September is Recovery Month—a time to share the promise of faith, a positive attitude, and the knowledge that people can and do recover from alcohol and other drugs and contribute meaningfully to society. All around us, people in recovery are doing wonderful things for their communities and peers.
I am glad that the stigma associated with alcohol and drug problems is beginning to reduce. It is no longer a shame for someone to say “I am a former addict, but I’m 15 years clean!” We know that addiction is a disease, and we must continue to speak out and advocate for substance abuse and mental health disorders.

Recovery is a process and requires dedication and a persistent consciousness of the effort needed to sustain abstinence and sobriety. There are always temptations…which can result in good or bad outcomes. Constant vigilance of one’s behavior and associations can prevent falling into traps. Recovery never ends, because anyone can lapse. It takes only one bad choice for things to unravel.
The Bureau of Substance Abuse Prevention, Treatment and Recovery (BSAPTR) is continuously improving its services to clients. We are implementing the Recovery-Oriented Systems of Care (ROSC) model in order to incorporate the principles of recovery within the many arrays of services provided to clients. This is a paradigm shift for BSAPTR and its providers. The focus of ROSC is on the client, not the program. The client is the integral part of the treatment and recovery process—it is the client’s recovery, not the program’s or counselor’s recovery. So rather than “fitting the program,” the program must address the individual’s needs.

BSAPTR is thankful to the Michigan Department of Community Health, Office of Drug Control Policy and the Detroit-Wayne County Community Mental Health Agency for their initiatives, and especially for allowing recovery services to be reimbursable. This assures that peers and programs providing recovery services will have the satisfaction of knowing that their services are recognized and valued.
As long as the sun rises, there is hope. Let’s celebrate recovery! It is possible, and it is, for more and more people, a reality.

Source: http://www.keeppushin.org/newsletters/BSANEWS2k9_v19.pdf

NATIONAL ALCOHOL AND DRUG ADDICTION RECOVERY MONTH, 2009

Every year, Americans across the country overcome their struggles with addiction. With personal determination and the support of family and friends, community members, and health professionals, they have turned the page on an illness and sought the promise of recovery. On this occasion, we recognize these brave role models and express support for those in treatment, applaud those in recovery, and encourage those in need to seek help.

As a Nation, we must work together to provide access to effective services that reduce substance abuse and promote healthy living. Without effective treatment, abuse of alcohol, illicit drugs, or prescription medications can devastate the mind and body. With treatment, substance use disorders can be managed, giving individuals the effective tools necessary to address their addiction. This year's theme, "Together We Learn, Together We Heal," calls us to unite and encourage drug-free living. Treatment programs, family members, and neighbors can all help assist those who experience addiction.

During National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month, we also pay special tribute to the dedicated professionals and everyday citizens who, with skill and empathy, guide people through the treatment and recovery process. Across America, they are offering a message of hope and understanding. These compassionate individuals remind us that the strength of our character derives not from the mistakes we make, but from our ability to recognize and address them. When we extend a helping hand to those in need, we reaffirm the American spirit and move our Nation towards a brighter tomorrow.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by the virtue of the authority invested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim September 2009 as National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month. I call upon the people of the United States to observe this month with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this thirty-first day of August, in the year of our  Lord two thousand nine, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-fourth.

BARACK OBAMA

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Presidential-Proclamation-National-Alcohol-and-Drug-Addiction-Recovery-Month/

“For 14 years, I thought about suicide every day. I suffered silently. I have never been hospitalized, I did not experience the same symptoms that others have spoken of during their success stories, I had no idea that I too would suffer from a mental illness.”-Brian

As a social worker, Brian has played a role in many people’s success stories, but never did he think that he too would have a mental health issue. “Depression and anxiety are silent. You do not know that you have it but others around you can see a change in you,” says Brian. Like many people, Brian had to come to the conclusion that he needed mental health help slowly, and only after his illness had deeply affected his life.

