"We're going to stop treating addiction as a moral failing, and start seeing it for what it is: a chronic disease that must be treated with urgency and compassion..." ~Surgeon General Vivek Murthy
The 2nd Annual 
NC Addiction & Recovery 

Tuesday, February 28, 2017 | 9 am - 4 pm | Raleigh, NC
Join The Movement

Thank you for supporting #NCARAD17! Please like us on Facebook and follow us on Instagram to see the faces and read the words of the #NCRecoveryMovement! If you had difficulty uploading your photos or quotes, just email them directly to dmcdonald@rcnc.org.

Family Recovery

"I am the mother of 2 sons that have battled an opiate/heroin addiction for the past 6 years. You hear & read stories about how addiction has devastated families, torn them apart. This was my family. I do this to save lives. Today, we are good."

~ Heather Moore




Recovery Ally

"As the lead physician at Carolina Performance and the Morse Clinics, I know that we need to make treatment options more accessible and affordable in our communities, led by our state government."

- Eric Morse


Special Guests

We are delighted to inform you that the list of noted speakers is growing. We will be hearing perspectives from law enforcement, medi cine, veterans, families, youth, indigenous people and more. Find out who else is coming in future advocacy day updates.
 
Law Enforcement Perspective

Sheriff Asa Buck, III from Carteret County will be sharing his experience responding to the addiction epidemic in NC. A tremendous recovery ally, he worked diligently on the Governor's Task Force on Mental Health and Substance Use to find better ways to serve NC citizens with alcohol and drug problems. Sheriff Buck was co-chair of the work group dealing with the addiction epidemic, and he reached out to members of the recovery community for ideas. We were honored to be perceived as a resource and to have our input integrated into the final Task Force recommendations. 

Advocacy Training

Content area experts will share their knowledge and experience, preparing participants for the afternoon's legislative visits. Topics for the day will be  Advocacy 101 (Advocacy versus lobbying and the language lawmakers understand), Messaging Training (Our stories have power), Recovery Initiation (The right help at the right time), Recovery Maintenance (Treating the soil in NC), Recovery Actualization (We get better than well).  Keep an eye out for future updates to read about all the presenters.

Recovery Initiation

Chris Budnick is inarguably the de facto leader of the NC Recovery Movement. Chris is the Executive Director of Healing Transitions, the Founding Board Chair of Recovery Communities of North Carolina and a person in sustained recovery since 1993. He helped rally a vanguard of people in recovery, family members, allies, and SUD service providers to insist that North Carolinians deserve adequate and appropriate treatment services on demand. This movement was galvanized by his humble admission that he has been part of the problem.

Homework

Please prepare for Advocacy Day by exploring the following links. The first will take you to the The Surgeon General's Report on Alcohol, Drugs, and Health. Begin by reading the Executive Summary. The release of this document, the first of its kind, was an historic moment for The New Recovery Movement. The second link will take you to  Life in Recovery,
a national survey, measuring the benefits of recovery to individuals, families, and the community. Dr. Alexandre Laudet is a brilliant researcher and a fierce recovery ally. The final link takes you to input from recovery community members made to The Governor's Task Force on Substance Use and Mental Health. It contains relevant information about our neck of the woods and research-supported ideas to enhance treatment and recovery supports in North Carolina.


"Despite the social and economic costs, this is a time of great opportunity. Ongoing health care and criminal justice reform efforts, as well as advances in clinical, research, and information technologies are creating new opportunities for increased access to effective prevention and treatment services."



"...people in recovery are
employed, pay bills and taxes, vote, volunteer in their communities, and take care of their health and their 
families. These findings underline the fact that recovery is good not only for the individual, but also 
for families, communities, and the nation's health and economy."



"Members of the new recovery advocacy movement are mobilizing to demand changes to the conditions that give rise to substance use disorders, but more importantly the conditions in which people try to resolve substance use disorders. The goals are simply to help more people enter recovery, help more people sustain recovery and to increase wellness, opportunity and citizenship for those in recovery."


If you haven't registered yet, please do so today. Space is filling up fast for this historic occasion. We believe that your support during this pivotal year is much needed as we seek to further the Recovery Movement in North Carolina. 




Respectfully,

 
Donald McDonald, MSW, LCAS
Director of Advocacy and Education
Recovery Communities of North Carolina

Funded wholly or in part by the Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Block Grant, CFDA Number: 93.959, in conjunction with the North Carolina Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Substance Abuse Services and by donations from generous community partners.


Recovery Communities of North Carolina | 919-231-0248 | info@rcnc.org | www.rcnc.org