It's Time To Change Everything… But Maybe We Can Just Start By Being A Little Hopeful?

When I first entered recovery at age 17, a man in long-term recovery looked me in the eye and told me, "It's simple. There's only one thing you need to change: everything."
I fought, pushed back, and resisted. I mean, I got that I couldn’t drink and drug the way I had before, but come on. Change everything? Really? 

With the consistent help of peer recovery support, over time I began to realize and accept that my consumption of mind-altering chemicals was just a part of the larger, more complex mental, spiritual, emotional, and physical condition I was battling. It was a process, and it took time. 
 
Now I look at my past and I look at myself today, eight years later, and indeed, everything has changed. Recovery hasn’t been a battle for quite some time, and I have the great fortune to work with other youth and families as a peer recovery coach.
 
That's the beauty of change in my life. 
 
However, as I assist youth and families in working within, around, or against -- depending upon the day -- our current health care delivery system for addiction, it continues to baffle me just how backwards it is. I feel like looking the system in the eye and just telling it, "It's simple. There's only one thing you need to change: everything."
 
Just last week, I was there when a young man with a long history of opiate addiction testified and pleaded to his detox counselor about how he wanted, needed, and should get into a sober living environment. His counselor became a strong advocate for him with his publicly-funded insurance. Everyone on both sides knew he was an ideal candidate in which to invest resources for recovery supportive housing, but because his insurance report said he hadn't failed enough detox/rehab treatments, he was denied any recovery supportive services. 
 
The system’s actions basically said to to this young man, "If you go out and relapse and come back, then we can help you." In what world does it make sense that we encourage failure, criminal activity, and poverty as ways to access services? What message are we sending to those suffering from addiction, not to mention our taxpaying citizens? Shouldn’t it be the opposite? Where’s the hope and real investment to recovery?
 
Sure, everything does need to be changed, but as overwhelming as that feels and sounds, we can start with small steps. I maintain hope that one day working with the system may no longer be a battle. 
 
Dear System: Recovery is possible. Why don’t you act that way?
 

 
Greg Williams is Co-Director of Connecticut Turning To Youth and Families (CTYF). He will be presenting on the benefits of using youth and family peer recovery supports at the upcoming New Hope for Healing and Recovery Treating Substance Abuse & Addiction in Adolescents & Young Adults Conference in Danbury, CT at Western Connecticut State University on Friday, October 16th, 2009 (follow the link to download the informational brochure and registration information for the conference).
 
[Photo by David Reece; reproduced under Creative Commons.]