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Reintegration Support NetworkFor Recovering Youth

Facilitated Structure and Communication for a Sober Reentry

Handbook For Recovering Youth

An Initiative of the Matt McQuiston Memorial Fund

Reintegration Support NetworkFor Recovering Youth

Facilitated Structure and Communication for a Sober Reentry

Handbook For Recovering Youth

Handbook for Recovering Youth

Charron Andrews, MSWilliam Andrews, PhDLacy Bienkowski, MA*Dirk Cotton, MBADavid Crispell, MDiv Roxanne Ellington, LCAS‡Virginia Guerra, RNMarty Harding*

Scott JenningsLinda King*Janis Kupersmidt, PhD**Jeanine Leonard, MDiv*Chris McQuiston, PhDDan McQuistonThomas McQuiston, DrPHTim McQuiston

Jackie ReidGary Sauls, LCAS‡Paul Savory, MD††Jenny Shultz, MDiv†Jim Steinhagen, MA*Robert VeederColin Wahl, MBAVictor Zinn, PhD

Contacts and ContributorsRSN Offices 2506 Charlock Court, Chapel Hill, NC 27514

Tom McQuiston, DrPH, Founder/Director RSN 919.260.7835 | [email protected]

Paul Sullivan, Volunteer Coordinator/Liaison 704. 685.1575 | [email protected]

For a more complete listing of local resources and information on those resources, please see the RSN Resource Guide.

Contributors to the development of this manual:

* Hazelden current of former staff (does not denote individual or organizational endorsement, but merely recognizes individual’s contributions)

†Associate Pastor for Youth and Young Adult Ministries, United Church of Chapel Hill (does not denote individual or organizational endorsement, but merely recognizes individual’s contributions)

‡ Duke Department of Pediatrics, Child Development and Behavioral Health (does not denote individual or organizational endorsement, but merely recognizes individual’s contributions)

** iRT President and Senior Research Scientist (does not denote individual or organizational endorsement, but merely recognizes individual’s contributions)

†† NC Division of MH/DD/SAS (does not denote individual or organizational endorsement, but merely recognizes individual’s contributions)


Emergency ContactsFor emergencies call 911

Chapel Hill Police Crisis Unit 919.968.2806

Orange County Sheriff 919.942.6300

Facility-Based Crisis and Detox run by Freedom House Recovery Center

919.967.8844

UNC Hospital Emergency 919.966.4131


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Table of ContentsINTRODUCTION 6

ADDiCTiON: A DiFFERENT KiND OF DiSEASE 7

WHERE THE REINTEGRATION SUPPORT NETWORK COMES IN 9

RSN – A HOLISTIC MODEL 11

YOUR ROLE 12

ROLE OF THE PARENTS OR GUARDiANS 13

THE RSN PARTNER 14

RECOVERY GROUPS 14

ONGOiNG TREATMENT AND THERAPY 15

PHYSiCAL AND MENTAL HEALTH CARE 16

FAMiLY, FRiENDS AND OTHER RELATiONSHiPS 16

SPiRiTUAL, RELiGiOUS, OR BELiEF GROUPS 21

EDUCATiON AND VOCATiON 21

RECREATiON, PLAY, CREATiVE EXPRESSiON AND

COMMUNiTY iNVOLVEMENT 22

LEGAL AUTHORiTiES 23

REiNTEGRATiON MODEL 24

TESTIMONIAL

STORY OF MATT McQUiSTON AND RSN 25

CONCLUSIONS 27

ENDNOTES 28


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introductionis RSN for you? if you are (or someone you know is) in treatment to deal with addiction, the Reintegration Support Network (RSN) may be for you. The same is true if you recently got out of treatment. From here on out we will speak to you in this handbook as if you are in one of these two circumstances.

RSN is a non-profit organization set up to help you as you return home following intensive, live-in treatment. When you return home there are many hurdles you must overcome to reintegrate into your community. RSN is designed to help you navigate these hurdles with the help of your family, friends and the community.

