that often lead to homelessness, including addiction, mental illness, incarceration and other forms of structural violence. As our Non-Res Orientation can only give a brief overview of the experiences of our residential members, we hope to use this forum to strengthen our organizational understanding of these underlying issues and offer more resources and insight to our volunteers who give so much of their time and energy.

I encourage you to watch this short video, which offers different perspectives on the recovery process from members, volunteers, and clinical experts. As you may know, Washington, DC has some of the highest rates of drug and alcohol abuse in the country. Addiction is regularly identified as one of the leading causes of homelessness, and over 90% of our residential members are in recovery, rebuilding their lives. For some people, they began abusing alcohol or drugs as a way to cope with poverty and mental illness; for others, they became homeless as a result of their addictions. Regardless, we know that increasing our understanding of the interconnectedness of these issues is crucial to our ability to combat both through our program.   

Should you ever feel concerned about or suspect a potential relapse with a member, please do not hesitate to contact BoMF DC staff.  Volunteers should never feel responsible for addressing these issues with members, outside of providing general support during morning runs.  If you have suggestions for future Beyond Running topics, please submit them to Amy Vokes, Program Director for Back on My Feet DC. 

Beyond Running: Addiction and Recovery

Special thanks to the following for their help in this project:

George Knowles, Video Producer 

Tyrone Duncan, BoMF Alumnus 

Hermon Blount, BoMF Resident Member 

Walter Barrera, BoMF Alumnus 

Shannyn Smith, BoMF Non-Resident Volunteer 

Moe Briggs, Regional Clinical Director, The Kolmac Clinic 

The Kolmac Clinic

Jaime Albarelli, BoMF Program Intern