Recovery Peer Support and Development,
Inc. or RPSDI (pronounced rhapsody) is an
organization seeking to develop support systems for people with
addictions who are transitioning
back into the community from detoxification units, rehabilitation programs, jails and prison.
Program Developer: Peter Lehman,
Growth Industry Maine,
(207)
542-1496, peter@GrowInME.com
Rockland Recovery Project
Each year, nearly 2000 adults with addictions
issues move from institutional settings (hospitals, jails, or
prisons) into the Rockland area community. The Rockland
Recovery project will focus on transition or re-entry
support for this population.
The transition from institution to
community is a crucial and delicate moment in the recovery
process. In order to foster and enrich the process of change
that is the recovery process, Rockland Recovery will provide the
empowerment and sense of hope of a Supportive Peer Community as
well as concrete assistance and support in:
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Finding Safe Places To Live
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Breaking the Bonds of Addiction
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Training, Education, and Jobs
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Fostering Meaningful Relationships
The need for transition
support is clear. Without it, relapse is considerably more
likely and relapse is expensive both for the individual and the
community. Relapse generally takes the form of renewed episodes
of acting out, often in ways that are destructive to the person
and to others. It is one of the major reasons offenders “come
back”—repeat the same or other offenses—and
non-offenders “come back” to crisis units or, worse, end up
incarcerated. In any event, relapse has huge costs beyond the
individual—beyond potential harm to direct and indirect victims,
there are the huge costs of mental health and correctional
programs. There is an urgent need to reduce these costs by
reducing relapse.
Change is difficult.
This is nowhere more daunting than the process of transition
from an intensive institutional environment back into a
community. The transition itself is change—moving is always
stressful. But recovering people are faced with the additional
task of implementing the changes in their own lives that are
essential to recovery. They are moving from a narrow and
controlled environment, often replete with disempowerment and
helplessness, into an almost dazzling and immense social
environment. A multitude of persons, places and things await to
trigger thoughts and feelings that threaten to overwhelm them,
along with their own abiding and often reinforced sense of shame
and stigma. This is the fragile beginning of a new life and it
is not surprising that this new beginning often collapses or is
crushed. And, as Bullock, et al, put it, “Critical
ingredients for recovery such as hope, empowerment,
self-determination, and a new valued sense of self, are clearly
in double- or triple-jeopardy for the mental health consumer who
is also a criminal offender.”
There is a strong and
vital 12-Step community in the Rockland area, primarily
Alcoholics Anonymous. Unfortunately, only a bare handful of
Rockland Recovery’s target population find their way into this
community. There seem to be various reasons for this including a
lack of knowledge and comfort, especially among ex-prisoners.
Many people with multiple addictions and addictions other than
alcoholism have a very hard time finding a self-help community
in the Rockland area. In addition, stigma, lack of mental health
education, and hostility to medications among many members,
means the necessary environment of empathy and acceptance may
not be present for mental health consumers—those who have a
co-existing mental health disorder.
A non-random sample of
dozens of people in the Rockland area who have gone through the
transition from institutional care to the community confirms
that there is a lack of peer support available in the area and
few places to share ideas, fears, strategies, hopes and
frustrations, or to simply gain support from those who have or
have had the same experiences. Most often mentioned in these
conversations are the dimensions of company, hope, education,
tools/skills of recovery, and self-esteem reflected in autonomy
and empowerment issues such as employment, housing, education,
and helping others.
In some ways, this
transition is easier for those who move back into their old
lives—who return to the same housing and family and friends. The
physical transition is less daunting yet those same elements
prompt the same habits of thought and feeling and action—prompt
the same maladaptive coping habits that they are trying to
change. Moreover, the well-intentioned concern and support of
family and friends can promote dependency and helplessness
and/or increase a sense of shame and stigma—to be an invalid is
to be invalid. Thus, recovery peer support for these people is a
crucial source of hope and empowerment.
For those who begin new
lives, the physical transition is more daunting with immediate
need for housing, transportation, and employment. Being
overwhelmed by these tasks coupled with rejection and being
shunned may lead to a sense of helplessness, hopelessness, shame
and stigma. Lack of a community of support may lead to
loneliness and isolation, discouragement and even despair. These
thoughts and feelings, in turn, can prompt the same maladaptive
coping habits that they are trying to change. However,
accomplishing the tasks of physical transition can be an
extremely valuable source of self-esteem, empowerment and hope.
Thus, peer support for these people is a crucial source of
encouragement, assistance and support in accomplishing and
sustaining these tasks as well as an opportunity for them to
help others by passing on their own experiences.
For all of these people
there is an urgent need for a sense of hope and empowerment in
order to begin and sustain the process of change that is
recovery. Social attitudes that recovery is impossible, that
consumers are forever stuck in illness, defeats recovery. Thus,
there is first and foremost a need to present a counter-image—a
sense of hope. Recovery is based in the firm belief that
recovery is possible. Hope is the belief that change is
possible rather than being stuck in a stigmatized and dependent
identity. Without hope there is no recovery. Recovery groups by
their very public existence communicate a sense of hope, a sense
that change is possible, and that people are not alone.
If you are interested in
helping with this exciting project, please contact Peter Lehman,
Program Developer, at (207) 542–1496 or
peter@GrowInME.com
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