by LaMara HunterKelly | Jan 11, 2016 | In The News
By CHRIS CURTIS
Recorder Staff
Thursday, January 7, 2016
(Published in print: Friday, January 8, 2016)
GREENFIELD — Looking back on seven years with the Greenfield peer-to-peer addiction recovery community and 33 years in recovery, Linda Sarage sees changes in herself, in the community and in what might be termed the philosophy of addiction.
Sarage is retiring this month after serving as executive director of the RECOVER Project for seven years. She took the job after an early retirement from the Greenfield Public Schools to take care of her dying mother, and when she was offered the job by a friend who knew she was in recovery. Sarage said she had kept her addiction and recovery private, and knew that would end if she took the post. …
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by LaMara HunterKelly | Dec 16, 2015 | In The News
GIVING BACK IN GREENFIELD!
By CHRIS CURTIS Recorder Staff
Monday, December 7, 2015
(Published in print: Tuesday, December 8, 2015)
GREENFIELD — Toys gathering dust could bring a smile to someone again, and a local group hopes they will.
The local addiction recovery group is hosting its second annual Giving Back in Greenfield toy drive, collecting new and gently used toys and books for families in need.
“I personally can remember waking up Christmas morning and for me in my house, we believed in Santa, and I woke up and my dreams were crushed because Santa didn’t come,” said organizer Heather Taylor. “No child deserves to be left behind, every child deserves to have a Christmas, have a holiday.”
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by LaMara HunterKelly | Oct 6, 2015 | In The News
By CHRIS CURTIS
Recorder Staff
Sunday, October 4, 2015
(Published in print: Monday, October 5, 2015)
“The crowd, it’s just this enthusiastic happy crowd that’s just done with being silent, they’re done with being silent about addiction … oh, the surgeon general’s on stage right now,” Linda Sarage said, from the National Mall in Washington D.C. on Sunday evening.
Sarage, director of the RECOVER Project peer-to-peer addiction recovery center in Greenfield, traveled with a group of 40 from the Greenfield community and Holyoke to join the Unite To Face Addiction rally.
Listing performers and speakers from the Goo Goo Dolls’ John Rzeznik to White House Office of National Drug Control Policy Director Michael Botticelli, and President Barack Obama by video, Sarage called the rally “historic.”
“Bill White, who is the grandfather of the recovery movement, in 1998 he wrote a piece, ‘Someday, someday we’re going to see leaders of our nation speak about drug use,’ and this is the day, today is the day, Oct. 4,” Sarage said. As national voices took the stage, attendees described a tone far removed from the rhetoric of the war on drugs.
“It’s really a historical day for addiction and recovery. No longer will we treat addiction as a criminal activity or a moral failing,” Sarage said. “I’m sorry, I’m caught up in the energy.”
Greenfield native and Amherst resident Sarah Ahern put the number of attendees at about 10,000 — not the 50,000 hoped for, but not a small crowd. Ahern said she volunteered all day setting up the event, and was headed back to the metro station an hour into the 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. rally.
“I wanted to be part of the national voice that says, ‘This is the day the silence ends, no more shame, no more stigma,’” Ahern said. She has begun an effort to bring the Gloucester Police Department’s widely-publicized Angel Initiative — an open-door policy and a promise to help drug users into treatment — to Franklin County.
“My family, we have four people in recovery, I’ve lost two cousins to the disease and I couldn’t stay silent anymore,” Ahern said.
You can reach Chris Curtis at: ccurtis@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 257
by LaMara HunterKelly | Apr 8, 2015 | In The News
Advocates for adult mental health resource centers, funded by the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health through an umbrella program, are asking supporters to contact legislators to prevent the program’s budget from being slashed in half in Gov. Charlie Baker’s proposed budget for the next fiscal year. The budget is currently before the House Ways & Means Committee, and supporters say its proposals might force the closure of resource centers created through Recovery Learning Communities.
Currently six Recovery Learning Communities share a budget of $3.4 million. The program’s funding dates to 2007, and the communities’ centers are described as offering peer-to-peer support for individuals who have had a psychiatric diagnosis or have experienced addiction or a trauma and need to access resources. The communities’ centers are designed to give immediate assistance…
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by LaMara HunterKelly | Apr 7, 2015 | In The News
Supporters of the Recovery Learning Community are in Boston today to rally and advocate at the State House against a proposed 50 percent cut to the community’s $3.4 million budget. It has been funded since 2007, through the Department of Mental Health, and the reduction is part of Gov. Charlie Baker’s proposed state budgetfor the new fiscal year.
There are six Recovery Learning Communities in the state, and they were created by the DMH to offer peer-to-peer support to individuals who have experienced a psychiatric illness, substance abuse problem or a related challenge. Each RLC operates through its own area partners to offer a variety of resources.
Advocates say their value is in the fact they offer immediate assistance without the need for a referral or intake process.
Baker’s proposed budget is said to increase, by 1.7 percent, funding for the DMH whose budget would be $12.4 million. The proposed budget is also said to include $17. 8 million, an increase of 5.1 percent, in funding to adult mental health and support services. This amount includes……
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