Video Documents Journey from Liberty State Park to Brooklyn Bridge and Back for Addiction Recovery Month

Supported by the Recovery Project and the A&E Network, this year's Recovery Cruise and Rally was extraordinary in a number of ways. Most obvious was the human bridge of recovery that spanned the Brooklyn Bridge and led into Manhattan. With the crowd of 5,000 and the spectacle of those many individuals acting in unison to demonstrate the strength of recovery, the Rally embodied the determined advocacy to have addiction accepted and treated as a disease. This video documents the journey including national, NYC metro and Friends of Addiction Recovery-New Jersey participants who made their way from Liberty State Park in Jersey City to the Brooklyn Bridge and back on Saturday, September 27, 2008.



See other highlights of the day

Don't Miss Day of Celebration in Essex County

This Saturday, September 13, the Essex County Chapter of Friends of Addiction Recovery will host the 2nd annual Day of Celebration for Recovery. Starting off at 11:00 am in Irvington and sponsored in part by Irvington Mayor, Wayne Smith and the Irvington Municipal Alliance, the day will full of music and fun. Join community leaders, gospel choirs, praise dancers and other musicians in Orange Park.

Talk Show Host Enlightens on Addiction Recovery

Talk show host Craig Ferguson speaks on his past problems as an alcoholic and gives a fresh perspective on recovery, handling the serious subject matter in an entertaining manner. He begins to speak about his recovery about 3 minutes into the video.

My Day in Drug Court

Photo: Superior Court Judge Paul Armstrong, who presides over the drug court in Somerset County and is chairman of the Statewide Committee of Drug Court Judges, addresses the conference of the National Association for Drug Court Professionals after New Jersey was awarded the organization’s Leadership Award. Carol Venditto, statewide drug court manager, is to the left looking on.

I had the privilege of sharing Friends information with over 100 drug court participants back in May which was Drug Court month. I traveled to Cape May and Atlantic County Drug Courts to give presentations and was afforded a captive audience before they were to stand in front of the judge. I consider the work of Friends a great honor. As the judge said after my presentation, “We need all the Friends we can get,” and he thanked me for giving the presentation. Wow, a judge thanking me? I’ve only had experience with a judge fining me and then I take the checkbook to the window to pay. My life has changed too.

I knew I wasn’t going to stand before the judge but I still felt nervous being in the courtroom. Perhaps I need to stop ‘judging.’ To my surprise the judge was pleasant and showed genuine concern toward the drug court participants. It was an experience I will cherish. Recently, New Jersey Drug Courts were honored nationally by the National Association for Drug Courts. New Jersey even has a committee of Drug Court Judges. Kudos to all the drug court workers and participants!

Client-Directed, Outcome-Informed (CDOI) Treatment Conference

The National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence-New Jersey (NCADD-NJ) serves as the lead agency of the Client-Directed, Outcome-Informed (CDOI) treatment improvement project, a New Jersey Health Initiatives award from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) to implement a state-of-the-art model of improving addiction treatment outcomes.

In continuing the effort, a one day conference is planned on Wednesday June 11, 2008 with two leaders in the addictions field, Dr. David Mee-Lee and Dr. Scott Miller. In addition New Hope Foundation staff members will also speak about engaging people in collaborative and participatory treatment.

The conference which takes place from 8:30 to 4:00 concludes with a panel discussion on how the CDOI approach has resulted in lower drop-out rates and higher-than-average success rates. Event to be held at the Crowne Plaza, 390 Forsgate Drive Jamesburg, NJ.

Download the conference brochure for agenda and registration.

For More Information:
609-689-0599 ext 7002

To register: PLEASE MAIL A COMPLETED REGISTRATION FORM and your payment to:
NCADD-NJ, 360 Corporate Boulevard, Robbinsville, NJ 08691
Attention: CDOI

Friends 2008 Retreat --Communication, education, and unity

Friends of Addiction Recovery- New Jersey (Friends) convened a two-day meeting to strengthen its five existing county chapters and explore inroads into counties that have yet to establish chapters. The retreat, which took place Feb. 8-9 in Perth Amboy, was facilitated by Dona Dmitrovic of who previously worked with the Johnson Institute in Washington, D.C., whose advocacy recruitment and engagement model has been integral to Friends since 2005.

