Recovery isn’t an instant fix and it’s not something we can do alone. In 34 years of recovery from substance use disorder, I’ve learned that addiction is a complex mental health issue. The best chance we have to address and treat it is to empower people and their families to help themselves. That’s how we’ll break the cycle of pain and dysfunction that ends so many lives in Nevada. 

Instead of seeing recovery as a “cure,” we can start seeing it as a continuum. Often, when a person seeks help for addiction, their family sends them to treatment thinking that the rehab center is going to fix the problem for good. In fact, it’s more like triage. Breaking the cycle of active use is important, but those life saving techniques are not the end of treatment. When the person leaves, it’s as if they’re still hooked up to an IV. One of the things that improves someone’s odds of staying healthy is preparing the family and arming them with information so they won’t get tricked into thinking the illness is gone. It’s not cured; it’s in remission.

I run family support groups for those impacted by substance use disorder in Las Vegas and we see the best outcomes in families that are educated and informed about addiction. I tell them, you can have compassion and support your loved one, but if you’re neglecting yourself, that’s a type of harm, too. The most effective recovery supports include a person’s entire network. We often say that “addiction is a family disease,” and that means that we can’t just put someone in a 30-day program and expect the problem to go away. We have to think long term, in the broadest possible terms, if we’re going to save lives.

For me, addiction is certainly a family disease. My wife and son were both affected by my addiction, and they had substance issues of their own as well. I would not have been able to support them or cope with their illness had I not been strong in my own recovery, with a community of people I could lean on. I didn’t try to tackle that challenge on my own. The prayer, meditation, fellowship, and recovery meetings I used to get through those difficult times didn’t erase the pain, but they kept me clean. I accepted help and I ended up living a life superior to anything I had imagined for myself.

Some of the recovery work I do now focuses on connecting people to their own recovery pathway. There are plenty of opportunities to learn more: after all, if you’re getting advice or information from the guy in the cell next to you, you’re probably not getting the best information. If you don’t have a sponsor or a recovery mentor, you’re sponsored by yourself, and that’s the last person you got high with. Just offering people a new perspective and an opportunity to get better can change their lives. In the pandemic, I’m seeing more deaths in our community than ever. The stakes are high.

We never have enough advocates for the people who are out there suffering. They didn’t choose to live that way, but we can choose whether or not to help improve their lives. Recovery is a movement here in Nevada. Advocates who care about cleaning up the streets and helping people get better can join a group and get with other people who are doing the work. Advocates can let people know---not just friends, but those who are less informed---about addiction and recovery. Advocates can reach out to stakeholders and let them know we have skin in the game. Advocates can hold policy makers accountable for enforcing laws that protect recovery and help people get healthy. It’s not about red or blue: it’s about life or death. 

I’ve come to believe that whatever keeps someone alive and out of the grave is the best thing for them. A continuum of care that stretches beyond inpatient treatment and detox, supports the family, and is available to everyone is critical to saving lives. People with substance use disorder deserve the same treatment opportunities that any other person with chronic illness has. We treat diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and HIV patients with dignity. It’s time to honor people in recovery, too.

Alvin Elliot is a person in long-term recovery from addiction and an advocate with the Nevada based non-profit Recovery Advocacy Project.