group and find any sort of connection with others. In and out of juvie and then the adult system, he took an opportunity to enter a treatment and recovery program. With his sentence complete this year, James looks forward to bringing the insights he’s discovered with him and continuing his work to build healthy and supportive relationships.
Writing Through Loneliness
By Grade 8, Tabitha found that drinking and drug use made it a lot easier to fit in, and drugs became part of her life. When her father and then her best friend died of a heroin overdose, Tabitha tried to change her own substance use, but social connections were challenging because drug use was everywhere in her community, and Tabitha found herself drowning in grief…alone. Now sober, she reflects on her path to accept her past, find new connections and reconnect with all parts of her story.
Treatments: What Works?
It seems like everyone has an opinion when it comes to treatments for mental health or substance use problems. To add to the confusion, it isn’t always obvious who is basing their opinions on real evidence and who is not. And while we often hear people talk about evidence-based treatments, it’s also clear that complementary and alternative medicine approaches are helpful for some.
Finding the Right Help - Navigating the System
While it's common to talk about the mental health system, the system isn’t a singular entity. The system might include primary care, mental health, substance use, housing, income assistance, and justice. They are not always accessed the same way, through similar gatekeepers.
Recovery
When we talk about mental illnesses and substance use problems, it’s easy to talk in clinical terms: that person has this symptom, or that person uses a certain drug. But recovery is so much bigger than a checklist.