At 15 years old, Brian endured a series of heart-breaking trials. In that year, a friend committed suicide and Brian’s girlfriend broke up with him around the same time, taking all of his friends with her. Desperately in need of a friend and a shoulder to lean on, Brian found to his horror and dismay that no one was there. Brian's father worked second shift so there was not much time to spend with him. His mother was going through medical conditions of her own, so they had grown distant. He was left with no one to help get him through this rough patch of life. Brian was consumed with the feeling of being alone; in a fit of remorse he grabbed a knife and held it to his wrist. As he stood there holding that knife, anger came over him and he realized how much people have taken away from him. He realized that if he gave in to that anger, he would lose everything. He then decided to get in touch with the anger and come to grips with it.

As a part of his effort to understand himself, Brian studied psychology in college. He hoped that his studies of how the mind worked would put him touch with the solution to the problem that was lying deep within. This is easier said than done, of course. Despite his efforts to understand himself through his studies, Brian was still suffering with forms of depression and anxiety. All through college, he lived what appeared to be a normal life, working on his degree and getting engaged to be married. On the inside he still struggled with symptoms of depression. He would have episodes of insomnia and, as he neared the end of his college career, the nightmares started. These horrifying dreams consumed him and made life very difficult. Brian was miserable and recalls, "It was a fate worse than death, Hell on Earth, emotional pain to which there is no relief".

Brian was lucky in one regard: his fiancé was there to help Brian through this difficult time. She encouraged him to get help. Brian says, "If it were not for my wife, I would have ended it myself-she kept me safe". Brian sought help, and they placed him on medication. He was on his medication for a year until the side effects became too much to handle. Brian said it was like taking “emotional anesthesia”, he felt like it robbed him of all of his ambition. Since he was having so much trouble adjusting to the medication he made the personal decision to take himself off the medication. He continued to ride on the skills that he had learned from previous counseling sessions and his psychology classes, trying to manage his symptoms without medication. For the next few years he was in limbo. He took an entry-level job that had nothing to do with his bachelor's degree, but then decided to get into the Masters program for Social Work. To cope with the stress that comes along with school, Brian started jogging and studying Martial Arts. He said that the concentration and energy used during his exercise enabled him to burn off some of his nervous energy and to focus on something other than the depression, and helped him to feel good about himself.

During his time in the Masters program, he made a startling discovery. Studying in his medical classes he realized with all of his symptoms he needed to be back on medication. Not wanting to jump back into psychotropic drugs, he briefly tried a homeopathic remedy. It was not enough to help him with his underlying issues, and Brian finally went back to the doctors and got on another medication that helped with his problems.

Brian feared that he would experience the same side effects from the new medication as he did before. He knew he had to at least try so he diligently took the medication in hopes that things would be ok again, and he finally gained some relief from the emotional pain he had been feeling. Things that he would do for "fun" suddenly became enjoyable to him again. Yes, he liked riding his mountain bike, reading, and going to movies, but all of a sudden they became more enjoyable.

A message he would like to tell others is to never stop working on self-improvement. Ask yourself two questions: Are you happy? Are you functioning? If you answer "no" to any of these then you might want to consider seeking help. You need to try to achieve them both and stay on them, do not give up.

“Recovery to me means I am continuing to do what I need to do. Life is manageable with the right medication and dedication to living with a condition.” Currently, Brian is continuing to work on himself. He is a licensed social worker helping others who also “suffer silently" to give a voice to their pain and come into the light of recovery.

I was reading a book recently, a novel by one of my favorite authors. One of the main characters in the book was somebody who had had a difficult life—grown up in poverty, had difficult and trying relationships with family members, and had spent time in the juvenile justice system. This book followed the character from adolescence to adulthood, and in adulthood, this character deal with serious emotional and psychological issues. About halfway through the book, as this character’s friends were sitting around talking about her, her husband told the group that she had Borderline Personality Disorder. He also told the group that the doctor who diagnosed her told him that this was a “hopeless diagnosis. With Borderlines, all you can do is medicate them and hope for the best.”

