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SAFE COMMUNITIES NEWS

Addiction Life & Recovery

I started out just having fun with my friends drinking, smoking bud. Then things progressed slowly. I was around a lot of drug dealing and everything that comes with the really good and the really bad.

I was locked up in a court-ordered drug offender program at 15. I was arrested later at 18 with pills and pot. 2 felonies at 18. I felt like I had no choice but to live that life. I graduated and had an AA degree but I stopped the 2-year program I was doing at the hospital because I was using and selling Oxycontin seemed like better idea at the time. Obviously it wasn’t.

My addiction robbed me of a happy fulfilling life for 20 years. It took me leaving my family and having to live with people I didn’t really care for. I learned a lot about myself and why I kept doing the same destructive behavior for years. Life sucks sometimes and if you don’t react in the right way your f***ed. Its having the right tools and friends and support as well as perseverance. Without those things you will fail or be very unhappy.

I OD’d 4 times and by God’s grace I was found and brought back to life ever time. I thought opiates were my joy in heaven but they were my HELL. I will have to deal with this daily for the rest of my life.

I want to go back to school and finish up my degree to help people realize that drugs are a lie and they robbed me of a much happier better life. I’m very lucky I now have a home and, most importantly, I have a family that I almost threw away.

I would like to help anyone I can. You can have a life without drugs, its actually pretty cool.

RESOURCES

other news

Person driving in a car

Traffic Crashes Down, Fatalities Up in 2022

For Immediate Release For more information, contact: Cheryl Wittke, Executive Director, Safe Communities of Madison – Dane County,  (608) 256-6713 Traffic Crashes Down, Fatalities Up in 2022  Forty-four persons lost
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In treatment instead of in jail. Local initiative aims to help people fighting addiction

This article originally appeared on Fox47.com and can be found here. By Brady Mallory  |  Fox47 News Madison MAIDSON, Wis (Fox47) — Imagine a dinner table with an empty chair.
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Dane County Approves $750,000 Emergency Initiative to Address Opiate & Fentanyl Epidemics

From the Office of Joe Parisi, Dane County Executive, November 18, 2022 The Harm Reduction and Prevention Act, a roughly $750,000 initiative to address opiate and fentanyl related emergencies, will
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SAFE COMMUNITIES

getting involved

The partnerships built by Safe Communities have created a safer community, with more opportunities for education and awareness. We continue to envision a safer future for the people who live in Madison and Dane County, with instances of unnecessary deaths and serious injuries are infrequent, rather than a daily occurrence.

RECOVERY IS POSSIBLE

Treatment Key

Safe communities has complied a list of abbreviation definitions for finding the right treatment for you.

MAT: Medication for Addiction Treatment.
OP: Outpatient Treatment – person lives at home or in the community, attends. individual and group therapy, these can include or not include MAT.
IOP: Intensive Outpatient Treatment – person lives at home or in the community, attends individual and extended groups, 9-12 hours a week.
Residential: person lives at the facility for a period of at least 14 days, some last as many as 45 days.
PHP: Partial Hospitalization Program is a structured mental health treatment program that runs for several hours each day, three to five days per week.
DBT: Dialectical behavior therapy is a form of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) that integrates mindfulness techniques.