Letter to the Editor: No right to complain
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I have worked in recovery for a little over two years now. I began at Harmony Ridge Recovery Center, an inpatient rehabilitation facility in Walker. This was my first experience working with a population many people have thrown to the wayside as lost causes. I had no idea what to expect. I would be lying if I told you I wasn't nervous. I was still fresh out of college with a graduate degree in social work. I had worked with kids and teens, but never addicts. I am ashamed to admit that even then, going into working in recovery, I still held stigma and microaggressions against the community.
At Harmony Ridge, I worked with clients just coming out of addiction. Each client would spend seven days in detox, at which time they would go "up on the hill" to the main building in order to spend 28-30 days in the inpatient program. As a therapist, I saw clients in those short four weeks, and did groups. Again, I would be lying if I told you I knew what I was doing. My groups were a mess. I was afraid to assert myself. I cared for them but was too afraid to help them.
My prejudice held me back. Until I could face that, nothing would change.
Until something did change.
One morning I shadowed a therapist down in detox. We had to do an intake assessment for a young woman who was going through an extreme withdrawal. She was, obviously, sick and unhappy. The therapist left for a brief moment and asked me to continue the assessment. I fumbled through it, along with the young woman, who was less than thrilled to have to answer questions while she battled withdrawal from Fentanyl, withdrawal symptoms that, if you don't have the right treatment for, can kill you.
"I'm dying!" She moaned.
"I understand." As the words left my mouth, I knew I had said the wrong thing.
"How could you possibly understand?" She turned over in bed and looked directly at me. "Have you ever been in addiction?"
I whispered no.
"Then you don't understand." She turned back over in bed, hiding herself within the blankets.
Her words stayed with me, and still do to this day. I didn't understand. Many people don't. One only has to look at the comment sections of news articles that talk about addiction. Words like "junkie" and "tweaker" are thrown around. Some even wish they would die. The stigma against those who are struggling with addiction is high.
Yet through all of the stigma, through all of the defunding, through all of the talk of "worthless junkies" something remains the same.
Everyone wants to complain about the problem. But very few want to be part of the solution.
I've seen it too often. A sober living facility goes up, people complain. A recovery center opens, people complain. Anything that comes into the community to help, anything that offers hope, is immediately shut down as "bringing more druggies into the city." Will ignoring the situation change anything?
You can't complain about the problem while simultaneously complaining about the proposed solutions. You say that Parkersburg is going downhill, but ask yourself, really ask yourself what you are doing to change the situation? (Complaining on the internet doesn't count).
There are ways to help; however, you must absolutely get rid of the prejudice you have. Start to see them as people, because they are. You don't know their story. You don't know their trauma, what they've had to go through. And quite frankly, it's none of your business anyhow.
Carry Narcan. Volunteer at Latrobe Street Mission. Go to 12-step meetings and get to know those in recovery. Immerse yourself in the world of recovery and listen to people in recovery give their "leads" (testimonies). Be part of the solution, not the problem.
Otherwise, what are you even complaining about?
Ida McGrail
Parkersburg