Pubdate: Sat, 14 Jun 2014
Source: Journal News, The (NY)
Copyright: 2014 The Gannett Company, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.lohud.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1205
Author: Marcela Rojas

Recovered opiate addicts share treatment successes

In a forum held in Garrison, former opiate addicts share their paths
to recovery to instill hope to substance abusers.

Getting arrested was a blessing for Michelle.

In 2007, she was high on heroin headed to a methadone clinic at Hudson
Valley Hospital Center in Cortlandt when some 17 motorists called the
police to alert them about her erratic driving, she recalled. It was
the third time the mother and special education teacher was caught
driving under the influence, she said.

Michelle was sentenced in Westchester County Supreme Court to five
years federal probation but because she was a Putnam resident her case
was transferred to that county's parole department. A parole violation
landed her in Putnam County Judge James Reitz's Treatment Court in
2008, an event that would change the former drug addict's reckless
path and save her life, she said.

"For the first time in my life I trusted in something greater than me.
I put my fear aside and trusted in the people that could help me and I
got honest and that's what changed my entire life," said Michelle, 38,
who asked that her last name not be used. "The one thing that I've
accomplished is that I am the person that I was born to be. I'm not a
heroin addict any longer. I'm not wasting my life in a car waiting for
a drug dealer."

Michelle described her experience at a Drug Crisis in Our Backyard
forum that drew some 75 people to St. Christopher's Inn in Garrison on
June 10. The forum, Pathways to Recovery, presented three agencies in
Putnam County and their approaches to providing treatment and hope to
those struggling with addiction, as well as individuals who have
benefited from their programs.

Reitz was among the speakers at the panel, explaining that treatment
court aims to put people on a path to recovery and not to punish. The
Putnam court was formed in 2002 and gives those facing incarceration
for drug-or alcohol-related offenses an opportunity to work with a
team of professionals to get clean and break the cycle of substance
abuse and crime.

"If you can save one person, isn't it worth it?" he said. "We are
helping people out. We are saving lives. That's all we want to do."

Opiate and heroin overdoses have claimed the lives of dozens of people
in Putnam, Westchester and Rockland counties. There have been 78
deaths in the Hudson Valley in the past year due to drug overdoses,
said Marianne Taylor-Rhoades, chief operating officer of St.
Christopher's Inn, a ministry of the Franciscan Friars of the
Atonement that among its services provides chemical dependency
treatment for men.

Christopher, of Long Island, entered the St. Christopher's program for
an addiction to painkillers, he explained at the forum, using, as did
all the speakers who were in recovery, only his first name, as is
customary in such programs. Christopher, who attended medical school
and once taught cardiology at Winthrop Hospital, had self-medicated
for years with alcohol, stimulants, barbiturates and other drugs, he
said.

"St. Christopher's gave me the tools to open up and love myself
again," he told the audience. "If I can save one life this way, this
is medicine."

Drug Crisis in our Backyard was formed by the Salomone and
Christiansen families of Mahopac and Somers who lost their sons to
heroin overdoses in 2012. The grassroots organization has been
instrumental in raising awareness about the opiate scourge gripping
the lower Hudson Valley, offering panel discussions, educational
series and training courses in the use of naloxone, a drug that
reverses an opiate overdose. The organization is now focusing on
prevention and treatment.

"Where there's life, there's hope," said Carol Christiansen.

At the forum, Beth spoke of the help she received from the Walter
Hoving Home, a residential, faith-based facility in Garrison for women
"shattered by drugs and alcohol." The home, named for the former head
of Tiffany & Co., was established in 1967 and provides adult women a
six-to 12-month recovery program.

Beth, a U.S. Air Force member who was discharged for conduct, was
addicted to opiates for five years following years of sexual abuse
from three family members, she said. She has been sober for two years
and now works in Los Angeles assisting the homeless and addicted.

"It's a struggle that gets easier," she said of her addiction. "God's
really given me a heart for people."

Today, Michelle, who has been clean for nearly five years, is a
volunteer with Putnam County Treatment Court, serving on the team that
meets each week to provide input on the participants who go before the
judge. There are 98 or so people in the program and more than 50
percent of the cases are heroin- and opiate-related, Reitz said.

Michelle, who lost her teaching license, received her training license
for substance abuse counseling and is looking for work in the field.
She was married last year and says she now has a great relationship
with her daughter, who is headed to Penn State in the fall.

"People can make it through to the other side," she said. "Being in
this (treatment court) process, people grow up and learn to be held
accountable. You don't have to be a heroin addict forever. You don't.
You can be respected in society, not be an offender and be the person
you were before."

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[sidebar]

Whom to call

For more information:

Putnam County Treatment Court, 20 County Center, Carmel;
www.nycourts.gov

St. Christopher's Inn, 21 Franciscan Way, Garrison; 1-800-424-0027;
www.stchristophersinn-graymoor.org

Walter Hoving Home, 40 Walter Hoving Road, Garrison; 845-424-3674;
www.walterhovinghome.org
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MAP posted-by: Matt