When I went to the Heroes in Recovery lead advocate summit last month, one of the most enjoyable things about it was meeting the new lead advocates for 2015. As I mentioned in an earlier post, there are seven lead advocates this year, and only three of us--Susanne, Hillary, and myself--have done it before. So four folks are brand new.
It's always great to be among people who are passionate about the same things you are, and there's no doubt that Bo, Lisa, Marta, and B. Rae are just that.
At the very end of the summit, after we had worked all day Saturday, served dinner to the residents of The Next Door, and gone out for a terrific sushi dinner as a team, we returned to our hotel. It was there that B. Rae--an amazing young woman in recovery--asked if she could interview me for her video blog. Of course I said yes!
The result of that interview was posted today, and I thought I'd share it with you. My hope is that my words may be helpful to parents who are going through a child's addiction. Or to anyone who is going through a loved one's addiction. Just remember: it was late, and I was tired.
Thanks so much to B. Rae for the opportunity. I will always take every chance I can get to share my thoughts. The more we talk about addiction, the more we help break the stigma associated with it. And the more we chip away at the stigma, the more we open the doors of hope to those who need help.
Peace.
"This stigma associated with drug use--the belief that bad kids use, good kids don't, and those with full-blown addiction are weak, degenerate, and pathetic--has contributed to the escalation of use and has hampered treatment more than any single other factor." --David Sheff, in his book Clean: Overcoming Addiction and Ending America's Greatest Tragedy
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