“Her hope gave light and helped her to believe in a good thing. The sparkle of hope showed her a path to recovery with a willingness to trust and be vulnerable.  Her hope gave her the drive to overcome the impossible. Her hope couldn't see into the future. But her hope helped her believe in something.  To know something good can happen. To believe in the possibility of recovery.   Recovery was something she didn't know or understand, but she trusted her fellow and followed guidance. Its kinda like justice. Justice is blind. She cant see.  But she trusts her scale “ - E. Goldner   Justice trusts the weight on the scales. She doesn't look. She believes the gravity of justice will carry more weight.   In recovery, we measure how vulnerable people are willing to be. These fellow share their stories of hope, which inspire belief in “something”.  They share the soul   We can’t measure hope, but in a way, we can.   Hope guides us to the light. We must Follow the light. Hope inspires us to take risks for good reasons and gain healthy covery as a result. “Sometimes quickly. Sometimes slowly. It will materialize if we work for it.” - A A   Recovery is a soul seeking process to dig deep and find something to believe in or choose to do nothing and feel discontented a miserable. No thanks!  I want to believe and have a chance at a joyful life.   So please, you gotta believe in something. Hope is something that can be so small as a grain of sand, but its brightness is infinite. We will come to rely on this hope, remembering how very small it seemed. Remembering this is powerful and nurtures us to believe in something greater which give us freedom and inspires us to help others    Focus on what matters.  Chaos doesn't serve us anymore   God bless you and your personal recovery journey.     #NEVERGIVEUP   #HopeStreetJourneys

So often I attend public meetings involving discussion about me and my fellow Delawareans healthcare.  This is because addiction is just one small piece of healthcare as a whole. I am tired of addiction being looked at as the elephant in the room, and treated as though addiction has something to do with a lower intelligence score. People must identify their own story, not the girl from up the street.  How do you identify? What does your recovery look like? When I sit in a room with professional clinical providers,  I feel much more at ease than when I  am sitting in a room with self-proclaimed advocates that are obsessed with getting their hands on the data, yet can not seem to connect with the human beings behind the numbers. This shows great concern and lack of professionalism on a public level.  Have these people been trained who want to get a hold of the personal information or do they have a side agenda called Mr. Pharm.  Whether we think it or not, many people who are advocating and saying that they care about people with addiction are actually funded by the same groups causing the problem.  Be wary of the sad stories.  We all have sad stories and many have yet to be brought to light.  I was inspired to write today because I just left a pretty hopeful meeting..  The members sitting around the table were not concerned about press or ego.  They were more concerned with the on-the-ground work and how they can gear up to give the toolkit needed to be a catalyst for change.    The members were most concerned about equity, cultural competency and Care for LGBTQ communities.  Ahhhh...  A breath of fresh air.  People not fearing to speak up in a firm sophisticated way.  These are the people I want setting the foundation and building the pillars to recovery.  This is only the beginning, but  appreciate honesty and good governance.   When will we be able to discuss the disparity and our teenagers suffering with lack of adult guidance which leads them to addiction? It will not be A high school, but it will be ALL high schools that start to implement Compassionate Care practices in our hardest to reach kids and their schools.  I want you to know that sometimes the hardest to reach kid is the most talented, the most hard working, the most loving and just as equally worthy of the services Delaware has to provide.    Cultivate the leadership through the streets.  Call them Hope. CALL ON THEM.   Do not disregard because you do not understand or because of fear of what your peers will think of you. Your action may lead to the solution to the problems we face in our communities.   Thank you to the Mental Health Association for sticking by the recovery community no matter what and setting a precedent on what treating people with dignity and respect looks like.  SHOW PEOPLE THE WAY, show them there is hope.  Break it down.  MAP IT OUT.  Create a blueprint to recovery using the resources that are located in local communities of change.  Centralize the help so people can access that help.  Scenario: If you couldn’t walk more than a block, how can the services 5 blocks away help you? How can the special interest group really be invested and empathetic if it does not live in your community or ever come to visit? SHARE A MEAL WITH A TEEN.  Better yet, make a meal with a teen. Imagine that. I ask these questions because I literally see the disconnection.   When I hear people speaking of a community I care deeply about and how they have the solutions, yet they would never dare step foot in that area after 5pm.  I become frustrated, sad and disheartened.  It hurts.  I know I Do not have the solution to addiction or the gross blight we are facing, but I do know our teens and our families especially moms, NEED HOPE. Hope doesn’t come perfectly packaged. Hope just comes.  Hope is just always there.  We have to look for her.  We have to fight for her.  We have to respond to her call for drastic change.   Hope is something a teen can connect with.  Hope is something a Veteran can connect with.  Hope is something a person with addiction can believe in.   Hope needs a place for people to come and know they will not be judged or disciminated against if they ask for help. Break it down to the hope. It’s just a small parcel that can light up the darkest of places. You may feel hopeless, like this fight is over and just want to give up, but, I Urge you to fight for hope.   Hope is in the board room when you make decisions and she is sitting with the pregnant girl who has no one to coach her through the fear of becoming a mother. Hope doesn’t have extravagant lifestyles or lots of Gold.  Hope has a heart that can never be sold.  Some things you just can't put a price on, they are way more expensive than gold.  When I break it down and try to map it out, I see potential but, I Also see great need for human capital to go in and help.  I heard a call.  The call is undeniable once you hear it.  When you are given a second chance to breath again, you do not take that lightly and  I know with my self I  feel a duty to give back to the meek because I am the meek.  Addiction in our families is no joke and can not always have precise predictions and a perfect bow tie. What everyone needs to understand is that one person can make a dent in the scourge of addiction.  Now, imagine if 30 people were trying to put a dent in the scourge. They work together to bring hope to people and families with addiction.  The create a master plan together.  This master plan can only be approved if they work together. GET THE STAMP OF HOPE. WHAT DO YOU NEED? You do not need much.   Maybe a heart, a brain, some courage, a pencil and a few sheets of paper. Just be there for someone, that might be the hope they need to jump start their brain to try recovery.  Erin Goldner #YouAreNotAlone #NEVERGIVEUP

