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Voices For Recovery

Maureen Lyn Bernard, LMSW | Special to the Jewish News

J

ustin is a 20-year-old observant
Jewish male who looks forward
to Shabbos every week, yet as the
sun begins to set on Fridays, his anxiety
begins to rise as he closes his laptop and
turns off his smartphone.
Mara is in her late-40s and has packed
up the last of her three children for col-
lege. She wanders around the house,
looking at the clock as she debates push-
ing cocktail hour earlier and earlier.
Sam and his wife, Sarah, keep a kosher
home, observe the holidays, send their
five children to Jewish day schools and
have installed in them a sense of Jewish
values and respect. They are feeling fran-
tic after a bag of marijuana tumbled out
of their middle daughter’s backpack; she
doesn’t believe it is a big deal.
Judith hangs out with her sorority
sisters in college between classes and
studying. The more they talk about
dating boys and teasing her about her
lack of interest in dating, the more beer
she drinks to stop the questions inside
herself.
Benjamin has returned from his
(hopefully) last tour of duty, and can’t
settle in to the daily routine of being
back home. Between his back pain and
nightmares, he can’t sleep. He flies into
rages over seemingly nothing, then slips
into melancholy, mumbling about feeling
useless and how no one would miss him
if he was gone. An old friend is encour-
aging him to supplement his prescribed
pain medication with heroin. Benjamin
is thinking that might be helpful.
All of these people have one thing
in common (other than being Jewish)

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118 September 29 • 2016

— they all need some help, but aren’t
getting it.
September is National Recovery
Month, an initiative that strives to:
• promote the message that recovery
from mental illness and addiction is
possible
• celebrate those in recovery, as well
as the contributions of treatment and
service providers
• promote the societal benefits of pre-
vention, treatment and recovery
This year, the theme of National
Recovery Month is “Join the Voices for
Recovery: Our Families, Our Stories,
Our Recovery!” And it focused on four
different populations: military and vet-
erans, the LGBTQ community, victims
of trauma, and family members of those
with mental illness and/or addiction.
The theme highlights the value of family
support throughout recovery and invites
individuals in recovery and their family
members to share their personal stories
and successes in order to encourage oth-
ers.
But what does the word “recovery”
mean? Recovery is defined as “a process
of change through which individuals
improve their health and wellness, live a
self-directed life and strive to reach their
full potential.”
The four key aspects of recovery are
health, home, purpose and community.
These aspects highlight how the indi-
vidual’s behavioral health is essential to
not only their own overall health, but
also how it reverberates throughout
their home and into their community.
Recovery is holistic in that it encompass-