The working group of 14 people gathered on the cold Friday night for dinner and followed that up with an inspiring opening session. Toward the end of the night, eyes were growing weary but the dialogue was alluring. It was concluded that Friends has met many objectives, but there’s still more to be accomplished through joint organizing efforts. Members of the Friends county chapters were joined by the Friends Steering Committee in an attempt to build stronger recovering communities and to work on honing advocacy skills throughout the state. Eric Arauz of North Brunswick, one of five recovery speakers at the 2007 Rally for Recovery, said the chapters held great promise for providing advocacy that was “statewide and zealous.” Among the topics the group explored was Advocacy with Anonymity, a critical hurdle in building an addictions issues constituency. The debate over anonymity has been a thorn in the side of the addictions issues advocacy effort for years as members of 12-Step groups hold the traditions sacrosanct.

Essex County Chapter Member Kevin Bullock said what he wanted from the meeting was a clear and strategic approach for the Friends chapters. He said that “uniformity of language” by the RCO’s was important to their advocacy work. Consistent use of language has been the focus of other advocacy trainings conducted by Faces and Voices of Recovery and Join Together.

The working group also agreed that Friends has capable and power-filled volunteers and that these dynamic people should be dubbed ‘recovery ambassadors’ because the word ‘volunteers’ just doesn’t do justice to their efforts. “Increased visibility,” was the goal Friends Community Organizer Jeanette Grimes said was needed for the recovery community. Grimes said there needed to be periodic assessments of chapters to determine their progress in making themselves known to the community at large.

Other Recovery advocates who took part in the retreat had this to say:

“The passionate enthusiasm of everyone who attended helps to strengthen my recovery advocacy work.”
Judy Fuqua, Friends Steering Committee Member

“This organization can really make a huge difference in a lot of people’s lives. Lifting the stigma of addiction will help so many people in so many ways. I am clearer about what our mission is and hope that we can find a way to spread the message and educate a lot of people.”
Cindi Caponegro, Union County Chapter

“We’re all on the same track—end stigma, strengthen treatment and recovery and unity of both for client and family.”
Pat Craven, Burlington County Chapter

“I have a better scope on how I can get training, as well as more information that I can pass on to others.”
Katherine Woodley, Union County Chapter

“The understanding and direction from other county chapters will help to advocate in our chapter as well.”
Cynthia Bullock, Essex County Chapter

“Knowing that a chapter is going to be started in the southern part of the state helps my recovery by being able to be with people who are also in recovery.”
Patricia Dennis, Friends Steering Committee Co-Chair

“There’s hope for recovery communities when we harness the energy, organize and stay within guidelines.”
Lisa Gladwell, Friends Steering Committee Co-Chair

“The sharing is so important. Sometimes it seems like recovery is a big secret. Just being with people who are willing to work for this goal is so encouraging. Personal stories are so empowering because you know it is possible.”
Bob Craven, Burlington County Chapter

Recovery Voices Count

Faces and Voices of Recovery recently launched their Recovery Voices Count campaign to educate the public about the myriad of ways that they can get involved in nonpartisan civic engagement activities so that their voices can be heard in the local, state and national arenas. Recovery community organizations and recovery advocates across the country are conducting voter registration and Get-Out-the-Vote activities, sponsoring candidate forums and getting candidates for political office on record about critical policies that will make recovery a reality for even more Americans.

With that in mind, along with a number of excellent materials, Faces and Voices of Recovery is also hosting one hour phone-in Recovery Advocacy teleconferences. The topic of the first teleconference/webinar in the 2008 series supports the Recovery Voices Count campaign. In this webinar, experts in the field talk about how you can get involved in the Recovery Voices Count campaign. Pat Taylor, Executive Director of Faces and Voices of Recovery introduces the campaign, Tom Coderre, National Field Director of Faces and Voices of Recovery gives an overview of why you should get more civically engaged, Gwen Henderson, Women in New Recovery speaks about voter registration success at her organization, NCADD-NJ’s Lori McDaniel discussed building relationships and the process of educating the public, candidates and elected officials about drug and alcohol addiction issues and sound public policies, and Jeff Blodgett, Wellstone Action spoke about how to organize and mobilize a successful Get-out-the-Vote campaign.

Take a look at the informative materials
Download the Guide to Civic Engagement
Listen to the teleconference
Download the Recovery Voices Count PowerPoint presentation
Find out more about the Campaign
Go to NCADD-NJ's Election Guide