Reducing Stigma in Your Community

How do you reduce stigma? We have so much of it to battle, and it has existed for so long at times it seems insurmountable. After all, the attention is almost always focused on the negatives. We hear about celebrities dying of overdoses and their public behavior when they are intoxicated. The news is always splashed with stories about the drunk driver involved in the fatal accident, with reporters saying, “Authorities think drugs or alcohol may have been involved.”

According to the medical profession, alcoholism has been a disease since . In 1808 Benjamin Rush said, “My observations authorize me to say, that persons who have been addicted to them, should abstain from them suddenly and entirely, “Taste not, handle not, touch not' should be inscribed upon every vessel that contains spirits in the house of a man, who wishes to be cured of habits of intemperance.” He went on to say, "habitual drunkenness should be regarded not as a bad habit but as a disease"

In 1987 the AMA said, "drug dependencies, including alcoholism, are diseases and that their treatment is a legitimate part of medical practice." They went on to add coding to the ICD under both medical and psychiatric sections.  Alcohol and drug use has been identified as being a disease because it has biological, neurological, genetic and environmental origins and causes changes to our brains.

Yet we face the stigma because people say it was our choice to use. That may be true, but a lot of people have various health issues; diseases that they have control over.  Immediately coming to my mind is: lung cancer, obesity and diabetes. When someone survives lung cancer, even though they attributed to it be smoking for years, his victory over cancer is celebrated. When someone is in the middle of a crisis because of their diabetes, people rush to help them. I have never heard anyone say, “Who cares, they did it to themselves” even though that might be an accurate statement.

Most people struggling with a disease are surrounded by their friends, and praised for the efforts they are making. They are met with love, understanding, encouragement, compassion and empathy. Not so for most of us who struggle with the disease of addiction. We are met with apathy and occasionally sympathy. We are looked down on frequently when we visit emergency rooms and urgent cares. Something has to change, and here are examples just from this year:

·         I had people not buy tickets to the Recovery Day at Hammons Field because they were worried the parents of their kids friends might be at the game, “If they were to see me with the recovery group and find out about my past I am afraid they wouldn’t let their kids play with mine.

·         When Phillip Seymour Hoffman died, the comments on social media were horrible, “Who cares, just another dead junkie” and “He was sober for a while and relapsed. These people never get better.”

·         When Hallie was murdered, “Who ever did that had to be taking something,” This implies that drugs and alcohol are the cause of evil in our world. Evil is evil, no matter.

We have a lot of changes we need to make in order to combat the stigma that exists. Here is what we have been trying locally. We still have a lot more to do, but we had a great start and things will only be getting bigger based on what follows.

In 2013 we had a couple of events:

1.       River Clean Up float trip that 5 people went on. We met in the morning, floated, then left.

2.       BBQ for Recovery Month that was attended by around 100 people.  We had hot dogs and games and gave away about $1,000 worth of stuff.

3.       Baseball game attended by 15 people in recovery.

In 2014 we grew and accomplished more:

1.       River clean up that was attended by 75 people. We got there in the afternoon for live music, BBQ, prizes and 3 speakers from 3 different fellowships. We had a speaker from AA, NA and Celebrate Recovery then we finished the night with smores and a camp out. The following morning we had a pancake breakfast and floated and cleaned up the river followed by more prizes.  The cost was only $20 a person!

2.       5K/10K Recovery Run and Family Friendly BBQ. We had 125 people register to run, then after the run had BBQ chicken and sides, bounce houses, temporary tattoos, face painting, free massages from massage therapists, adjustments from a chiropractor not to mention door prizes. The cost was 30 for the 5K, 40 for the 10K and the BBQ was open to the public and it was free! Senator Dixon presented a proclamation for recovery month from the state and Councilman Compton presented a proclamation from the city of Springfield!

3.       We had recovery day at Hammons Field that was attended by 300 people who were either in recovery, worked with people in recovery or loved someone in recovery. State Rep Eric Burlison came and threw out the first pitch to support us while we had a parade around the field that had come out to support recovery day.

4.       We partnered with Springfield Public Schools and painted 2 elementary school play grounds over the summer.

5.       I presented at the annual Voice and Choice Conference about what BLiR was doing locally and  how it could be duplicated by other people in other areas.

6.       We have partnered with SoBear, which is a sober collegiate community at Missouri State, and are screening “The Anonymous People” next Monday at 6 followed by a panel discussion with door prizes including an iPad and a $100 Visa gift card.

7.       We will be featured in Addiction Professional Magazine, I made a recovery PSA with KY3, Ozark Journal did a piece on BLiR and BLiR was on KY3 news twice and KOLR10 once. 

I cannot wait to see what is coming next year, as there are talks of starting a community garden and a stream team. BLiR will be attempting to do 24 education, awareness and service projects in 2015! I am in the middle of writing the 501c3 paperwork so it can get filed and we will be forming a board. We are busy and it will only be getting better, but WE NEED YOUR HELP!!!

