Organization Provides Support For Addiction And Recovery
Organization Provides Support For Addiction And Recovery
By Tia Carol Jones
Dora Wright and her husband started the Chicago Recovering Communities Coalition in 2012 out of the need for addiction support services on the West side of Chicago. Their goal was to put a face to recovery with a vision to help people with active addictions. Wright herself has been in recovery for 38 years. Growing up on the West side, she said she left her community in search of addiction support and recovery programs because she wasn’t aware of any that existed in the community.
The Chicago Recovering Communities Coalition provides recovery support services beyond the treatment door, with non-clinical services. Most of its employees are peers who have knowledge and experience of recovery from drugs and alcohol addiction because they have gone through it themselves. Wright said since the Chicago Recovering Communities Coalition was founded in 2012, she estimates it has serviced more than 500 people.
The Chicago Recovering Communities Coalition provides recovery education, peer coaching and mentoring, trauma support groups, life skills training, spiritual coaching and individual case management services. The organization provides recovery coach training for the families and friends of people who are addicted or in recovery so that they can be an ally.
The organization also provides NARCAN training and distribution. Wright said this is important because for a number of years, Naloxone was not readily available, nor were people trained on how to use it. She said the organization was instrumental in ensuring Naloxone was available in the community to reverse drug overdoses.
In addition to recovery coach training and NARCAN tranings, the Chicago Recovering Communities Coalition has also launched the Tell Your Story campaign on its website. The campaign enabled people who have participated in the organization’s programs to talk about how they have benefited from the services.
“Lives are being saved, families are being changed, people are reuniting with their families and they are beginning to live life and be a part of the movement of recovery,” Wright said.
When it comes to what people get wrong about addiction and recovery, Wright said is that it is a moral disease, a moral failing, that people don’t get better and people don’t recover. She said the belief that once a person is an addict they will always be an addict, she said it is not true.
She said she is a living testimony and example that people can recover. She said as someone who has been in recovery for 38 years, she is a better mother, a better daughter, a better wife and a better friend, all because of her recovery. She said that is why she wanted to give back to her community by doing the work to provide addiction support and recovery services. She said she wants people to know that help is available, and the organization is working to remove the barriers to recovery.
The Chicago Recovering Communities Coalition also has a campaign around marijuana. Wright said that although cannabis has been legalized, it is a gateway drug, and most people who become addicted start out smoking marijuana. She said that is how she started smoking marijuana in high school. She said it is more potent than it has ever been, it is also leading to other mental health disorders.
Wright said the community can support the work that The Chicago Recovering Communities Coalition is doing by participating in the training classes, reaching out to them or stopping by the center. The Chicago Recovering Communities Coalition is located at 4628 W. Washington Blvd. For more information about its programs, visit www.chicagorecovery.org or call 773-417-2045.
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