When I read this paragraph, I literally gasped out loud. I could not believe that this topic was being written about in such a way! I have several issues with this, beginning with the lack of person-first language. The doctor in this book refers to people with Borderline Personality Disorder, or BPD, as though they are animals. Referring to them as “Borderlines” and speaking of medicating them as though they don’t have a choice in their treatment, takes away all sense of humanity from people who deal with this difficult disorder. As well, the lack of compassion and understanding is simply disturbing to me.

There are many myths and misunderstandings held by society about BPD. One is that people who have BPD are manipulative and attention seeking. I challenge everyone to change their viewpoint. And this starts with trying to understand the disorder before rushing to judgment about it. BPD is a disorder in which people have not successfully learned the art of emotion regulation, and develops as a result of growing up in an invalidating environment. From the time we are babies, we feel and express emotions. Sometimes, these emotions are not validated, we are not told they are OK, and as a result we have to deal with this feeling of our emotions being “wrong”. We all experience this at some time in some way. Each of us responds to it differently, and some people as a result of repeated invalidating experiences, develop BPD. People who have BPD are not evil, they are not intentionally manipulative or hard to work with. In many cases, they simply have not learned how else to deal with the emotions we all feel every day. People who have BPD are not attention seekers. They are attention needers, feeling the need for validation and acceptance, without ever having been taught how to get this for themselves.

Stigma is born from misunderstanding. Myths and stereotypes are the fuel to the stigma fire, and societal thoughts about BPD are no exception. We don’t take the time to learn about things that might not affect us. In general, things we don’t know about scare us, and instead of learning about these things in an effort to lessen the fear, we push them far away from us so as to not have to experience the fear. Again, I challenge all of us to take a step closer, to learn the facts, and to try to understand other people. They say that empathy is the act of putting yourself in someone else’s shoes. This can be a difficult task—sometimes the shoes are too big or too small. Sometimes they’re a color or style we really don’t like. But let’s try to find a similar pair. Before we judge someone else, before we make assumptions about who they are as a person, let’s find out the facts and go from there.

The problem with this book is that it didn't offer any kind of hope. Granted, the book took place in the mid-90s, which was right when Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, or DBT—the treatment used most for people with emotion regulation issues, came out, and the doctor in the book had probably not learned about it yet. But the picture painted in the book was one of despair and desperateness, of giving up on a lost cause, and this is simply unacceptable. As people who are mindful and aware of the issues, let us be the ones to speak out. Let us be the ones to correct people when they say “oh, those Borderlines, they’re jut attention seekers”. If we can start from a place of compassion, rather than from a place of judgment, I guarantee the journey will not only be smoother, but also more enjoyable, regardless of what shoes we are wearing.

This summer, our country celebrated the 20th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the landmark civil rights legislation that guaranteed rights to millions of Americans. This federal law ensured that individuals dealing with disabilities will not be excluded from participating in everyday activities, like dining out at a restaurant, shopping at the neighborhood grocery store or watching a movie at the local theatre.
Before the American Disabilities Act was put into place in 1990, individuals with disabilities were constantly subjected to discrimination, denied access to restaurants and other public places based solely on their disability and found many barriers to equal opportunities in employment and accessibility for all individuals.

We and, the more than 51 million individuals with disabilities in the United States, are grateful to the efforts of those who helped create the ADA 20 years ago. Although this act has been in place for 20 years, there is still stigma associated with disabilities that needs to be addressed. President Obama recently announced that two important legislative updates will require all future buildings to be constructed in compliance with ADA regulations. He also announced an initiative to promote recruitment and retention of Americans with disabilities within the federal government.

Individuals dealing with disabilities deserve to be treated just like everyone else. These individuals work hard to be productive and active members of society, and should be treated with the respect and honor they greatly deserve.

As we celebrate the 20th anniversary of the monumental American Disabilities Act, please take time to remember the past when these civil rights could not be taken for granted. Let’s each educate ourselves about the current status of equity in American life for people with mental health and developmental disabilities. Perhaps our next celebration with be due to the end of such discrimination altogether.

