Pathways to Hope and Healing
At Tuesday’s City Council meeting, I offered a resolution with President Bears to celebrate National Recovery Month. Each September, we celebrate people who are in recovery from using drugs and alcohol. Substance use disorder is a really difficult disease to deal with, not least because people who have it are stigmatized, demonized, and often cast out of society, families, and social networks. National Recovery Month is an opportunity to celebrate recovery, a challenging but amazing achievement that deserves recognition. I was excited to talk about the bright side of substance use disorder: that it can be overcome, and there are many people I know who have done it.
Yesterday afternoon, I was canvassing my neighborhood, letting people know that we have a preliminary election coming up on Tuesday for City Council. Seventeen people are running for seven seats, which triggered a preliminary election on September 16th. Voters go to their regular polling place and cast their votes for the seven candidates they would like to see on City Council, and the field gets narrowed down to fourteen candidates who will move on to the general election on November 4th.
When I was canvassing, I had a man on my list at a house with a nice front porch. Four gentlemen were hanging out on the porch that afternoon; it was a beautiful day, so they were enjoying the nice weather. I asked if anyone was Andrew. They said no, but they said they were Medford voters, so I gave them my explanation of the preliminary election. They asked me if I was planning to attend their event on September 24th. I said that I go to a lot of events, can they tell me more about it? They said it was an event for National Recovery Month. I got super excited and told them about my resolution and my work with the recovery coaches at the Malden Warming Center. We talked about the new recovery coach in Medford, Chris Summa, and how I’d love it if we could get the funding to make him full-time.
I learned from the men on the porch that the house is a sober home: a place where people can live in early recovery to have a safe place to stay focused on sobriety. I didn’t even know such a place existed in Medford, and I am keyed into the recovery community through my work. I only mention this to help de-stigmatize recovery, not to encroach upon their privacy. I’m sure they will continue to be good neighbors.
If you are in Medford on September 24th, please join me at the Pathways to Hope and Healing event! And if you’re a Medford voter, don’t forget to vote on Tuesday, September 16th for your top seven City Council candidates. I hope I’ve earned a place.
