{"id":183,"date":"2014-04-08T22:00:21","date_gmt":"2014-04-08T22:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nashvillerecovers.org\/?p=70"},"modified":"2014-04-08T22:00:21","modified_gmt":"2014-04-08T22:00:21","slug":"anonymity-should-we-tell-our-stories-in-public","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/nashvilleprevention.org\/nashville_recovers\/2014\/04\/08\/anonymity-should-we-tell-our-stories-in-public\/","title":{"rendered":"Anonymity: Should we tell our stories in public?"},"content":{"rendered":"

I remember early in recovery that my normie twin brother Todd was kind enough to agree to come with me to my home group in a 12-step fellowship.<\/p>\n

Not only did Todd agree to come with, but he was really excited to meet some of my new recovery friends.<\/p>\n

\u201cCan I bring a camera and take pictures?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell,\u201d I said, \u201cthat kinda blows the second A, now doesn\u2019t it?\u201d<\/p>\n

Anonymity is really important to recovery because some folks are terrified \u2013 rightly so \u2013 about being found out as an alcoholic or an addict.<\/p>\n

They don\u2019t want employers or future employers to know they have the disease of addiction. There could be (and is) a lot of misunderstanding about it, and there\u2019s certainly a fair amount of stigma around addiction, right?<\/p>\n

And too, it can be emotional wrenching and time consuming to explain and answer questions about how we got into recovery.<\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s the traditions of the actual anonymous fellowships, one of which says, \u201cOur public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion. We need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio and films.\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve got respect and gratitude for the fellowships that got and keep me clean.<\/p>\n

And here\u2019s the dilemma.<\/p>\n

We want to stay anonymous because of misunderstanding and stigma, but one strong way to battle that misunderstanding and stigma is to talk about our recovery.<\/p>\n

Hence the fine and wobbly line I\u2019m trying to walk with Nashville Recovers.<\/p>\n

\"Miles<\/a>We\u2019re launching a video series \u2013 \u201cWe Do Recover\u201d \u2013 where addicts and alcoholics tell their recovery stories (in seven to 12 minutes). No, we don\u2019t mention any specific 12-step recovery groups, at least not the ones that want to remain anonymous.<\/p>\n

But yes, sober house manager Miles Hunt, therapist Tammy Roth, college student Nick Salazar and ex-drug dealer Philip Covington talk about how they went from active addiction to recovery.<\/p>\n

\"Nick\"<\/a>\u201cGrowing up, I had an image of what addiction looked like,\u201d said Nick, an East Nashville guy who grew up in affluent suburban New Jersey.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd this series helps show that it is a disease that can affect anyone of any background, but it is not hopeless,\u201d he said. \u201cThis series helps to show that it is possible to live life free from active addiction, that there is a way out, that we do recover.\u201d<\/p>\n

Philip, the ex-dealer with more than three years clean, says he agreed to tell his story on camera \u201cbecause it may save someone\u2019s life one day.<\/p>\n

\u201cA great friend talked to me about it and it was a no brainer for me,\u201d Philip said.<\/p>\n

\"Philip<\/a>See, when we tell our stories, and people in active addiction hear them, well, they just might relate. And then, they just might see that there\u2019s hope that they, too, can find a way out, a path that leads them out of the destruction of constantly using drugs or drinking alcohol.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one may never know how many will benefit from this series due to the number of seeds sown,\u201d said sober living house manager Miles.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrading my anonymity to help a suffering addict is worth it to me. \u00a0I\u2019m grateful to be a recovering addict and willing to help regardless if the world knows.\u201d<\/p>\n

So what\u2019s the downside of someone in recovery telling his or her story? Well, what if Miles or Tammy or Philip or Nick relapses? What if, God forbid, one of them overdoses and dies? How will that reflect on the 12-step fellowships?<\/p>\n

Might we then inadvertently be spreading the message that 12-step recovery doesn\u2019t work?<\/p>\n

I get that argument, but the thing is, if someone relapses, it ain\u2019t the program that\u2019s broken.<\/p>\n

\u201cRarely have we seen a person fail<\/em>\u00a0who has thoroughly followed our path,\u201d one fellowship\u2019s literature says.<\/p>\n

\"TammyRoth\"<\/a>With some recovery, I\u2019m a glass half full guy. To me, it\u2019s awesome, a miracle, that an alcoholic had three years sober and relapsed, far better than if he had never gotten sober in the first place.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlcoholism is an incredibly complex and confusing issue. It is a disease, it is a coping mechanism, it is a family dynamic, it is many, many things,\u201d therapist Tammy says.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd recovery is also complex. And while it\u2019s filled with a lot of work and diligence, the rewards are amazing. I want people to better understand both sides of the coin,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

For today, Tammy and Nick and Philip and Miles have happy hope-filled lives. Recovery helped get them there.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s a story worth telling.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I remember early in recovery that my normie twin brother Todd was kind enough to agree to come with me to my home group in a 12-step fellowship. Not only did Todd agree to come with, but he was really excited to meet some of my new recovery friends. \u201cCan I bring a camera and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nashvilleprevention.org\/nashville_recovers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nashvilleprevention.org\/nashville_recovers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nashvilleprevention.org\/nashville_recovers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nashvilleprevention.org\/nashville_recovers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nashvilleprevention.org\/nashville_recovers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=183"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/nashvilleprevention.org\/nashville_recovers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nashvilleprevention.org\/nashville_recovers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nashvilleprevention.org\/nashville_recovers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nashvilleprevention.org\/nashville_recovers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}