Saturday's rally celebrated those in recovery and sought to raise awareness of the need for community support to end long-term addiction. Current and former Mayors Jennifer Macksey, Thomas Bernard and Richard Alcombright were attending the rally.
Rebecca Dodge has been named director of the new peer recovery support center in North Adams.
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Approximately 75 people braved the wind and rain Saturday to attend the Rally for Recovery — a resource fair, speakers' forum and standout.
The goal of the annual event, previously Voices for Recovery, is to bring awareness of the struggles to overcome addiction, to celebrate those in recovery and to provide inspiration for others on the path to recovery.
"Recover out loud so people don't need to suffer in silence," said Becky, one of the recovery speakers, in sharing her story.
As another speaker, Benjie, described recovery as people getting back to their families, their children and to living their lives, there were many agreeing, nodding their heads and clapping.
"People, places and things keep me sober," he said. "North Adams keeps me sober. All the people and the peer support groups here, it's what keeps me going and striving for success."
The rally was sponsored this year by HEALing Communities North Adams and held at First Baptist Church on a date that was rescheduled because of the weather.
The "Helping to End Addiction Long-term" initiative is being undertaken by the National Institutes of Health and covers 67 communities in Kentucky, Massachusetts, New York and Ohio. Scientists from the nation's leading health agencies and four major academic institutions are partnering with these communities to test a set of interventions to combat the opioid crisis.
EcuHealth, SaVida Health (an opioid treatment center), the Brien Center and North Adams Spectrum all had representatives tabling and providing information and resources.
The rally was welcomed by Mayor Jennifer Macksey, who read a proclamation from the city recognizing Recovery Month in North Adams. The mayor noted "the power of each man and woman in recovery showcases the power each of us holds to transform ourselves, our families and our community."
She recognized two former mayors in attendance: Thomas Bernard, now president of Berkshire United Way, and Richard Alcombright. Alcombright, a member of the HEALing Communities Study, introduced several speakers who shared their own stories of recovery.
During the personal stories, the need to reduce stigma associated with addiction and recovery was brought up repeatedly. Wendy Penner, another member of North Adams HEALing Communities, responded in agreement, stating addiction must be recognized as a medical disease.
Several speakers also acknowledged the sometimes-difficult decision to take prescribed medications as part of the recovery process, comparing taking Tylenol for a headache or Tums for an upset stomach to taking the prescribed drugs necessary to treat addiction.
Recovery coach Caitlin McKinnon capped off the speakers' series with her own story of recovery and lived experience.
"My clients always say they learn a lot from me," she said. "I've learned a lot from them, too."
Several of the speakers thanked the organizations and individuals providing support. Alcombright reminded those gathered of all the people not only in the room but in the community at large who are supporting this movement of recognizing the disease of addiction and supporting recovery.
"No one has to be lonely on this journey," he said.
Another speaker, Marcus, described recovery as the best decision he ever made and asked that the community just "give us a shot and let us show our hidden talents."
He also took the opportunity to remind the attendees "the whole team ain't here. A lot of people, most of us, all of us, know somebody that passed away in active addiction."
He pointed out, no matter where each person is in their own recovery, there's always a chance to help somebody else.
A video produced by HEALing Communities, sharing more personal stories was screened as well. The videos will be shared on YouTube via the Berkshire Overdose Addiction Prevention Collaborative's channel.
The event culminated when Rebecca Dodge, founder of the Have Hope Initiative, was recognized as the newly appointed director of the North Adams Peer Recovery Support Center, opening in later this year. Data collected for the HEALing Communities study at Boston Medical Center for the past four years has now been leveraged to access funds to create the center and provide operating expenses for the next five years.
Participants then braved the wind and rain to briefly stand outside First Baptist Church with signs to raise awareness, but the elements ultimately proved too much. Bright purple and black T-shirts from the event were handed out and will be popping up throughout the community and across social media reminding everyone there is hope and there are opportunities to help.
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North Adams Council Gets Update on Youth Commission, OKs Police Grant
By Tammy Daniels iBerkshires Staff
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The revived Youth Commission is hoping to be more proactive in focusing on the needs of the city's younger population.
"Our current focuses at the moment are to reset our mission statements, from the last in statement of the Youth Mission, which was simply more of a reactive board, to when City Council needed approval and advisement on youth-related legislation," the commission's co-Chair Vane Jacobs told the councilors at their Tuesday meeting. "Our goal, coming back into the commission, is to become a proactive board with the goal to advance infrastructure and activities for the youth of North Adams and Northern Berkshire."
Jacobs, the youth co-chair, had been asked to present information on the objectives of the commission by Mayor Jennifer Macksey, who did not attend the meeting.
The long-dormant commission was resurrected last year, with its organizational meeting held in July. Jacobs was voted as the youth chair and Cody Chamberlain, a member of the School Committee, as the adult chair.
The commission was first established in 2010 and updated 2021 as a way for the city's youth to communicate with and advise the City Council and mayor. It consists of nine voting members, of which six must be between the ages of 13 and 22, and three adults. They are appointed by the mayor with approval of the council.
"We are trying our best to focus on the future, instead of staying on the past and the present," said Jacobs. "The duty of the adult members to assist the youth members on the political buzzwords and the political environment, even at such a small scale."
The commission is working on grant writing to access some opportunities and activities for the city's youth, especially during the summer months.
School choice students had made up about 25 percent of the student body at one time; that's now down to 17 percent and will fall off rapidly in the next few years.
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