Recovering addicts hoping to spread a positive message
EVENT TODAY TO CELEBRATE THE JOURNEY
Today’s Celebrate U festival at Henderson Lake hopes to spread a positive message and celebrate the recovery journey of individuals in the city who have set their lives on a better course after coming through addiction treatment and counselling.
“Celebrate U is a celebration of everyone’s individual recovery,” says spokesperson Chris Dupuis. “This is recovering addicts and alcoholics coming together to celebrate their own journey of recovery, and all the trials and tribulations someone in recovery goes through every day. A lot of social media out there is always focusing on the negative, and what we want to say is there is a really healthy, thriving recovery community in Lethbridge. That’s why it is Celebrate U, because recovery works.”
Dupuis is now employed as a recovery and addictions coach in Lethbridge, but 12 years ago he was a hardcore crackcocaine addict who finally hit bottom after 22 years of using.
“I hit a bottom. My family didn’t want anything to do with me. Friends didn’t want anything to do with me anymore. My wife, girlfriend at the time, had enough and gave me an ultimatum — ‘Like what’s it going to be? I can’t watch you doing this anymore because you are killing yourself. You’ve got to make up your mind— is it me or dope?’ Her not giving up on me, it was huge.”
“People talk about tough love, and I needed that kick in the butt to step up to make that change. It was her statement right there, and that decision — if I lost her I knew that was everything, and I would be dead. Guaranteed.”
Dupuis says he is a living testament to the idea that anyone can change if they have the right people in their lives and right services available when they are ready to seek treatment. When he hears statements on social media like, ‘Let them die,’ or those who say trying to help addicts is a waste of time— he feels those kinds of statements say more about the person saying them than anything else.
“What I would to say to people like that is: ‘Educate yourselves. Learn.’”
Fortunately, there will be an opportunity to do just that at Celebrate U, he says.
“There is hope, for sure,” says Dupuis. “Addiction isn’t the end of the road. There’s more to life once you kick your addiction. We just have to keep giving people hope their lives can change, and try to plant the seed. That’s what this event is all about. I would also encourage people to come out if they have questions about recovery and addiction, and to ask those questions. It’s not going to be a place for debate, though. If people want to have a debate, they can go to the protests on Monday.”
“This is a day of celebration,” he says, “and a place for people to showcase the journeys they have gone through in their recovery.”
Celebrate U takes place between the Kinsmen and Kiwanis shelters at Henderson Lake from 1:30 p.m. until 5 p.m. The event will include music, fun activities for families and the kids, food and inspirational stories of addiction and recovery. Donations will also be collected to help support the Foothills Detox centre. The public is invited to attend.
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