The hurdles you face might include relating to the legal and education systems. Social relations may be complicated by stigma or any wounds caused by the consequences of addiction. Our goal for you is to progress beyond a time of sobriety to a life of sobriety.

RSN aims to fulfill its mission by providing you and your primary caregivers with a trained advocate or partner. This RSN Partner will act as a liaison between you, your family, and all the different spheres, persons, and agencies involved in reintegration. While RSN and RSN workers are not necessarily medical professionals or counselors, they are caring people trained to find you the necessary help on the road to long-term sobriety. Their primary function is to promote healthy and supportive communication.

How RSN is designed. The Reintegration Support Network is designed to serve minors (primarily under 18) who are returning home to their families. However, many of our resources can be used for adult recovery as well. if the RSN does not seem like the process for you or your family because of your age or any other reason, please do not hesitate to use the RSN Resource Guide to find contact information for others who can help. You can contact RSN and ask us to help you connect to other rehabilitation and recovery resources.


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Addiction: A Different Kind of Disease

Addiction requires an integrated network of people to recognize their roles in your recovery. Many people do not understand that they can help or hinder you on your way to recovery. They don’t understand some of the nuances of the disease. The RSN model for reintegration is a holistic approach. it is built on the idea that you will need support from several key areas of your life. it is also built on the idea that these areas should be integrated into a system that constitutes a healthy lifestyle – not just for those who experience addiction, but for anyone. The RSN views these basic elements through the prism of what you need to be healthy.

What is the nature of addiction? Why did drugs or alcohol hook you? How do they affect you? Why are some people able to engage in casual use with limited negative effects? Addiction is a disease, but not everyone suffers from it.

Let’s look at that claim. When medical professionals say “addiction is a disease,” what does that mean? Diabetes is a disease, but it does not seem to people to lie or steal. Diabetes doesn’t cause people to change the way addiction can. So, is diabetes a physical disease, and addiction a moral one? No, both diseases are physical, but the effects of addiction on the body and mind are different from many other diseases. With addiction, these behavioral ‘symptoms’ are a part of the disease as a whole.

Unfortunately, by the time you were aware of your addiction, you were already caught in a web of deceit and mistrust that surround the disease. Deceit and manipulation further complicate an already very confusing and difficult process for all involved.


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Addiction is hard to understand. Addiction is confusing. it can be hard to comprehend why a person would continue to make self-destructive choices. But as hard as it can be for your loved ones to understand your harmful patterns, it can be even harder for you to understand.

Fortunately, there is help. Addiction is not a rare disease. Over the years, research and experience has taught us about addiction, its afflictions, and how to treat it effectively. Today there are professionals, addicts living sober lives, and loved ones who have devoted their careers and lives to understanding how to best help those who suffer with addiction. They have done much to correct the stigma and mistaken idea that addiction is a personal failing.

Treatment centers offer a refuge. We hope that your treatment and recovery has involved people who care and understand what is going on with you.

You may have turned to the treatment center as a last option. You may have only turned to treatment after your lifestyle left you malnourished, weak, lost, and defeated. in contrast, when you leave the treatment center, you may be well fed and hopeful. You may feel you have a new lease on life.

But those who are addicted seem to have healed, there is still the danger of unexpectedly return to using. Recovery from addiction is a lifelong process. RSN aims to help you find the support and stability you need to be successful in that process.


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Where the Reintegration

Support Network Comes in

RSN aims to bridge the gap from your treatment center back to everyday life. it can offer support for you and your family as you adjust back to life at home.

it is critical that you voluntarily agree and have a genuine desire to be engaged with RSN. While your enthusiasm may go up and down, this initiative cannot work without your ongoing, real commitment. This commitment cannot be imposed. You must have it and it must be real.

The RSN Theory. RSN believes that recovery from addiction is a community process. ideally, this should involve your family, social groups, school, professionals, and others. it should include all those who are interacting with you as you take your first steps back into society. By integrating all of these, RSN hopes to increase your chances of a successful, sustained recovery.

