Red Deer is perfectly positioned to become a “Recovery Community” and help people struggling with addictions, says a U.S. author and speaker at Wednesday’s Recovery Summit at Westerner Park.
With our city’s mid-size footprint, two treatment centres and willing civic leadership, “Red Deer is actually perfect,” said Alison Jones Webb, a writer and public health specialist, who advocates for addiction recovery and harm reduction.
“It’s not too big, but big enough for people to be able to have access the resources and not get lost in the shuffle.”
Experts have been pondering how to help people overcome addictions for decades — and the Recovery Model, which accepts that recovery is an ongoing, lifelong process that requires much community support along the way, is one of the latest models put forward. The Province of Alberta and the City of Red Deer, which is presenting the one-day summit, have stated their support for it.
Have there been any success stories with this model? Webb, author of the book Recovery Allies: How to Support Addiction Recovery and Build Recovery-Friendly Communities, responded that it’s early on, so “the jury’s still out on that…
“The truth is, if there was one answer we all would have solved the problem by now,” she added. “It’s a process so we have to keep working on it.”
The sheer scope of addictions and homelessness around the world is new territory; Webb believes they have never been worse.
She feels having two new addiction treatment centres in Red Deer is a good start — but the real test will lie in whether people coming out of these programs receive enough support once they are out in the community again.
Webb spoke about the importance of getting everyone to become an ally to those in the recovery process. People need to understand that there’s no real cure for addiction, instead it requires lifelong effort and a lot of support, she added: “My definition of recovery is: that you, as an individual, can live the life you want, given the constraints that you face.”
Webb encouraged immediate family members of a substance user to educate themselves about addition and recovery, and then to pull in extended family members for their understanding and support. Grandparents and cousins can then try to get their schools and faith communities on board — and church leaders and educators can, in turn, appeal to business owners, so that eventually there are allies all the way up the societal chain.
Webb believes more flexible policies are especially needed from employers. Since people spend a lot of time at work, get much of their esteem and sense of purpose there, as well as their income, she feels more workplaces need to come on board and understand that difficulties and setbacks are part of the recovery journey — which is not a straight line.
People under stress can often fall back into substance abuse, said Webb, who believe harm reduction is a crucial service, especially at this point. But she acknowledged a lot more education is needed, even among health care and hospital workers, to overcome the “enormous stigma” associated with addictions.
Red Deer Mayor Ken Johnston said he was surprised and encouraged that more than 300 people got tickets to Red Deer’s first Recovery Summit. He thought only half as many would show up, so believes it’s a great sign Red Deerians are interested and concerned.
Many people who go through Red Deer’s addiction treatment centres may choose to remain in the city when they get out. “We need to consider… if we are going to embrace recovery, how also are we going to sustain that recovery? ” added Johnston.
The City of Red Deer plans to keep facilitating these conversations, he said, because “we want to give these people as great a chance of recovery as possible.”
