My name is Athena Haddon and I’m a woman in long-term recovery. One day in 1993, I woke up in MCI Framingham. It wasn’t my first rodeo but this time felt much different. I was 31 years old and with my prior criminal history, the odds of being sentenced were high. I knew I was nearing the end of the road. With one last ditch effort to beat my charges, I voluntarily checked myself into a treatment facility very close to where I lived and used. I really wasn’t seeking recovery, I just didn’t want to go back to jail.
Thank God, the judge saw things a little differently and could clearly see that I needed recovery. She stipulated me to complete the program with probation as part of sentencing. And there begins my recovery story!
For the first time in over 15 years, I could live without the use of drugs. The number of friends and the amount of support I received from people in recovery was incredible. In 1995 I gave birth to my only child, my son Brendon, who has made me proud as he serves our country is the United States Air Force. In 2001, as a single mother, I bought my own home. In 2008, I was hired by Spectrum Health Systems as program director for one of the first state-funded peer recovery centers. In 2011, humbled to be a recipient of the SAMHSA Voice award. Between 2009 and 2013, I completed CCAR’s Recovery Coach Academy, Addiction Counselor Education Program at Westfield State University and received a BS in Human Services from Springfield College.
These are just some of the many gifts that recovery has given me. My recovery would not have been possible without the support of others. I have many to thank but most importantly my mother. With the hopes that I’d come home at night, she always left the porch light on. I know it was the power of her prayer that brought me home.
I’m thrilled to be working with such an amazing team at MOAR as the Central and Western Mass Regional Coordinator.
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It was all smiles for the members at Hope for Holyoke as they hosted the Western Mass Policy
Forum on May 24. The only peer recovery center in Holyoke, Hope for Holyoke is one of 10 Bureau of Substance Addiction Services (BSAS) funded Centers in the state. The Center is also a member of the SOAR Network. The Forum welcomed three other peer recovery centers in the region in addition to other participants – George B. Crane Memorial Center, Northampton Recovery Center, and BSAS-funded RECOVER Project. You can read more about the Forum below
SOAR held a webinar last month titled, “Addiction Recovery and the ADA: Understanding the Rights of the Recovery Community,” as part of its quarterly SOAR Network Webinar Series. Oce Harrison, Project Director for the New England ADA Center, a project of the Institute for Human Centered Design, highlighted how the Americans with Disabilities Act provided protections under the law for those in recovery. The next webinar will take place in October.
The one-day invite only SOAR Summit for RCOs returns on August 9 this year at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester. Last year, more than 20 RCOs learned about the SOAR Network, were treated to an impassioned keynote by Haner Hernandez, and heard from “guests” of a talk show-inspired panel discussing the impact of RCOs on their lives. Plans are also underway for a SOAR Bootcamp, a one-day intensive training for RCOS, which will also take place in August. Details will be sent to RCOs in the near future.
For more information about SOAR, please contact Kirsten Doherty, SOAR coordinator, at 978-888-1927 or
kirsten@moar-recovery.org
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The SOAR Network is a statewide network of more than 40 recovery community organizations (RCOs). RCOs provide peer and other recovery support services. SOAR is a project of the Massachusetts Organization for Addiction Recovery (MOAR) and funded by the Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). SOAR serves as a hub to connect and unify RCOs to work together and share issues and information essential to peer recovery.
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Western MA Friends Speak Out about
The Value of Life in Recovery
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MOAR and the Recovery Community came together for a wonderful Policy Forum at Hope for Holyoke Recovery Center on May 24th. Thank you, Debbie Flynn-Gonzalez, Hope for Holyoke Director, for your infectious enthusiasm that helped to make for an exciting afternoon. Having Representative Aaron Vega participate was perfect.
The Hope for Holyoke members sharing demonstrated the value of how recovery centers provide ways to be involved and valued. We heard one who experienced the loss of his transportation – his bicycle. Center members rallied and together surprised him with a new one. His gratitude was so obvious and beautiful. We heard gratitude from Sarah Ahern (RECOVER Project) who shared how she had felt so isolated – and now has won awards and acclimation for attention to stigma and overdose prevention. Yes, we need at least 5 more recovery centers funded by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health,(DPH) Bureau of Substance Addiction Services (BSAS).
