The problem is not just increased use of stimulants and opioids, it is also a lack of recovery resources, substance use disorder treatment, and a historical mistrust of healthcare providers.
Tag: marginalized communities
Addiction and Poverty, Dignity and Friendship: An Interview with Chris Arnade
Even in harsh situations people can find dignity, and create these beautiful things. Even in the crack houses, even in the drug spots there is beauty. It’s not just all down and out.
Addiction Treatment in Hispanic Communities: How We Can Do Better
Numerous cultural norms and expectations reinforce the collective silence on substance use. Among many Latinx people who are first generation immigrants, there is a desire or expectation to be a “model minority.”
A Space for Grief and Growth: The 12th National Harm Reduction Conference
When we demand answers without a deep, authentic understanding of the problem, we wind up putting band-aids on gangrene. As I wandered into the opening plenary at the 12th National Harm Reduction Conference in New Orleans last week, something felt off. It wasn’t just the four white-robed women on stage, solemn and elegant in contrast… Continue reading A Space for Grief and Growth: The 12th National Harm Reduction Conference
Post-Kavanaugh, Women’s Self-Care Needs to Lose the Alcohol
Alcohol, when construed as the first or best line of self-care, actually renders us less effective in resisting an exploitive system that makes legal space for our bodies to be legislated, controlled, and raped. “Should we get some wine?” I asked him, pushing a bit of sweet potato around on my plate. I felt my… Continue reading Post-Kavanaugh, Women’s Self-Care Needs to Lose the Alcohol
There Was Light A Mile Deep: Interview with Poet William Brewer
Someone contacted me when the book came out, who had very recently lost a parent to heroin. She said to me, and I’ve held on to this, “The poems gave me a feeling that I had a place to go.” The West Virginian landscape exists as one of the great splendors of North America, but… Continue reading There Was Light A Mile Deep: Interview with Poet William Brewer
Microaggressions: How Subconscious Biases Affect Recovery
An example of a microaggression in the recovery universe: someone from NA asks someone who’s considering Suboxone: “Are you in denial? A drug is a drug is a drug.” No malicious intent is involved, but the fellow member is left feeling disparaged. Politics and Religion: we’re encouraged to avoid these conversations, socially. Conviction can escalate… Continue reading Microaggressions: How Subconscious Biases Affect Recovery
Embracing Pride and the LGBT+ Community in Recovery
“The sense of having two selves was the root of my addiction, especially in the beginning. It was exhausting to play a role I didn’t want.” Ten years ago, I was both terrified and ecstatic to go to my first ever LGBT Pride Parade. I knew that I was attracted to both men and women,… Continue reading Embracing Pride and the LGBT+ Community in Recovery
Lineages of Addiction: Interview with torrin a. greathouse, a Trans Poet in Recovery
“I always compare myself now to a night when I was drinking and I looked in the mirror. I saw a lie, wearing a suit and full beard, and…I tried to kill myself.” A point on a map is the product of two dimensions, the x and the y, or longitude and latitude. For example,… Continue reading Lineages of Addiction: Interview with torrin a. greathouse, a Trans Poet in Recovery