By Heather Muñoz Bland, Fellowship Hall
While we are celebrating National Recovery Month, at Fellowship Hall we are highlighting another milestone as well. In December of this year, we will celebrate 55 years of providing treatment and recovery to people struggling with substance use disorder and to their families.
Fellowship Hall opened its doors in 1971 when a small group of people in recovery saw a need for a place where others could get help. As we all know, a lot has changed in the treatment field since then. We understand addiction differently. We have expanded our levels of care to accommodate varied needs. The substances themselves have changed. Fellowship Hall has grown and adjusted in order to continue providing excellent, cost-effective care for the sick and suffering.
One thing has remained the same, the pain and need of the people that walk through our doors. They may be coming to us because they are sick and tired or they may be coming to us because their family is out of ideas. They may have legal issues, work issues, or simply recognize that they cannot continue the unmanageability of active substance use.
Over the past 55 years Fellowship Hall has served more than 33,000 people. But it’s important to look beyond the numbers. Each of those people has other people connected to them. Parents, spouses, children, siblings, friends, coworkers. When one person enters recovery the impact goes beyond that individual to the family, the community, and society.
Those of us who have worked in substance use treatment for a while know that there is no typical recovery story. Some people come into treatment ready to change. Some are angry, scared, or completely unsure if they even want to be there. Some find recovery quickly. Others struggle and have to come back and try again. Recovery is not one-size-fits-all. What works for one person’s needs may be different than another. Sometimes recovery means rebuilding relationships. Sometimes it means figuring out how to manage emotions. Sometimes it means facing past trauma, returning to work, or simply learning how to make it through a day without drinking or using.
At Fellowship Hall our roots are in the 12-steps and that continues to be an important part of what we do. At the same time, we have to keep evolving. We must be willing to learn, use evidence-based clinical practices, have duly licensed clinicians, treat co-occurring issues, and respond to the complexities of what people need today. We have done a good job over the years of respecting where we came from while also recognizing we can’t provide the same treatment we provided 55 years ago.
National Recovery Month gives us an opportunity to talk about all of this. There is always difficult news surrounding addiction and there are very real challenges in our field but it’s also important that we continue to talk about the other side of addiction. People do recover. And we get to see it in our work every day.
After 55 years I am most proud of the fact that Fellowship Hall continues to be a place where people can come when they need help. The 33,000 who have passed through here are not just numbers in our history, they are the reason we exist in the first place. There are thousands of stories behind those numbers. And many of those stories are still being written.
This blog was guest written by Heather Munoz Bland, LCMHC, LCAS, CCS. Heather is the Clinical Director of Fellowship Hall Treatment Center in Greensboro, NC. She has been a part of the team there since 2015 and worked at all levels of SUD care prior. Heather is especially committed to supporting the entire family system in recovery.