There were two Phoenix House residents, who have become ardent recovery advocates while participating in both MOAR Addiction Recovery Education Access Service (AREAS) Program addressing values, housing, CORI, spirituality, and relapse prevention as well as our Action for Recovery Meetings. Both shared their gratitude for a long term residential program. One noted that support from a Section 12 allowed him to be convinced he needed long term treatment. He let us residential treatment funded by BSAS will now be funded by Mass Health. Long term treatment acquainted him with MOAR, and participation in MOAR celebrations! Thus, he met up with persons in recovery, who have become mentors to him. He values his recovery coach, and likes the proposal to raise the profile of this new emerging field offering individual support to navigate a personalized pathway to, in, and for recovery.
Jennifer McQuade, Liberty Prep, Assistant Principal, noted how the recovery high school works to support young people in a structured school environment, that helps them to live in recovery. She said that many of the referrals are coming from Goodwin residential, one of the adolescent residential services in the state. We need to help spread the value of the 5 recovery high schools, so that more adolescents will get this help. Drew, a student, beautifully reflected how Liberty Prep has helped him!!!
Thank you to Peggy Vezina and Wendy Penner, for sharing the power of prevention, and the collaborative efforts of western Massachusetts communities to address youth, families, and overdose prevention. Speaking of overdose prevention, thank you to Tapestry for exemplifying just why the overdose rate might be trending down due to harm reduction efforts to keep people alive.
Speaking about that – thank you to Jared Owen from MOAR, who expressively noted how MOAR helped to put a face on the need for criminal justice reform – and the law passed. We were part of a great coalition who was heard by policymakers to make this monumental moment a reality. We can celebrate that soon a person can get their record sealed after 7 years with a felony, and 3 years with a misdemeanor. This part of the law should be in effect by October 12 of 2018. This validates that once you have done the time for the crime, it’s time to make it the past, and have a new life.
Thank you to Henry East Truo, Gandara CEO, who, welcomed everyone, as he described the culturally sensitive Gandara programming to support prevention, treatment, and recovery. He noted the value of all W MA continuum of care. Thank you to Ruth Jacobson Hardy, Western MA Regional Manager, for her support to make the event happen. Thank you to Lisa Brecher from Gandara for follow up publicity.
Thank you everyone as we continue the collaboration!
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Thank you to the residents of Phoenix House, My Sister’s House and Opportunity House for exemplifying the benefits of having a structured live in setting to prepare for living in recovery. They, also, shared why we fight for criminal justice reform, keeping ATR alive, graduate housing, and support for recovering families with children.
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Thank you Barbara Gallo and Marcy Julian (pictured) for sharing about the value of The Western MA Parent Support Group and Learn to Cope. We are grateful to Barbara again for bringing the woman from the Hampden County Prison, who exemplified how she is receiving a rehab experience to prepare for life in the community
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Thank you to all of our EmCee Jack Lynch, all the Comedians, and everyone who attended for another great evening of MOAR Laughs on May 27th, 2018
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MOAR member Tom Mannix presented on the crucial work he is doing as a Recovery Coach for Lahey Behavioral Health Emergency Services.
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First Annual North Shore Recovery Coach Forum
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MOAR Thanks Joan Whitney with the City of Gloucester, Gloucester High Risk Task Force, North Shore Community College, Link House, Inc., Opioid Prevention Partnership of Gloucester, Beverly, Danvers - for putting together a fabulous Recovery Coach Forum to support networking and learning for all those on the North Shore serving as recovery coaches and/or aspiring to become recovery coaches. Julia Ojeda, BSAS Recovery Support Services Coordinator, updated everyone on steps to maintain and enhance the fidelity of recovery coaching. MOAR is grateful for BSAS support to provide education to the recovery community guided by the recovery community.
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Learn MOAR at an Action for Recovery Meeting in your Area!
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