Recovery is often about learning an entirely new way to live. That can be scary. in addition, recovery takes time. This can make recovery seem like climbing a steep mountain. This is especially so for a person fresh out of rehab who is anxious to return to ‘normal.’ But it is possible, and RSN is here to help.

However, we at RSN don’t think in terms of ‘normal.’ RSN does not aim simply to remove addiction from your life. On the contrary, we want to assist you in making a life that is happy, peaceful, and healthy.

So, how does RSN work? RSN’s goal is to establish a voluntary partnership with you and your family or guardians. The RSN will become a resource to aid in


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initiating and maintaining communications with individuals and groups involved with the reintegration process. These groups include peers, schools, extended family, recovery groups, neighborhood and social groups. it will also help work with medical and legal professionals.

RSN believes that recovery is a holistic process that involves the interplay of individuals, family, peers, schools, neighborhoods and others. it is the intention of the RSN to support you in all of these realms.

Through a joint effort, RSN has identified a foundation for a healthy, happy way to live. in many ways it is not any different from what we all need. RSN hopes to facilitate a holistic and integrated network of support for you (see figure 1.1). We will do this by helping you and your family connect with local recovery groups, medical professionals, vocational training and experiences, education, community service, faith communities, healthy recreation, and creative activity. For many people in society, taking part in these activities and finding support comes naturally and easily. This leads proactive, healthy lifestyles. However, this is rarely the case for a recovering addict just leaving treatment. So, RSN will help you connect with these social networks.


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RSN A Holistic ModelThe RSN model is based on well-established approaches. These approaches

recognize that recovery is a process that includes you as an individual, your

social environment–the people and organizations around you in your daily life,

and your interactions with them.

it is not enough to treat you alone. it is not enough to try to set up your social

environment to help you. instead, both your influences on your community and

its influences on you must be considered as part of your recovery.

The RSN model encompasses you, the family, primary caretakers, the school

system, the neighborhood, friends, and organizations in which you are involved

like sports teams or faith groups. Your recovery should include the communities

surrounding all of these. in this way, this model of recovery attempts to see the

big picture. Recovery is not just your burden, or your family’s. it is the duty of

everyone in a loving and connected community.

As indicated in Figure 1.1, the Reintegration Support Network centers first on

you and your parents or guardians. The RSN will appoint a liaison or partner to

work specifically with you and your family to make and maintain connections

with social workers, treatment facilitators, mental health professionals, school

counselors, vocation specialists, community involvement liaisons, faith

communities, as well as any legal authorities, such as probation officers,

so that recovery may truly be a community process.


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Your Rolein returning home and to your community, you are going to be bombarded with

responsibilities. These will involve challenges. However, your first responsibility

is to follow the recovery plan that you worked out with your rehab professionals.

Your plans may include attending recovery group meetings, meeting with a

mental health professional, or continuing with counseling.

One of your more difficult roles will be to embrace your situation. When meeting

old friends, or returning to former groups, you may be uncomfortable with your

Figure 1. RSN Model Promoting Holistic Integration

Recovery Groups*

*Such as: NA – Narcotics Anonymous, AA – Alcoholics Anonymous, ALANON, EA – Emotions Anonymous, SOS – Secular Organizations for Sobriety, CA – Cocaine Anonymous, RR – Rational Recovery

YoungPerson in Recovery

Spiritual,Religion,

BeliefCommuniity

OngoingTreatment,Therapy,

Social Work

Recrteation,Play,

Expression

School,Education

Familyand

Friends

Job,Internship,

Apprenticeship

Physical and Mental Health Care

Service to

Community

Parents,Guardians

RSNNetworkLiaison


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situation. You may want to avoid discussing recovery or the problems that stem from your addiction. it will be important for you to embrace both your sobriety and your process. This is an opportunity for you to love your peers by giving them permission to discuss addiction and recovery and mental health without any stigma. Being honest about the situation allows you to tell your story. it allows you to claim your experiences, and to speak about your struggles. There is great dignity in recovery. Everyone should understand your dignity rather than think in terms of shame.

Open and honest communication about the road you have traveled allows space for those with questions to join the conversation. Maybe they have their own issues. When faced this way, this represents as a community in recovery.

