Ep. 170: Former Addicts Devote Lives to Recovery of Others
Guest: Brenda Plant, Turning Point
The fentanyl crisis in Canada, especially Vancouver, is horrific and it’s heart wrenching. The incredibly addictive opioid is killing thousands.
It’s easy to think that once on the addictive downward spiral of substance abuse, the outcome of a user's life is inevitable. It looks like a ruined, no hope continuum that ends in premature death, either from an overdose or the user wears out their body.
That’s the view from the outside, but as Colin Ross, a previous guest who took us inside his world as an addict and Hydromorphone IV patient pointed out, users can reverse the course of their lives.
It’s what Jim Ross did more than 30 years ago when he and a group of recovering substance users came together and created a safe haven where they could help one another. Jim in an interview from 10 years ago said, “Unless you’ve been to those cold, dark and lonely places, the words and support you share with an addict mean nothing. For an addict, knowing you have been where they are and you are living proof there is a way out of your addiction has a powerful and motivating effect on an user.”
Turning Point is a place that provides just that: a point to turn around lives. The society runs a three- to five-month program aimed at helping those who are running out of options.
Central to the program is community and peer support, designed to help people regain independence, reach their full potential and become contributing members of society.
Having personally been a supporter of the program for a number of years, it is remarkable to have witnessed the effect this program has on so many people.
To learn more about Turning Point, its origins, how it operates, and how it demonstrates there is hope in a sea of despair, we sat down with Brenda Plant for a Conversation That Matters.
