Need for real support

Six years. 

It’s not a heralded anniversary. Big parties are not the norm. It’s a mark that passes by, just another day on the calendar. 

Today is six years sober. Almost forgot, not the sober but the date. Walking in the Downtown Eastside and a post from Guy Felicella sparked looking up the actual date.

If you’re not following him on Twitter, you should be. You may agree with him or be exasperated by him, but you will be provoked to think about the topic of recovery in ways you didn’t consider. He’s @guyfelicella 

A recent post finds him talking about people in recovery who have ‘recovery capital’ – where they have a good life and after completing recovery will have support of family, friends and employer which makes it so much easier to succeed.

That’s in contrast to those without that support system, who may not have a home or job, and will struggle to maintain sobriety.

This struck a chord, as I had the good life – a home, job and friends committed to my sobriety. Others I spent time with at Cedars did not, with some of them tragically dying despite a desire to succeed. They weren’t given the tools to succeed outside of recovery.

On a walk yesterday morning in the Downtown Eastside that hit home again. It doesn’t seem to be getting better and we need to try a new approach.

Warehousing cleans the street but doesn’t cure the symptoms. Talk of wraparound services usually means how to keep a pulse and not how to reanimate someone’s life.

We need to ensure those with the tougher path have support in the journey (Read Guy’s post here).

It’s going to cost but the price of failure is infinitely higher for those in need and society in general.