Chemical dependency is not a solitary event. instead, it involves biology, relationships, and social environments. Likewise, recovery is a collective social process.

Embracing the RSN model. Finally, to take part in the RSN, you must embrace its model. This involves a certain amount of vulnerability. it will require you to be open about addiction and recovery within your own social networks when it serves the goal of recovery. This does not mean telling the world one’s deepest secrets.

if you do not undertake the process openly and honestly, you can be undermine the process of recovery and restoration of the community.

Role of the Parents or GuardiansThe RSN is set up as a connected network. As such, it aims to clear and light the paths for you and your supporters as you enter into the processes of recovery back in your community. Therefore, it is necessary that your parents or guardians are able to maintain and offer you a stable home environment.

The RSN is not an intervention or a program in and of itself. However, it will help parents or guardians build healthier communications and support networks with those who can play constructive roles in your recovery and life.

The RSN is for you if your treatment has already helped you regain sobriety and


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related skills to assist you in using available supports to maintain that sobriety and a healthy lifestyle. Parental or guardian support is at the heart of RSN.

The RSN PartnerOnce the RSN, you and your parents or guardians agree to work together, RSN will link you up with an RSN Partner. The RSN Partner’s role is to be a point of contact among the various parts of your recovery process. The partner will work with you and your family and you to help all involved understand the overarching goals of sober living and community restoration.

The RSN partner will use your experience and relationships in the community to aid you and your family in what could otherwise be an overwhelming and disjointed process. The RSN partner will be knowledgeable about local recovery groups, mental health professionals, local counselors, and the school system. They will help you and your family make these contacts and then help maintain these relationships throughout the continuing recovery process.

Each RSN partner will receive training from the RSN Senior Advisors so that they are well versed in finding and using local addiction resources. Each partner will also have basic training in communications so that they can aid the family in navigating the different agencies necessary to the reintegration process. This training and ongoing support will not qualify the RSN partner to act as a lawyer, counselor, or medical professional, but it will qualify them to help family find and communicate with these resources.

Other tasks for the RSN partner may include finding a fitting faith or belief community for you, inquiring about your interests and local recreation opportunities, and finding healthy opportunities for to interact with your community that fit with you.

Recovery GroupsMany who are struggling to recover from addiction have a low threshold for the sometimes painful, ongoing process of learning about themselves and addiction. You will need an atmosphere of supportive care, concern, and reinforcement. Recovery groups can offer this. A recovery group is typically made up of people


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recovering from the same thing – people who can empathize and sympathize and provide a way out of the loneliness and isolation of addiction. Creating a place where all are free to tell their stories, members of recovery groups are able to humanize the effects of addiction and develop a social conscience. As a person recovering from addiction continues to participate in a recovery group, they can transform their life story through recovery.

Recovery groups can vary from 12-step programs like AA or NA, to groups with less structure. it is important for you to find a recovery group that matches your needs. The RSN Resource Guide lists contact information for many of the recovery group options that are available locally.

Regular Ongoing Contact with Treatment and TherapyFirst and foremost, it is essential that you maintain regular contact with those providing ongoing addiction treatment and therapy. These people might include substance abuse counselors, treatment centers with treatment plans, and any law enforcement groups requiring drug plans. RSN understands the importance of these groups for your success. Very often, no one knows a recovering addict better than those who have held the hands of other recovering addicts.

RSN will make the initial contacts with any counselors and professionals to discuss your reintegration plans, preferably before you return from rehab. After that, our hope is to aid you and your caregivers monitoring your progress with the plan you and your professionals set up.

RSN does not supplant the need for professionals. it is designed as a means of networking communication and support. it should enhance plans that professionals put in place for you and your family to help increase the chances of your successful recovery and reintegration.