Jacqueline Castine is the community education specialist at the Oakland County Community Mental Health Authority . Her fall class schedule is posted at www.jacquelinecastine.com. She is the author of I Wish I Could Fix It, But. . . She can be reached at castinej@occmha.org and 248-975-9684.

This summer has been a truly hectic and truly rewarding one for the CNS Anti-Stigma Program. It’s hard to believe that this fiscal year is almost over with the whirlwind of activity that has been the hallmark of this year. As we enter into the next year, we are looking forward to building upon the successes that we have enjoyed over the last five years.

The month of August started with the presentation team going to Belleville, IL to present for the14th Annual Region V Metro East Consumer Conference. That same weekend, Malkia took part in a block party sponsored by Gerald Butler and CHARGE (which stands for Center of Healing, Arts, Recovery, Growth, and Empowerment) as they celebrated the 20th anniversary of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act at the Russell Street Bazaar in Detroit, MI. We also presented to the residents of the Rose Hill Center in Holly, MI. We finished out the month by going to Lombard, IL, outside of Chicago, and presenting at the National Association of Peer Support Specialists 4th Annual Conference.

Once again we thank all of our supporters who have been instrumental in making our success happen. CNS is a non-profit 5O1(c) 3 organization that does not require a fee for our services, but we do rely on the generosity of people like you to make tax-deductable donations to the CNS Anti-Stigma Program.

To book a presentation or for more information please call or e-mail:
248-409-4227
mmaisha@cnsmi.org

In support of September, National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month, we asked for some thoughts on the subject from our in-house IDDT Team. IDDT is Integrated Dual Diagnosis Treatment, which is a form of treatment found to be helpful for people who have co-occurring mental illness and a substance abuse disorders. This approach helps people recover by offering both mental health and substance abuse services at the same time and in one location. We asked our IDDT Team to write a little something on recovery, and this is what they had to say:

When I was asked to write this article I initially thought “how hard could it be to write about recovery?” Little did I know that this subject would cause me to ask a lot of questions many of which remain unanswered. My best attempt to provide a definition of recovery was “to live a lifestyle with behavior that supports values that are important to me.” Since this is the best I could come up with I turned to one of the case managers on the team Tanisha to look up the meaning of recovery on the computer. She provided me with three pages of information. The definition according to the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, National Summit on Recovery Conference Report, 2005 states “Recovery from alcohol and drug problems is a process of change through which an individual achieves abstinence and improved health, wellness and quality of life.” The Betty Ford Institute defines recovery as “a voluntarily maintained lifestyle characterized by sobriety, personal health, and citizenship.” The final definition she provided was from the free dictionary. This definition states recovery is “the act, process, duration, or the instance of recovering, a return to a normal condition, something gained or restored in recovering, and the act of obtaining usable substances from unusable sources.”

After some discussion, Tanisha reflected that we are assuming that individuals had something to recover. The word Recovery, implies that people have something to go back to—Re, to do it again. This is not always true. There may be individuals who have never had positive experiences without the use of substances. A better definition may be to “uncover, discover and recover.” Then we finally went to the experts. We asked members of the Recovery Group to share their thoughts on recovery and following is what they provided:

“Sometime you don’t recover.” N.G.
“Learn how to deal with it, adapt to the situation.” R.H.
“A Higher Power, a piece of hope.” R.H.
“Starts with a solid foundation and with having spirituality.” R.H.
“You need to trust people.” R.H.
“You need to have at least one brain cell left, a glimmer of hope that they did not beat you down too bad.” A.K.
“Being willing to grow.” R.H.
“Not being involved with the legal system.” G.K.
“It takes a long time to admit you have a problem.” N.G.
“A big part of it is yourself.” N.G.
“Taking responsibility.” G.K.

The group also discussed how to live a life with joy, hope, happiness, love, caring and compassion and decided that if an individual had them before becoming dependent on substances they could recover them. If not, they would need to discover and uncover them for their lives.