Answer Addiction

Tag: celebrating recovery

  • Colton Haynes Shares Hospital Photos To Celebrate Recovery 

    Colton Haynes Shares Hospital Photos To Celebrate Recovery 

    “If ur in the middle of the dark times…I promise you it doesn’t have to last forever,” Haynes wrote on Instagram.

    Actor Colton Haynes shared photos of his hospitalization for substance use disorder to celebrate the progress he has made on his mental health and well-being. 

    His Instagram post included photos from when Haynes was hospitalized a year ago following a bender. 

    “Throwback,” wrote the actor, best known for his role in Teen Wolf. “I don’t want worrying about if I look hot or not on Instagram to be my legacy. I don’t want to skirt around the truth to please other people or to gain economic success. I have far more important things to say than what magazine I just shot for or what tv show I’m a part of (Although I’m very thankful I still get to do what I love).”

    Priorities

    Haynes said that his experience with addiction, depression and anxiety helped him define his priorities. 

    “I no longer want to project a curated life,” he wrote. “I get immense joy when someone comes up to me & says that my willingness to open up about depression, anxiety, alcoholism, & addiction has helped them in some way.”

    After being hospitalized last year following his divorce and the death of his mother, Haynes began opening up about his demons. He said in his post that the past year has been about learning to acknowledge his struggles and still live a healthy life. 

    “I’ve struggled the past year with trying to find my voice and where I fit in & that has been the most beautiful struggle I’ve ever had to go through,” Haynes wrote. 

    He realized, through that struggle, that he had a larger purpose than projecting a perfect image. 

    “Worrying about what time to post on social media so I can maximize my likes or being mad at myself that I don’t look the same way I did when I was addicted to pills is a complete waste of why I was put on this earth,” he wrote. “I’m posting these photos to let y’all in on my truth. I’m so grateful to be where I am now ( a year after these photos were taken) but man these times were dark. I’m a human being with flaws just like you.”

    Haynes ended with a positive message for anyone who is still struggling with addiction or mental illness. 

    “If ur in the middle of the dark times…I promise you it doesn’t have to last forever,” he wrote. “Love ya’ll.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Megan Rapinoe, World Cup Winner, Pays Tribute To Brother In Recovery

    Megan Rapinoe, World Cup Winner, Pays Tribute To Brother In Recovery

    Rapinoe’s brother is now 18 months sober.

    Professional soccer midfielder and newly crowned World Cup winner Megan Rapinoe gave a shoutout to her brother for his birthday during a post-win interview with Fox Soccer.

    Her brother, Brian, has struggled with addiction for much of his life to the point of experiencing legal troubles, including a total of 16 years in prison.

    “Just one thing: Happy birthday, Brian. I love you so much,” Megan said at the end of the brief interview just before blowing a kiss to the camera.

    The Road To Re-Entry

    Brian is currently spending the end of his latest prison sentence in a rehabilitation program that allows inmates with addiction disorders to spend their last 12 months working on themselves and taking classes as they prepare to re-enter society.

    Due to the fact that he is still technically serving his sentence, he could not travel to France to witness his sister’s victory in person.

    However, according to a profile by ESPN, Brian had been watching the tournament in the common room at the San Diego Male Community Reentry Program with his recovery buddies.

    “He sat on a couch in his red USA jersey, watching on a 60-inch flat-screen, and felt ‘f—ing great,’” reported Gwendolyn Oxenham. “He had accomplished a major goal for himself: to get out of prison in time to watch his kid sister play in her third World Cup.”

    Brian’s Story

    Brian’s struggles with substance use began at age 12 and his trouble with the law began at 15 when he brought meth to school. He later ran with white supremacist gangs, a not-uncommon result of being in and out of the prison system, though he now rejects and regrets that part of his past.

    Before that, Brian was the treasured big brother who taught Megan (and their sisters) how to play soccer, setting up cones in a field across from their church.

    “And it wasn’t like he drilled them. He let them do it their own way,” their mother Denise Rapinoe told ESPN. “It was just the cutest thing, and we remember it so clearly.”

    Now 18 months sober, Brian is the one looking to Megan for inspiration. At age 38, he says he has finally turned a corner and is looking for ways that he can use his experience to participate in early intervention programs for at-risk teens.

    “I want to make a difference,” he said. “I want to be like Megan.”

    Megan and Brian have kept in contact via letters and texts over the years and remain very important to each other. Two months before Megan’s latest World Cup win, they had a long talk about racial prejudice and police brutality. The soccer star is incredibly happy about her brother’s progress.