“Treatment after Treatment.” The RSN Partner will maintain regular contact with all parties involved in the recovery process. This will include counselors, medical professionals, as well as those in other areas targeted by RSN. The RSN Partner will maintain this contact


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until there is agreement that you can maintain these social and organizational relations with little or no direct support. in concert with you, your family, and the RSN partner, a six- to twelve-month plan will be devised to establish the partner’s role with the individual’s recovery plan. Towards the conclusion of this plan, everyone will again meet and determine if another plan is needed. if not, they will plan a way to conclude the business aspects of the RSN partnership relationship.

Physical and Mental Health CareMany young addicts suffer from emotional, mental, and physical stresses and disorders. Frequently, these stresses and disorders lead young people to “pick up” drugs or alcohol in the first place. With addictions, such self-medication has serious and sometimes terrible consequences. The diagnosis of such ailments can come early on, after addicts first get clean. it will be important for RSN to initiate contact with those providing you with physical and mental health care before you ever step out of a treatment center. Many disorders require medication, but unfortunately the stresses of recovery can tempt you to misuse or abuse this medication. The RSN partner would try to be aware of any medicines you might be on, and would be informed about their effects. Then, they can help the other groups in the network (teachers, family and friends, relief communities, jobs, etc.) be aware of how to best monitor you in a helpful and caring way.

Opportunities for relapse are real. However, with the support of family and friends, and those in regular communication with you, the chances of success are far greater. A list of local medical and mental healthcare providers and professionals is available in the RSN Resource Guide in the appropriate sections.

Family, Friends, and Other RelationshipsNot surprisingly, recovering addicts find it most difficult to stay clean around familiar contacts. it is so easy to slip back into the comfortable company of old friends, and from there it is only a small step to fall back into old habits. Addiction is hard enough for adults to understand, but it may be beyond the grasp of your friends. Even friends and family with the best of intentions rarely understand the


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depths of addiction. it would be normal for you to hear, “You were just having a hard time,” or, “You just have to learn how to control yourself.” When one is first recovering, these comments seem so tempting, so easy to believe, but these comments deny the truth that addiction is a disease and that you will potentially have to resist temptation the rest of your life. You may be tempted to try to fit in, just like everyone, but this can make it tempting to return to the refuge of drugs, alcohol, and old friends.

The Reintegration Support Network is designed to be in contact with you before you ever step out of the treatment center. With information and discussion, we hope to gain the support of your friends to help you stay clean. it is important to have friendships both inside and outside of recovery, and the support of these friends will be invaluable as long as they are working with you – instead of against you. This is why RSN seeks to enlist a broad base of experts – so that the entire burden won’t be placed on these relationships.

Family and/or Guardians. Family is so important. it will be crucial for you to know that when things are at their worst, there is a place for you to go, a place where unconditional love is offered, support can be found, and judgment is reserved. Usually no one has more concern about, care for, and emotional investment in your success than your family and/or guardians. Unfortunately, there are instances when these relationships are broken. Trust may be very difficult for your family or caretakers. it’s not that family members don’t care, but there ability to trust may be damaged and in need of repair. Healing takes time.

Friends and Other Relationshipsit is likely that many of your ‘old friends’ either are or were involved in substance abuse with you. it is inevitable that some of these friends will feel isolated by the recovery plan. However, it is critical to find peers who are mature enough and care enough for you to help you in this transitional time. Likewise, it will be necessary for you to abandon some negative peer influences from the past. As difficult as this is, it is critical to define some of the pitfalls of youth culture and to discern which peers may have to be avoided in order to have a successful recovery.


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Though no friend will fit into a category, there are four generalized categories of peers that everyone must be aware of. These are: 1) Ongoing Heavy Users (some of whom may be addicts), 2) Casual Users, 3) Never Users, and 4) Recovering or Recovered Users. Each presents unique challenges for relationships for someone coming out of treatment. Your friends in each category need to be informed about the very strict boundaries by which you need to abide. None of the following is intended to be judgmental but rather to be helpful to all involved.

Ongoing Regular UsersYou have acquaintances and friends with whom you regularly got high, who supplied you with substances, or formed your using group. These persons need to be considered completely and absolutely “off limits.” Again, this is not a judgment about these persons. After all, you may have been like them only a short while ago. These persons and associated places and activities are extremely dangerous in potentially undermining your recovery. They can bring down all that you have gained over extremely difficult weeks and months. Depending on circumstances, contacts with these ongoing regular users can be deadly – literally.

