Arguably the most important aspect of what I do now at Northbound is continue to find new and exciting ways to raise awareness about addiction as a disease and the numerous benefits of recovery. This journey is incredibly personal to be, and I am frequently getting a chance to continue my mission to get others actively involved in reducing stigma and spreading the word about recovery.
One of the (fairly) new and exciting ways I am getting to do this is by working with Treatment Professionals and Alumni Services, or TPAS for short. I first mentioned our partnership with TPAS back in February, when we hosted a big Super Bowl party at Northbound for alumni from all different alumni programs nationwide. But even since then, TPAS and our partnership keeps going tremendously, and have met up over the past few months to make plans for future events.
The program itself, which works as a social medium for people out of rehab and in recovery to stay connected to one another for support purposes, has almost tripled in size since its start about two years ago. As we continue to hold events like the Super Bowl party for example, more treatment centers catch wind of the many ways we are keeping alumni connected and are quickly joining the movement.
Like I said before, TPAS and my participation in it is very personal. In my opinion, a 28-day stay in rehab is really just an insurance claim. The hard work comes from sticking it out through a 30, 60, or 90-day program where aftercare follows immediately. Aftercare worked for me, and TPAS supports that. Collectively, we believe in having transitional aftercare and are seeing that our efforts to raise awareness in this area of recovery are effective is truly rewarding.
The whole program is taking off, and it is exciting to see. There is no doubt that there is a stigma surrounding addiction and recovery, but with the work we are doing with TPAS, we are actively striving to reduce that stigma, and it appears to be working. As we continue with the program, we meet likeminded people who feel that participation in aftercare and alumni programs are the key to their success. It’s so cool to be part of something like TPAS, because its obvious that our message is being received and those people who need the support most are actively responding!