Follow the yellow brick road. The Munchkins told Dorothy to follow the yellow brick road and then broke out into song about it.  But the Munchkins could only help guide her to the end of Munchkinland and then she was on her own.  I find myself breaking out into song often and lately singing this very song. FOLLOW THE YELLOW BRICK ROAD. 

WHY?

Why am  singing this song to myself? The subconscious is a wonderfully mysterious thing.  Maybe my mind is trying to tell me something or help me feel better. Follow the yellow brick road.  That’s it?! Just like Dorothy, I ask “where does it lead?” I just want to be home.  “This is way to complicated and there are too many unanswered questions.” I Say to myself. But for some reason, I listen and press on because maybe  do believe it leads to the Emerald City or it leads to Hope.  I I Come across different individuals throughout my journey.  Individuals that think they are missing things that have been there the whole time, they just needed someone to help them and show them where it is.

The Lion that needed courage, though he had the courage the whole time. The Tinman that didn’t have a heart actually had the biggest heart and the scarecrow that had no brain solved the hardest problem. All came to find they had the missing treasures all along, only with the help of Dorothy and her love, tolerance and patience did they realize the truth.

Dorothy was fearless but still was scared at times.  She had to pull these very different and adverse characters together to conquer the wicked witch and get to the Emerald City. 

Ok. Yes  compare myself to Dorothy because it is sometimes the only way  can make sense of our government, social issues and my motivations for continuing to try in such hopeless times a.  When everyone else has turned in the towel, I continue on a dark less traveled path because  believe it will lead to promise. 

There are times when there are no peers at my side,  must choose to move forward with only the yellow brick road guiding me.  I must trust that the road will guide me to the Emerald City.  

 Believe in recovery,  have been given many given.  One is my faith and trust in God. Two, is brains. The stigma on addiction and alcoholism is still so strong that, at times,  am only looked at as “an addict”.  Like the scarecrow,  believed those lies. People believed  was worthless, so I lived in fear the the lion, believing  had no courage and People looking at me as though all I am is an addict.  Addicts, alcoholics, “crazy people” and “junkies” have hearts and many times they have bigger hearts then they can deal with.  Sometimes the people with the biggest hearts are the most at risk for addiction because the empathy level iOS higher than most.

Ok.  What do  need you do to? I need you to follow your yellow brick road and do not let anyone or “wicked witch” stop you from moving forward in hopes of reaching the Emerald City.  Hope is the most important thing when it comes to the unknown.  Ther argument is “How can you argue with hope?” 

Come to a public meeting or read an article from our congress on the opioid crisis. Is our government instilling fear like the Wicked Witch or instilling courage as Dorothy would do?

Dorothy didn’t know these individuals she helped from a lick of paint, but she had principles that guided her and showed her how to treat human beings no matter what they look like or how scary they could be.  

I am someone who must continue seeking and the more seek, the more I find and the less I really know. I do know we could use the Wizard of Oz or say the Governor to come out from behind the curtain and assure the people or “the Munchkins” that he will do the right thing for the people with addiction and bring better care and treatment. 

Whatever it is you do on your journey, whether it be science math social work politics childcare accounting, please treat people with addiction with esteem and respect. You never know what gifts they truly have.  Second chances are priceless and maybe a founding principle. 

Keep following the Yellow Brick Road, Help people along the way and have the courage to face the unknown.

After all, someone has a got to do it. Peer advocacy is a noble adventure that not everyone is built to do. But are you? Are you willing to sail the uncharted waters so others can have a more clear road map to get to the Yellow Brick Road? 

#BeBold #HavePatienceandBeKind #HopeStreetDE #YellowBrickRoad