There are very few if any circumstances where contact with these ongoing users can be safe. These might be limited to a brief meeting where guidelines for avoiding contacts are laid out – perhaps a time to say goodbye for the foreseeable future. These individuals may be told that they need to stay clear or that the friendship they have known cannot go on. it must be recognized that these ongoing regular users will likely not understand or honor the critically necessary boundaries.

Family and other friends should be made aware of persons, places, and activities associated with these ongoing regular users. All persons associated with the RSN initiative should be on the alert and give warnings if you have made contact with these ongoing regular users or that they have attempted to make contact with you. All should be ready to alert the RSN partner, family, and others of contacts or attempted contacts. You should be considered to be in charge of your own recovery, but all need to be on the lookout for thin


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or cracking ice under your feet and help steer you to safer areas. You cannot afford to fall in.

Casual Users Casual users, even those who are close friends, may have no idea of your vulnerable position. There is no such thing as casual use for someone who i s addicted and in recovery. You cannot be around those who are using casually. The rule of thumb for casual users must be:

if i am to act like your friend, i cannot use while you are around. i must keep our relationship in safe places where neither drugs nor alcohol are available or used.

if this is not possible, these casual users need to be off limits as well. Again, it is possible that these casual users will not understand or honor the critically necessary boundaries.

Never UsersThese persons may not pose risks to the you in terms of substance abuse, but it is also likely that there will be many aspects of the your life that these people can only understand abstractly, if at all. This may make some aspects of these relationships a difficult fit.

Recovering or Recovered UsersFriends who are recovering or who have recovered from an addiction may be able to empathize with you and can help them to understand how to maintain critically necessary boundaries. You may be at some risk with these folks; however, it is precisely with this group that you may find real hope for a brighter future. Many recovery programs make use of these peer support relationships.

in sum, while the RSN does not promote putting all friends and relationships into overly neat categories, it is important for all who are supporting you to understand the spectrum of relationships and the boundaries, risks, and benefits relating to each of them. in certain cases, the RSN Partner will work with you and your family to develop a short personal peer guide that can be given to everyone


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invested in the recovery process to help identify potentially dangerous peers, places, and activities.

Hopefully, friends will feel comfortable and welcome to communicate with your family, the RSN partner, other friends, the treatment team or facility, and anyone else in the network. The goal is to prevent “risky behavior or contacts” before damage is done.

The hope is that all will come to understand that identifying and drawing attention to risky situations is not about snitching but rather about helping you. The idea is not to develop a network of spies, but to consider how to best love one another in a community that fosters sober living. With that in mind, you will be fully involved in this process and made aware that friends and family may be proactively supporting you so that they may seek help when it is needed. We should all regard these as high and noble acts of friendship, concern, and support for you. These acts could be a critical and early intervention may increase the chances of your successful recovery.

it will be important for you, your family and friends to stay in regular, vigilant contact with RSN and the groups and organizations working with it. Likewise, it is crucial that you know that this is what you will be stepping into.

it will also be important for you to be a part of all of these processes so that you can embrace the process of your recovery. Although it may be difficult to receive such input from family and friends, especially because it may feel like a betrayal of old friends, this sort of communication helps to remove stigma from the process of recovery. it also gives friends and family permission to openly discuss what has happened and what is happening with addiction and recovery.

The idea of the Reintegration Support Network is not to “catch” you and finger-point when you stumble but rather to help you by opening communication with a supportive network that gathers around you to help keep you from falling and assist you in getting back up if and when you do fall.

in order for this approach to work, it must be accepted by all in the process, especially you.


