The value of Georgia’s addiction recovery support centers
Near the end of a recovery rally last month in Polk County — one of the 12 Northwest Georgia counties served by Highland Rivers Health — staff member Lydia Goodson dragged a backpack filled with bricks onto the small stage where earlier she and others had shared their personal stories of recovery.
The backpack, Goodson explained, represented addiction — the heavy burden an individual with active addiction often carries, a weight that can sometimes become too heavy. Each brick inside the backpack represented a barrier to living in recovery — barriers such as not having a job (or even knowing how to look for one), not being willing or able to practice self-care, lack of education, limited community connections, and the fear of judgment that comes with not having a sense of belonging.
One by one, Goodson handed the bricks to audience members, and when she was done two things had happened. First, with all the barriers to recovery removed, the backpack was so much lighter, easier to carry and able to be filled with positive things. Second, as audience members held the individual bricks, they helped disperse and distribute the weight of addiction across many helping hands — demonstrating the vital role community members play in supporting recovery in their communities. It was a powerful metaphor, and a very meaningful illustration of addiction and recovery and community.
It was also an activity Goodson thought up herself, and she should know: Lydia lived in active addition for more than 20 years. But she has also been sober and living in recovery since 2015, and today is program manager for Mosaic Place, Highland Rivers’ addiction recovery support center (ARSC).
Opened in Polk County on Oct. 1, 2018, Mosaic Place just celebrated its second anniversary, part of a rapidly growing network of ARSCs in communities across Georgia that are supported with funding from the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities.
Addiction recovery support centers fill a critical gap for individuals in recovery — between clinical substance use treatment services and living independently in recovery in their community — by providing the ongoing support of peers (people with lived experience) and connections to essential community resources. ARSCs help take on the “bricks,” those barriers to a full life in recovery such as education and employment support, life skills coaching, social activities, and most important, helping individuals in recovery feel a sense of belonging.
As an ARSC, Mosaic Place does not provide clinical services, but hosts regular 12-step meetings, recovery support groups, community service projects, family support and social activities. Last month, for example, the center hosted movie nights, bingo, art workshops and a pancake breakfast cooked onsite by Polk County first responders. All Mosaic Place activities are open to everyone and there is no cost to participate in any of the recovery groups, social events or anything else the center might host. Volunteers are welcome to present workshops, art experiences, trainings and other skill-building activities.
Since opening its doors in Cedartown just 24 months ago, Mosaic Place has served more than 3,000 unique individuals. The staff — all of whom, like Goodson, live in long-term recovery — have developed such credibility in the community that local law enforcement officers have called them at home in the middle of the night, or brought individuals in need of support directly to the facility, confident the staff will know how to help. Mosaic Place has established itself as a vital community resource, which all of Georgia’s addiction recovery support centers are. This is a positive trend for Georgia, its communities, and most of all, individuals in our state.
Congratulations to Mosaic Place for two years of outstanding service, and to all of Georgia’s ARSCs, for becoming the crucial resource individuals seeking recovery need, and the embracing communities individuals living in recovery deserve.