by Charlene Lupie
When hearing the word “recovery”, what do you think of? Recovering addicts? Recovering alcoholics? The definition of “recovery”, according to Cambridge Dictionary, means “the process of becoming successful or normal again after problems.” And in MY opinion, recovery is beautiful.
In the process of recovery, you find the root of your problems and find ways to better yourself. Pinpointing traumatic experiences and what led to addiction will help understand why so many of us fall into addiction and it can start with a wide variety of childhood experiences.
There are five (5) widely recognized risk factors on why we become addicted.
1. Genes: Play a significant role; having parents with alcoholism makes you four (4) times more likely than other children to become alcoholics.
2. Mental Illness: Those who suffer from mental disorders such as anxiety, depression, or mood illnesses.
3. Early Use of Drugs: The earlier a person begins to use drugs, the more likely it is to progress into serious drug abuse.
4. Social Environment: An environment where alcohol and other drugs are used.
5. Childhood Trauma: Abuse or neglect in children, persistent conflict in the family, sexual abuse, and other traumatic childhood experiences.
Like many others, I’ve experienced childhood trauma from being sexually abused, and I find that that is where it all started. Being able to talk about that, and not only that, a variety of other traumatic experiences, I was able to heal just a little and let go of what hurt me.
The focus I want to talk about in this article is childhood trauma, and trust me, we’ve all been there, wanting our story to be heard and have others understand us more without being judged, talked down on, belittled or made fun of.
We may have been caressed and groped at young ages by men in our families, been drugged and raped, had a little too much to drink and got raped by others that made us feel so unworthy, disgusting, used, hopeless, but it wasn’t our fault. What happened doesn’t define who we are.
Speaking about it in an environment that feels peaceful and around others who you grow to trust lightens you. Speaking of sexual abuse, we’ve all been there. Wondering where we went wrong to deserve that, and going through life wondering what is wrong with us. Our children don’t need that, and as parents, we need to speak to them about good touch and bad touch. We want to prevent that type of abuse from happening, and even after it happened, there are sources we can go to for help to heal.
We live with guilt through so many years not realizing that we aren’t the only ones who have been through something similar. There are many other women and men in life who experienced all that, but they come out strong and courageous.
Turning to drugs and alcohol to mask that pain, blind those memories, numb the feeling won’t make the situation any better. The more drugs and alcohol are used, the worse our problems become. Using drugs and alcohol at an early age progresses over time and leads us down a path that we were never meant to be in. Our community has fallen into a pit of drug and alcohol use and it hurts us.
We love and care for our youth, as much as we care about the parents. And as parents, it’s our job to make sure that our children don’t follow the same path we have been walking on. They don’t need to be in environments where drugs and alcohol are used.
Bottling all that hurt up over many years, those memories stick with us and creates something rotten in us, and again, in my own opinion, that’s where the ugliness comes from. And as Natives, that’s not who we are. Looking back on how we grew up, our generation, we had lives where we would all come together for basketball, Anty-Anty Over, Red Rover, Bat, and a variety of other sports where we would laugh and have so much fun together.
We are strong, resilient, beautiful, and powerful. To find that beautiful path, we need a few brave and courageous souls to step up and open that gate to recovery and healing. And the safest environments to be in are around those we trust, love, care, and support. Those who understand why we are the way we are and still love the person we’ve shown to be after letting all that hurt out.
For Goodnews, our support lies in the Goodnews Bay Wellness Center. There are support groups for women on Tuesday’s at 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm, support groups for men on Wednesday’s at 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm, and for both women and men on Thursday’s at 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm. It may be a small step, but that step will soon lead to a leap and that’s where it starts.
And not only that, but there is also a Youth to Work program for youth ages 12 to 19, but we are in the process of planning everything out, along with the location of the youth center. So, there will be a place for everyone and activities for all. We want the community to heal and would like to invite those who are willing to recover to join us on this journey.
Charlene Lupie is from Goodnews Bay, Alaska.