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Spiritual, Religious, or Belief GroupsYou may or may not be a part of a religious organization. if you were, you may have become alienated from this group as your addiction developed. The RSN does not endorse any specific faith group, but we do believe that spiritual, religious, or belief groups can have a profoundly positive impact on your recovery and healing and your relationships. Addiction has spiritual consequences. if you have a specific group that you participate with regularly and you wish to continue with that organization, we will happily contact its leaders to facilitate your return to the group – especially if it is a youth group. On the other hand, if you don’t have this kind of connection to a faith or belief community, we will encourage you to explore a variety of such groups that are suited to your interests, beliefs, and personality. Participation in groups with positive ideals that promote good social values is important in the process of recovery.

isolation and social deprivation are common aspects of addiction. it is important, especially in the earliest stages of recovery, that you balance social and alone time. Faith and belief communities offer chances to meet new friends with similar interests participate in social activities, and, most importantly, to feel that one is a part of something greater than oneself. By experiencing and understanding oneself as part of a whole and not just as an isolated individual, it becomes possible to realize the benefits of being a healthy member of society and see the potential drain of being an unhealthy member of a community. Activity in a faith or belief group may be one of the best ways to make this plain. For further information on local faith or belief groups, please see the Belief Groups sections of the RSN Resource Guide.

Education and VocationPart of returning to a healthy life is finding a positive, structured means of being a productive member of society. For you, this will likely mean returning to school. There is a lot of red tape involved in returning to public school after a drug-related absence. RSN will establish relationships with school counselors in order to facilitate your return to a particular school. There may be challenges to negotiate in helping you return to school, like legal issues, issues of eligibility,


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transcripts, and grade placement. What’s more, many of your fellow students may know why you were absent during treatment. Even though it is a mistake to do so, people often stigmatize addiction and mental illness, and so you can expect to deal with whispers and sideways glances. RSN will work to connect the appropriate people in order to make the transition back to school as simple as possible.

You may not be able to return to school. You may have graduated, you may not be allowed back to the school, or you may not want to pursue a diploma, but there are other paths to productive living with which RSN can help. if you want to get your GED, the RSN partner will work with social workers to make the necessary contacts. if you wish to get a job, the RSN partner will aid you in searching for employment. No matter the path, the RSN sees education and vocation as keys to a healthy life and a successful recovery. RSN is committed to aiding you and your family no matter what path is taken.

Recreation, Play, Creative Expression and Community involvementHolistic health involves finding joy. Each person enjoys different tasks, but the tasks and activities that people do enjoy are an important part of your overall health. This is why the RSN also stresses the importance for you and your family to connect to pro-social groups and activities. These may include sports teams, artistic endeavors, and community service groups that encourage play, creativity, and positive relationships.

Play and recreation are not luxuries, but necessities. Humans, who spend up to one-fifth of their lives in adolescence, are uniquely playful creatures. Though we seemingly play strictly for pleasure, play is an essential aspect in developing creativity, flexibility, and positive social moods and bonds. Recreation might seem to offer few immediate gains other than momentary joy or exuberance, but play actually prepares the way for very important future benefits. These gains include the ability to remain flexible and creative in a changing world, as well as developing positive social bonds, moods, and affinities.


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Play helps one learn how to positively and proactively respond to changes in the environment. Play is based on the exploration of one’s own environment and exploration of one’s own capabilities. Be it team sports, artistic activities, or physical exploration of the wilderness, all of these activities teach one about dangers, allow one to learn skills, and help develop a sense of one’s own competence. in essence, play allows one to learn how to live!

Not only will recreation develop your skills and confidence necessary to allow you to navigate your environment better, it will also help foster positive social connections. Play nourishes social affinities and builds future cohesive social units. Play does this by promoting positive moods, and these positive moods are contagious and so help the entire community to develop a positive bond. in other words, “animals that play together stay together.”

Play and recreation are critical elements to developing life skills and relationships, and as such, they are essential for you reintegration back into your family and communities. it is almost impossible to define ‘play’ simply or cleanly, but it is something most people recognize when they see it, and something that none of us can live without.

For further information on local recreational sports leagues, community service opportunities, art guilds, and natural resources, please consult the RSN Resource Guide and its recreation section.

