By TOM RELIHAN
Recorder Staff
(Published in print: Tuesday, February 23, 2016)
GREENFIELD — Recovering from an addiction to alcohol or drugs is by no means a comfortable process. Just ask Kaitlyn John, a staff member at the RECOVER Project on Federal Street, which offers peer support for people recovering from substance abuse problems.
When she began her own journey toward recovery three and a half years ago, her body was in revolt. Coming off of an addiction to pain pills, she had problems with digestion, with sleeping, and many other symptoms — physically, mentally and spiritually.
“I wanted to have a comfort in my body, to just feel at one with my body,” John said. “It took me so long to get into recovery, to find recovery, and then to have all these internal things going on and to not feel comfortable in my own skin … that wasn’t OK with me.”
Through her involvement with the RECOVER Project, she was able to meet Leslie Chaison, a local herbalist who runs the People’s Medicine Project, a free alternative medicine clinic held on Mondays from noon to 4 p.m. in the RECOVER Project’s large back room.
The project offers alternative medicine in the form of herbalism, acupuncture, massage, homeopathy, craniosacral therapy and energy healing sessions, and John said taking part in it made all the difference in her recovery process…