‘My hopes and dreams started to come alive again.I started to have hope for us and our family .’
‘Spending time with others and hearing their stories was part of the healing process, I identified with others, I wasn’t alone, I wasn’t unique.’
Rutland Centre Gives Recovery a Voice
1st September 2018: Former clients of the Rutland Centre and families of those treated at the Centre have come together to share their stories of Recovery from addiction for this year’s Recovery Month. Recovery Month is an annual awareness campaign hosted by the Rutland Centre during the month of September.This year’s campaign entitled, ‘Give Recovery a Voice’ will go live on Saturday 1st September, 2018 at www.rutlandcentre.ie.
Recovery Month 2018 aims to break the stigma associated with addiction by providing people with the support and confidence to live their lives in Recovery. ‘Give Recovery a Voice’ is an online campaign featuring the stories of inspiring men and women who are in Recovery from addiction.They are sharing their stories to give hope and guidance to the hundreds of thousands of families and communities throughout Ireland who are affected by addiction today.
Recovery Month 2018 takes place during the Rutland Centre’s 40th year in operation.The stories that will be shared over the course of the month come from people and their families, who have been treated at the Centre in the last 40 years.
Commenting, Chief Executive of the Rutland Centre, Maebh Mullany said:‘The word ‘addiction’ is one that often has powerful, negative connotations leading to stigmatisation of people affected by addiction and their families.This, we believe, is one of the barriers which has prevented people seeking much needed treatment.However, we also know that sharing experiences is one of the most effective ways of helping people to achieve Recovery and this is our aim for the next 40 years – to ‘Give Recovery a Voice.’
Some of the stories featuring in Recovery Month 2018 include:
Róisín Sheridan started drinking in her second year in college and from there it spiralled out of control until she sought treatment in the 1980s.Commenting on her addiction and Recovery, Róisín said:
“I have no doubt my drinking was a form of self-medication.Eventually I reached a point where my drinking was seriously affecting my life to the point of paralysis and I didn’t want my life to be that way so I sought treatment.
The key factor in my Recovery was the support of my friends.It’s vital for people to have support and I would encourage family members to support their loved ones if they are genuinely remorseful and if it is possible to forgive.Recovery gave me freedom.I learnt to realise that reality wasn’t that bad, to accept myself and to ignore the judgement or perceived judgement of others.The words that best describe Recovery for me are courage, bravery, endurance, discipline and determination leading to joy pleasure, awareness and a love of life.”
Sarah whose husband was treated at the Rutland Centre in 2011 for multiple addictions including addiction to alcohol, painkillers and gambling, said: ‘Denial has to be the most powerful feeling ever.It kept me in a place where it was all darkness, lies and deceit.I know what it feels like to have lost everything – hope, love, family, money, morals, home and marriage.I have also learned how to cherish all that now.’
Speaking on her husband’s treatment, Sarah said: ‘I was finally able to see the light at the end of the tunnel. My hopes and dreams started to come alive again and I started to have hope for us and our family.’
Speaking on her treatment and subsequent Recovery, Mary said**:**‘It [treatment] was the first time in my life that I was with people who did not judge me and who understood how I felt. I began to see hope and the possibility of a different life. Spending time with others and hearing their stories was part of the healing process, I identified with others, I wasn’t alone, I wasn’t unique. Today I am 3 years clean and sober. I have grown as a person, I have self-value, self-respect and I love myself.’
Maebh Mullany said: “We are so proud of all our contributors and in particular of the women who have come forward to share their stories with us this year.We know there are hundreds of women across Ireland who are affected by addiction and who are not coming forward because of the stigma associated with drug, alcohol or gambling addiction for example.We hope Róisín’s, Sarah’s, Mary’s and all our stories will help give them hope and to know that there is life after addiction and Recovery is possible.’
Recovery Month will officially go live on Saturday 1st September 2018. All the stories will be broadcast through videos and blogs on the Rutland Centre’s Recovery Month website and social media pages during the month of September.
To listen and read their stories, visit:
Website:www.rutandcentre.ie/RecoveryMonth
Facebook:Facebook.com/RutlandCentre
Twitter:@RutlandCentre | #giverecoveryavoice.
To contact the Rutland Centre, please email info@rutlandcentre.ie or phone 01 494 6358.
For media queries contact:
Aoife O’Donnell, Account Director, Vital Communications
087 413 0032 / aoife@vitalcommunications.ie