If this is something that interests you or you can do, we will take all the help we can get. Whether it is donating time, money, experience, writing grants, volunteering, becoming a founding board member or just enjoying the events when we have them contact me and I will add you to the mailing list. Together we WILL reduce stigma while celebrating people who are in long-term recovery!!!

If you are in the Springfield, MO area and are wondering what we are doing, come by Plaster Student Union at Missouri State University at 6 P.M. tonight and see the documentary that is getting people excited about recovery. Admission is free and open to the public. Door prizes include an iPad and a $100 Visa gift card. Stay after the screening for a panel discussion and an opportunity to ask any questions you may have!

Wrapping Up Recovery Month

September was Recovery Month. It was a momentous one, too, as it was the 25^thanniversary of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) very first declaration of Recovery Month. This was also the month Better Life in Recovery (BLiR) decided to really roll out and begin trying to tackle stigma and ignorance head on.

Don’t get me wrong, BLiR has done several events already. BLiR did an outreach in Ash Grove for the youth and community warning of the dangers of addiction and wonders of recovery. There was also the Back to School Bash at New Life Church, which reached over 100 youth and adults. This year was different, this year was bigger.

In January, multiple organizations and individuals joined BLiR because they too shared the same vision. The vision was to deal hope and decimate stigma surrounding addictions and mental health issues through community service, education and awareness events that celebrate people in long-term recovery. That first meeting, several committees were formed and the ball started rolling.

We opted to have 4 subcommittees. Each subcommittee would have their own leader, who would ultimately report to the founder of director of BLiR. We decided on 3 events and an ongoing service arm:

1.       Recovery Day at Hammon’s Field  

2.       Getting Dirty for Staying Clean 5K/10K Trail Run and Family Fun BBQ

3.       Getting Dirty for Staying Clean Float and River Clean Up

4.        Community Service events

After finishing the last recovery event, I have learned several things. For starters, dream big. We sold 300 tickets to the ball game. State Representative Eric Burlison showed up and threw out the first pitch of the game to support us. We had 125 people register to run the 5K/10K. We just finished the campout and had 75 people join us. We had a proclamation for recovery month presented by Senator Bob Dixon for the State of Missouri and another presented by Councilman Jerry Compton for the City of Springfield. For Springfield, it was the first time that the proclamation had been made!

We found some amazing sponsors who contributed goods that made the events successful. We received food, drinks, paper supplies and prizes for giveaways. We sold naming rights and various other things at the race, and we made some great partners in the community. Now we meet in two weeks,on Saturday October 11^th at 1. The location as it stands is the Champion Center and I am super excited for it.

The next meeting we have there will be discussions about what we plan for next year. We will talk about what went right and how we can make it even better next year. We will also talk about the things that did not go as planned and that we were not prepared for so that we can learn from them. We will discuss what events we want to do next year and begin planning.

I am most excited about the prospect of writing the paperwork for BLiR to become a 501c3 and forming a board of directors. We have had a great foundation laid this year, and I would argue that all of our events were very successful. There were some learning experiences, but those are growing pains that are expected this early in the life of an organization.

Personally, I am exhausted. This is a run down of my last 30 days:

1.       August 29^th: Recovery Day at Hammon’s Field

2.       August 30^th: Race Walkthrough at Rutledge Wilson Farm Park and meeting on float trip

3.       September 5^th: Set up for the 5K

4.       September 6^th: The 1^st Annual Getting Dirty for Staying Clean 5K/10K Trail Run and BBQ

5.       September 12^th: Taught a lesson on recovery at Glendale Christian Church for Celebrate Recovery

6.       September 13^th: Emceed and helped set up and break down for the 4^th Annual Recovery Outreach in the Ozarks

7.       September 14^th: Shared my testimony at the Church at the Center’s Kids Festival and Benefit Concert

8.       September 25^th: Final Float Meeting

9.       September 26^th: Shared my testimony for the Say NO to Drugs Virginia state campaign

10.   September 27^th-28^th: Set up, Camp out and Float Trip then break down

When I say breakdown, I don’t mean psychologically, but today I am feeling shot. I am tired, because on top of all of this I have a wife and 2 children, a full time job and a lot of people that I meet with and talk to who are struggling on a weekly basis outside of work. I have learned several lessons, but I think that I will share those later.

Today, I just want to say that I am grateful for a wife, friends, coworkers and recovery community that support what I do! I am blessed beyond belief and as well as we did this year, I can’t imagine what next year will look like!!

Last but not least, if getting involved with BLiR sounds interesting to you, send me your email address. I will make sure you are added to the email blasts that go out several times a month! If you have not hoped on the train yet, you might want to hop on board now before we leave the station for another amazing year!

