Answer Addiction

Tag: recovery programs

  • 12-Step Program For Muslims Celebrates 30th Anniversary

    12-Step Program For Muslims Celebrates 30th Anniversary

    Millati Islami, which follows a similar format to other 12-step programs, was established in September 1989 at a mosque in Baltimore.

    Last Saturday (July 27), Millati Islami World Services—a 12-step program for Muslims—celebrated its 30th anniversary in Camden, New Jersey, home to the program’s longest-running chapter in the region.

    “Millati Islami is a fellowship of men and women, joined together on the ‘Path of Peace.’ We share our experiences, strengths, and hopes while recovering from our active addiction to mind and mood altering substances,” according to the official website of Millati Islami World Services. “We look to Allah (G-D) to guide us on Millati Islami (the Path of Peace). While recovering, we strive to be rightly guided Muslims, submitted our will and services to Allah.”

    There’s no shortage of heated debate about the role of religion in 12-step programs like Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous. Some choose to define their “higher power” as God from the Christian or Catholic religion. For those who don’t subscribe to any religion, secular meetings are available.

    However, one religious group that isn’t often discussed in the recovery realm is Muslims. The Quran advises one to avoid intoxicants like drugs and alcohol. It’s not hard to understand why there would be a stigma against Muslims who struggle with substance abuse.

    “We are a part of this society, and we suffer the good and the bad that comes with the society,” said Ameen Abdur-Rasheed. “And I believe that within the past 10 years, the stigma for Muslims of being an addict or an alcoholic is diminishing because it is so widespread in many of our families.”

    Abdur-Rasheed held recovery meetings for Muslims in West Philadelphia back in 2007, but the lack of attendance meant that he was not able to maintain the group.

    All Are Welcome

    Millati Islami, which follows a similar format to other 12-step programs, was established in September 1989 at a mosque in Baltimore, Maryland. By adapting Islamic principles to the 12 steps, Muslims are provided a program that they can relate to. Nonetheless, they make a point of welcoming all people to the program.

    “We are in the business of saving lives and that’s why we try to encourage everybody of any status in life of any faith to come,” said Stephanie Adams, who is the secretary of the Camden chapter of Millati Islami.

    Adams joined the fellowship a decade ago. “Now Millati Islami has been there for me in some hard times,” she told WHYY. “It helped me through depression, it helped me through heartbreak. The most help I received from Millati Islami was in the last four years because it teaches you that there is nothing that can ever make you go back to using.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Massachusetts Mental Health Court Serves As Alternative To Jail Time

    Massachusetts Mental Health Court Serves As Alternative To Jail Time

    The Recovery with Justice program was established by a local judge who believes jail is not always the answer.

    Nearly one-fifth of prisoners have been diagnosed with a mental health disorder. This fact has pushed one Massachusetts judge to take action. 

    Kathleen Coffey, a judge in the West Roxbury neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, is hoping to change the way these individuals receive treatment through a program called Recovery with Justice.  

    Coffey, who serves as the Specialty Courts Director for the Boston Municipal Court, created the program hoping to help those with mental health and other developmental disorders with an alternative to jail time. 

    “Many people end up in the criminal justice system because other systems have failed them and the social safety net has failed them,” Coffey told Boston 25 News. “Often times, mental illness has not been flagged, or has not been identified as a contributing factor.” 

    According to the mental health court’s official webpage, the program “is a specialized court session that helps defendants maintain stability, achieve recovery and avoid incarceration by providing intensive social services and mental health treatment.”

    Those in the program must take part in community-based treatment for at least three months and will be reviewed by a court team. In each case, a probation officer works alongside a mental health clinician to identify the needs of each individual. Based on those needs, a specific plan is created. This plan may include treatment referrals and opportunities for housing, education and employment. 

    The recipient of one such plan, Mario Torres, tells Boston 25 News that he has been in and out of jail for a total of 20 to 25 years throughout his life. He says that going to mental health court is a way of talking through his struggles, almost like therapy. 

    “Judge Coffey is pretty understanding about my addiction,” Torres said. “I had a drug problem in my past… constantly into trouble and getting arrested.” 

    “I look back and I have thrown my life out the window,” he added.

    Torres hopes that being a part of Recovery with Justice will help him get his life on track for good.

    “I want to be a productive member to society,” Torres said.

    Throughout Massachusetts, Boston 25 News reports, there are currently seven mental health courts. At the one in West Roxbury, more than 200 people have been admitted.

    “We are keeping good people out of jail and within the community, recognizing that is what the court system is supposed to do,” Coffey said. “We are supposed to be here to help people.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Sober Cleveland Police Officer Gives Back To Local Recovery Community

    Sober Cleveland Police Officer Gives Back To Local Recovery Community

    After a lengthy battle with alcoholism, a Cleveland detective got sober and inspired those around him to change their lives.

    Today, Cleveland police detective Chris Gibbons puts the bad guys in jail cells, but in 1992 he was on the other side of the law, sitting in a jail cell soaking wet and shivering after being brought in for public intoxication. After seven years of battling alcoholism, Gibbons had hit rock bottom. 

    “How did the son of a policeman end up here?” Gibbons said to News 5 Cleveland. 

    After that night, Gibbons was determined to turn his life around. He became a police officer just like his father and grandfather had been. And he inspired his sister, Erin Becker, to start her own path to sobriety. 

    “Most of my struggle was internal,” Becker said. “I just got to a point of hopelessness.”

    Gibbons has been sober for 26 years and Becker has been in recovery for 17 years. Now, the siblings run a sober house together, helping women start their lives in recovery. Becker co-founded the Edna House, which has grown over the years, helping woman with limited means get sober. 

    “It started with three women. Now we have 40 women,” Becker said. “The women that come in, they see that the people that are here helping them, the staff, the woman that runs the program, we’re all in recovery. That catches their attention. Nothing is asked of them here. When they come to Edna and the only thing that is asked is, ‘Do you have a willingness to work on your own recovery?’ They know something is different.”

    Gibbons is on the board of directors for Edna House and volunteers with men’s recovery programs though the area. He enjoys seeing the transformation of the 300 women who have graduated from Edna House.

    “They’re almost unrecognizable when they’re done. They look so much better. They feel so much better,” Gibbons said. “You can actually see the happiness and the glow on their face whereas when they came in they were totally broken.”

    In addition, Gibbons serves on the Cleveland Police Department’s Employee Assistance Unit, which helps officers navigate traumatic and stressful situations.

    “It gives you a little credibility,” Gibbons said. “When I approach an officer or someone in the community who is struggling with it, I can say I’ve been there and I have a good life today because of my decision not to drink.”

    Gibbons has prompted other law enforcement officials to become involved in the recovery community and sponsor events. Some of the people in recovery have even followed Gibbons’ footsteps and started a law enforcement career. 

    “Several dispatchers who actually went through this house are sober to this day because of their involvement here,” Becker said. 

    View the original article at thefix.com