BRATTLEBORO — The article that Nicole Charlebois wrote a few weeks back about her struggle with addiction [“Survival: A young woman recounts her difficult journey through drug addiction and recovery,” Voices, Feb. 8] was amazing and truly inspiring.
Many people hear the words “drug addict” and they picture someone homeless on the street. We see these people every day. We walk by them on our way to work, school, home. We go on about our lives as if they do not exist.
We turn a blind eye to the world around us, with not so much as batting an eyelash. If we took the time, however, to do just that, we would realize just how far from the truth we really are.
It is a sad reality that the disease of addiction does not care whom it strikes. It does not care whom it hurts. It does not care whom it steals life from.
These are the very things addiction thrives on. Addiction needs the demise of the addict to survive.
If I were to walk down the street and happened to pass you, to all who do not know me I would probably seem like just another redheaded woman. To my fellow students at CCV, I am just another college student.
In my reality, there are more layers to me than there are in an onion.
I am currently a resident of the Phoenix House Tapestry Program. Perhaps you have heard of it?
When the initial idea of the therapeutic community was proposed, Brattleboro as a community fully supported the venture. They just didn't want it in their backyard.
This was roughly 15 years ago, and here we are as a therapeutic community, still standing and stronger than ever. In fact, the town recently approved a move to the old Linden Lodge to support our staggering growth and success as a program.
I am sure that many if not all of you have heard the old adage, “What does not kill me can only make me stronger.”
It took me more years than I care to count of being in the depths of addiction to come to terms with this adage, to find its true meaning. Yes, I believe it is a meaningful adage.
For me, however, while I need a meeting to help me maintain my sobriety, I would not be sober today if it were not for the 22 fabulous women I live with at the Tapestry Program.
And to think, Brattleboro didn't want to have the program in their backyard?
I am willing to bet if more people took a non-biased stance toward addiction and toward those of us making an effort to get clean, they might find that their own backyard needs some cleaning as well.