2014: Looking to the Year Ahead (I Need Your Help)

So, in 2013 I did not get accomplished a lot of things that I wanted to. I did however get to spend time with my family and that really took priority in 2013. In 2014 my family is still a priority, but there are goals that need to be met. I am not sure if I should outline the final goals or how I plan on reaching them, so I will do a little of both. My primary goal is to continue dealing hope to the people I come in contact with better than I did this year and to continue advancing Better Life in Recovery (BLiR).

This year I made some progress and accomplished some pretty neat things in my mission to share recovery, my faith and deal hope to all I could. I wrote 77 blogs for Spiritual Spackle on various topics that were viewed over 42,000 times. I had several blogs published by The Poached Egg as well as Global University. Better Life in Recovery is now recognized in the state of Missouri as Better Life in Recovery, Inc. I was the closing speaker for the Missouri Association of Drug Court Professional's state conference. I also did two 6 hour presentations teaching co-occurring disorders to the MRSS-P (Missouri Recovery Support Specialist-Peer) program.

Better Life in Recovery partnered with Alternative Opportunities Treatment Services, the Carol Jones Alumni Organization, the Missouri Recovery Network and various other organizations to do Recovery in the Park for National Recovery Month attended by over 100 people. Better Life in Recovery also partnered with New Life Church, Incredible Pizza, Roma Foods, Coca Cola and Henry's with entertainment by Kelsey Snapp, Kayleigh Amstutz and the Legacy featuring speakers Ellie Hagen and Darrin Mendez to put on the Spring Break BLiR Bash that was attended by over 100 people. Alternative Opportunities Treatment Services also partnered with Greene County Men's Drug Court to do a river clean up on the James River for National Recovery month.

GOALS

1. Speak at least once a month with churches, groups, colleges, community events and seminars. I currently have a couple of Celebrate Recovery groups I will be sharing my testimony with as well as a Victim Impact Panel in Greene County.
2. Get an article published in a magazine
3. Complete writing my book, Spiritual Spackle: From Dealing Dope to Dealing Hope and get it published
4. Sit on the board of at least two organizations
5. Have the finished version of the Better Life in Recovery website go live
6. Get Better Life in Recovery, Inc. non-profit status
7. Complete interviews for the Better Life in Recovery documentary
8. Have 4 major events for National Recovery month in September
9. Have a BLiR event
10. Get grief and loss certified
11. Get EMDR certified
12. Get below 200 pounds
13. Set up a Kickstarter project to self-publish Spiritual Spackle
14. Set up a Kickstarter project for the documentary Better Life in Recovery

 

What I Can Do

 

1. Talk to people, places and organizations that might be interested in me speaking or teaching
2. Send blogs and articles to various magazines and organizations that might be interested in publishing them
3. Set aside 2 hours a week just to focus on writing my book
4. Look further into the Victim Impact Panel and The Missouri Recovery Network to see the requirements of sitting on their boards and then apply
5. Put together meetings of people and organizations that will be interested in helping with the National Recovery month and the BLiR event
6. Reach out to find people who are willing to share their story of recovery as well as a couple of parents who have had children in addiction and possibly lost them to their addictions
7. Already paid to go to the St Louis grief and loss training for certification
8. Begin putting together packages and videos to promote Spiritual Spackle and Better Life in Recovery Kickstarter projects
9. Begin following a better diet, stop stress/comfort eating and get into the gym at least 4 times a week
10. Continue publishing at least one blog a week on Spiritual Spackle

What You Can Do

 

1. If you are a professor, teacher, counselor, pastor, sit on a board or are part of a group or organization that I could speak at contact me. I speak and teach on topics ranging from addiction/recovery to mental heath to grief and loss to PTSD/Trauma to Christianity/building a better foundation for your faith.
2. If you would be interested in helping me with the non-profit Better Life in Recovery by either sitting on the board, hosting an event, donating time/money or helping at an event contact me
3. If you would be interested in either donating time, goods or money for our Recovery Month events that are promoted to reduce the stigma of addiction contact me
4. If you would be interested in sharing your story of recovery or are a parent of a child who struggled with addiction, especially if you are an ethnicity other than Caucasian and/or between the ages of 18-25 (under 18 with parent's permission) or know of somebody who is please contact me
5. If you know of any organizations or groups that I could partner with, put us into contact with each other
6. If you are interested in helping me get Spiritual Spackle published and/or the documentary Better Life in Recovery completed, contact me and we can talk about the things that will be required for the Kickstarter projects to be successful and to further the message of recovery and hope to all that we can reach

I had high hopes for 2013 and some of them were met. The 3 biggest I did not accomplish were competing the book Spiritual Spackle, finishing filming on the documentary Better Life in Recovery and BLiR becoming a non-profit organization. These are still at the top of my list, as is spreading the message of recovery and dealing hope and faith to all I come in contact with.

 

I look forward to meeting my goals above, but it can only be done with your help and assistance so if you can help me with any of the above goals contact me at david.stoecker@gmail.com Thanks for reading and praying for me and my calling. I look forward to the coming year and all that we can do together.