a force against darkness

tonya wheeler- advocates for recovery colorado

Are you gone and onto someone new?
I needed somewhere to hang my head
Without your noose
You gave me something that I didn't have
But had no use
I was too weak to give in
Too strong to lose
My heart is under arrest again
But I break loose
My head is giving me life or death
But I can't choose
I swear I'll never give in
I refuse

there has been a gentleman who has been going from state to state and developing a made for tv special geared toward that particular state's crystal meth problem. he pitches the idea, gets the state and big city governments and politicians to endorse it, along with law enforcement and treatment provider communities. it is aired. he collects a hefty sum of money for the endeavor and hopefully the consciousness of that state is raised sufficiently to justify the expenditure.

this has happened within colorado and the show titled "crystal darkness" aired last night on most of the major channels in colorado. radio and tv spots have been running for over 2 weeks promoting the televising, and i am anxious to hear how the ratings were.

my understanding is that typically, the focus is on the horrors of meth, i.e. meth mouth, huge increase in violent crime and identity theft, sexual abuse of minors, and environmental pollution of meth labs. but the twist for the colorado piece was the ending involved a very strong and positive messaging around recovery. statements like meth addicts in recovery make fantastic employees, parents, and citizens, if we are given the opportunity. recovery works. and the other message that i thoroughly enjoyed was an invitation to colorado to become part of the solution- said in just those words.

the woman responsible for the pro-recovery statements is a colleague of mine and i sit on the board of advocates for recovery with her. i so admire her hammering an idea home like that. it reads as responsible leadership to me. now some of her friends joke and call her a "media whore" which may or may not apply, but i prefer to think of her as a force.

frankly, i don't know if one tv piece is going to change much, although i cannot say it won't either. i do know that i am happy that the "recovery happens' message is one that makes my heart skip a beat. i'm beaming inside.

recovery happens is a credo i try to live by. just take a look at my blogroll. look in your own neighborhood. you'll find it. recovery works. make room for it in your life.


today's sound choice is stereophonic doing foo fighter's "best of you"

motivational interviewing

You had me several years ago
When I was still quite naive
Well, you said that we made such a pretty pair
And that you would never leave
But you gave away the things you loved
And one of them was me
I had some dreams they were clouds in my coffee
Clouds in my coffee....
Carly Simon

i attended media training for "advocates for recovery" yesterday. there is a crystal meth news program for tv that is currently being filmed in many states across the country. the program is called crystal darkness and is coming to colorado to be filmed later this month. as is normal with most issues and the media, it's the dark side that gets highlighted. reporters almost always want to hear about the horrors of things, and there is no exception with meth use. it is normal for journalists to be curious about the horrors, the abuse of children, the spread of hiv, the upsurge in meth-use related crimes, the ravages of meth labs.

but our job as advocates for recovery, is to take the spotlight off the problem and start to shine it on the solution. after all, people do recover from meth use. injection drug users do stop, and their lives get better. they become better citizens, better family members, and better individuals. this is the message i prefer to send to family members of meth addicts throughout colorado. i would much prefer to promote hope, because there is hope. we are even discussing developing a series of posters entitled "faces of recovery", because it doesn't take long for someone to start looking healthy again.

this is the desired outcome, isn't it?