Addicted to my Addict(ion): The Addict, The Family and The Recovery

As a Deputy, extensively involved in making a difference in the world of addiction, I felt I needed to reach out to those in need of clarification. If you have dealt with addiction on any level, you already know the complications and mysteries surrounding recovery. This book was only possible because of the fantastic people I work with, surround myself with and those I was fortunate enough to become friends with. Unlike many other books on Addiction and Recovery, this one is based strictly on personal data compilation within a jail, mentoring those in recovery, coaching those to and through rehab, designing functional programs, both in and out of jail and just being around some of the coolest and most talented people in recovery! In other words, this book was not based on a book that was based on a book, that was based on another book. The blanket treatment and stigmas needs to be broken, in order to make any progress in society.

My intentions are to address, enlighten, educate and encourage addicts, those in recovery and their loved ones. We need a change in approach, the system is failing overall. Drug use is usually an attempt at solving a problem, which leads to addiction.

So many opinions surrounding Addiction and Recovery, both personal and professionally, simply tell addicts and those in recovery what to do and what not to do. We are not addressing the individual underlying issues that have caused someone to make a choice to use a substance they know will potentially ruin the rest of their lives or worse - kill them. Why is rehab a blanket treatment, in most cases, when as human beings we are all different. We all come from different family situations, economic classes, education levels and everyone's overall journey is different. Why are we not treating addiction with the same known factors? I have watched so many lose their battle with addiction, simply because of a treatment plan that was just a formality and therapy also being "standard protocol". A rubber stamped treatment plan, if you will. It was at this point, in my 19 years of experience as a Corrections Officer, I felt I needed to push for functional programs, education/support for family members and action in my own community - instead of just talking about it. We all know by now what drugs do to a person, it boils down to what are we actually putting in motion to assist those suffering from SUD who actually want help. Educating our youth is extremely important, but we just talk about drugs when we educate them. We tend to put a successful story of recovery in front of them and hope the horrifying story of an addict will scare them into not using drugs. What we completely disregard while educating our youth is how to deal with peer pressure, how to make smart decisions and how to protect their goals and priorities. We educate kids by telling them... "Don't do drugs". We are failing.

Simply writing someone off as an addict needing rehabilitation is not the answer, even though society has accepted this as reasonable. Sending someone off to 12 Step Meetings, NA, AA, Families Against Narcotics etc., does not provide the family or the addict in recovery realistic options to succeed. There's so much more to recovery. They need to rebuild their lives with employment, housing, healthcare, friends (so important) and building their confidence as they make physical progress in their recovery. There are also the mental challenges we need to address, such as feelings of embarrassment, shame and the fact they are staring at a mountain they must climb in order to get their lives back. There are so many resources being wasted on Rubber Stamped rehabilitation, non-profits that are ultimately non-functional and so many more issues with the system.

RECOVERY IS POSSIBLE!