Changing the Conversation

Recovery outcomes are valued goals of services throughout the nation. Relationships that empower and encourage choice and self-direction are hallmarks of all activities that support recovery. 

It is a beautiful Sunday morning. A friendly visitor is coming to my house today. She is a young person studying at a university in Boston. I am looking forward to our meeting. She is just starting out in life. I am in the older stages of life. When we are having coffee, I realize we are speaking the same language. The generation gap is not evident in our communications. She reminds me to be energetic and hopeful. She makes me laugh. She is a bright spot in my day. I trail off in my thinking…I wish I had family and children in my life. I am alone most of the time. I actually like my company, but occasionally I lament that along the path to recovery I did not construct my own family. I realize the importance of relationships and quality of life in promoting recovery.

Trigger Warning: Trauma re-enactment

I am 65 years old and a trauma survivor. When I entered therapy, I was labeled as having an adolescent adjustment reaction. Years later, the mental health label was changed repeatedly—from schizoaffective disorder to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and major depression and then later to dissociative identity disorder, paranoia, and bipolar disorder. It was clear to me that my trauma symptoms determined the diagnosis. I wanted a cure and a reduction of my symptoms, instead of a variety of methods to merely manage them.

My commitment to making therapy work was matched by the efforts of my therapist. She is a learner spirit and as tenacious as I am. Even so, it has taken a lifetime to arrive at an enduring sense of safety and freedom from the daily derailing of my consciousness by the intrusion of trauma memory content. Therapy changed as new knowledge of the impact of trauma emerged. I wondered if there was a way to combine therapies to improve the quality of my life and speed recovery.

More than two years ago I detoxed out of a medication assisted treatment program after 15 years on methadone. Methadone helped me stabilize my life after a 20 year run with street opioids and just about every other “recreational” drug that was available. Over the time I was in the program, I enjoyed a very robust recovery.

When I withdrew from methadone, I experienced--and continue to experience--a recovery within a recovery. The last two years have provided me with some insight into trauma, recovery, and ways of learning to cope with the events in my past that would have triggered me back into substance use. (Read more about Steven's experiences with trauma and recovery.)

Motivational Interviewing (MI) is a “collaborative conversation style for strengthening a person’s own motivation and commitment to change.” With growing recognition of the benefits of using MI in health and human services, organizations are increasingly sponsoring staff training. Typically, these trainings are one-time events lasting between a half-day and two days. After the training is completed, it is not uncommon for participants to state that they use MI in their program.