    “It would be such a shame if he left this world with nothing but prison sentences behind him,” she said. “To be able to have him out, and to play for him, and to have him healthy, with this different perspective that he has now: This is like the best thing ever.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Wendy Williams Promotes Addiction Treatment With New Billboard

    Wendy Williams Promotes Addiction Treatment With New Billboard

    Williams, who has battled cocaine addiction in the past, recently launched a campaign geared toward addiction-recovery through her nonprofit.

    Talk show host and actress Wendy Williams has launched a Times Square billboard promoting her talk show and her non-profit organization that provides grants for drug education, prevention and rehabilitation programs. 

    Williams has previously talked openly about her substance use disorder, and aims to “bring light” to the fact that addiction “doesn’t have to be your demise,” she told Page Six. 

    Williams has a history of cocaine addiction. She says that her substance abuse affected her life, even while she was successful. 

    “I lost a little over 10 years of my life regarding substance abuse, but I’m now going into Season 10 [of The Wendy Williams Show],” she said. “I’m married, I have a great career and a flourishing business … it’s not that you fall down, it’s how you rise. And if you rise, then you reach back. This is a reach back.”

    Williams has said in the past that she was able to abuse drugs while in the spotlight because she was so good at her job. 

    “I was a functioning addict though,” she said. “I would report to work on time and I walked in and all of my coworkers, and including my bosses, would know but instead of firing me, you see, I would grab my headphones and arrogantly walk into the studio and dare them to fire me because I was making ratings.”

    After her own experience with addiction and seeing her son take K2, or synthetic marijuana, Williams launched The Hunter Foundation to provide education and prevention programs. Earlier this year the foundation launched the Be Here campaign, which is focused on increasing access to treatment. 

    “We want to be here for the people who need us, and we want them to be here for the graduations, the first steps, the recitals, the laughs, the journeys and more,” the campaign’s website says. “Our goal is to support the treatment and recovery of those facing drug addiction, work towards creating lasting solutions through legislation and support innovative treatment.”

    Using statistics about the prevalence of addiction and overdose death rates, Williams’ organization insists “This is everyone’s problem.” 

    Williams hopes that by sharing her family’s experiences she can help others. 

    “I have seen addiction up-close,” she said. “As a mother, wife, daughter, and friend, I cannot stand by and do nothing while there are people struggling to overcome substance abuse. Life is too short and we need to come together to help others.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Moby, Steel Panther To Appear At Rock To Recovery Concert In September

    Moby, Steel Panther To Appear At Rock To Recovery Concert In September

    Funds from the September 15th event will go to Rock to Recovery’s nonprofit branch, which provides treatment to people in need.

    The third-annual Rock to Recovery benefit concert will take place on Saturday, September 15, at the Fonda Theatre in Hollywood, raising money for treatment and celebrating sober living. 

    “By having an event where we can all share not only our darkness, but our strength and solution, and celebrate through live music and dancing and even mosh pits, is quite a healing form of expression,” said former Korn guitarist Wes Geer, who founded Rock to Recovery, which aims to harness the healing power of music. 

    Photo courtesy of Rock to Recovery

    The concert brings together people who are newly in recovery and rock stars who have been open about their sobriety journey. Funds from the event go to Rock to Recovery’s nonprofit branch, which provides treatment to people in need. 

    “I heard recently that the opposite of addiction is connection,” Geer said. “For all the people this event supports: wounded warriors, mental health, addiction, to at-risk youth—these are all issues of feeling lost and disconnected and not having a place in the world.”

    Corey Taylor from Stone Sour receiving the Rock to Recovery award in 2017.

    At the concert, people who have felt disconnected can come together and celebrate their new lives. This is particularly important for people in early recovery, Geer said. About half of the people attending the concert will still be in treatment, he noted. 

    “Imagine being in treatment and getting to experience a sober concert with known musicians, many of whom are also in recovery,” he said. “I go back to what my mindset was when I was newly in recovery, which is once you get sober life is over and boring. These concerts prove that mindset wrong. When you come see such an elaborate event supported by so many amazing humans, that is 100% sober and 100% rad, it is absolutely magical.”

    Photo courtesy of Rock in Recovery

    The concert will be hosted by Bryan Fogel and Steel Panther will headline the event. This year Moby will receive the Rock to Recovery award.

    “Moby is an iconic megastar, who has been open about the struggles he’s faced in his own addiction and how dark and humiliating they can be,” Geer said. “When we can honor somebody like him we let people in attendance redefine what their belief of a rock star is. It can be a sober person who’s iconic, an incredible artist in an industry rife with challenges. This helps others have hope not only for a muted version of recovery life, but an absolutely stellar one!” 

    Tickets for the concert on sale now. 

    View the original article at thefix.com