Legal Authoritiesin returning from a rehabilitation facility you may have legal obligations. These obligations may range from community service, to restitution, to curfew or probation, and these will be supervised and maintained by state appointed court counselors, probation officers, or surveillance officers. The RSN will support these previously mediated procedures, and hope to integrate any sanctions into positive opportunities for reflection and recovery. RSN will also attempt to work with the assigned officers to meet everyone’s needs in this process, and help you and your family to understand the legal issues stemming from the actions of addiction. RSN will not serve any legal capacity related to these issues.


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Reintegration ModelAs you return home from a treatment center, your continued sobriety depends on a successful return to many different spheres of life. it can be a traumatic process for both you and your caregivers. The Reintegration Support Network wants to be a positive part of this process for everyone involved by aiding in communication, information gathering, and relationship building to lessen the already heavy burden that falls on both you and your the caregivers. Recovery is not an individual accomplishment, but a community effort, and it does not benefit just the individual. Whenever a community can take part in healing a hurting member, it not only lessens the strain on the individual, the family, and others connected to this process, but it also benefits the community because they have nurtured a positive and productive contributor to society. RSN wants to make this vision a reality in this community.

Figure 2. RSN Model Individual and Community Maitained Communication and Networking

Recovery Groups*

*Such as: NA – Narcotics Anonymous, AA – Alcoholics Anonymous, ALANON, EA – Emotions Anonymous, SOS – Secular Organizations for Sobriety, CA – Cocaine Anonymous, RR – Rational Recovery

ReintegratedYoung Personin Recovery

Spiritual,Religion,

BeliefCommuniity

OngoingTreatment,Therapy,

Social Work

Recrteation,Play,

Expression

School,Education

Parents,Guardian,

Family and Friends

Job,Internship,

Apprenticeship

Physical and Mental Health Care

Service to

Community


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TestimonialMatt McQuiston was a kind, generous, caring, creative and witty teen. He loved ceramics and tennis and wanted to take a service visit with an educational fund

to Bolivia. He had many friends he cared about deeply and they cared for him in the same way.

Drugs got in the way. As recreational use became addiction, his life turned upside down. He became angry and alienated from those who were not using drugs including his family. Finally he agreed to seek help in residential treatment. For five months he courageously worked at getting clean and sober. Following those five months, Matt arrived home ready to renew his life – to find a new path. His beauty as a person was shining through again.

Matt desperately needed a healthy environment and lots of support. He needed opportunities to contribute to something bigger than himself. He needed to be surrounded and supported by friends, family, acquaintances, activities and organizations who understood what he had been through. He needed safe settings. He needed a school and activities that embraced him for his inherent goodness and the potential of what he could become. Collectively, we fell short. Not because we didn’t care. in part, we didn’t know what and how to help with his transition. There was an assumption that through his long period of treatment that Matt had learned what he needed to learn to move forward. if he needed help, he would ask.

As members of community we all need to be as independent and responsible as possible. When we suffer an illness, we need our friends, family and community to surround us with enough support that we can navigate recovery. Matt, like so

Matt McQuiston died from an accidental drug overdose at the age of 18 on September 20, 2008.


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many others, had friends who didn’t understand addiction or who could not or would not help him maintain healthy boundaries. He had too much free time. He needed healthy activities. He engaged with professionals in several spheres who could have helped more, but perhaps didn’t know what was needed.

Just as every addict has to be in charge of your own sobriety, every group of family and friends connected to those suffering from addiction needs to understand the important roles they can play, and every community that has youth grappling with recovery needs to provide the various types of support that facilitate a continuous transition to health and independence.

The Reintegration Support Network was born out of the idea that the spheres of independence, need and support must be brought together in a coordinated way. it was born of the need to honor Matt and those like him with love and support demonstrated in collective action.


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ConclusionsThe Reintegration Support Network is an organization set up to help you move from a life of addiction to a life of health and happiness. By integrating family, community, and health professionals, the RSN hopes to move them towards a life of sobriety, as well as heal wounded relationships and communities. This holistic approach to care may not be for everyone. if there is a better option of care for your family, please use the RSN Resource Guide to find help with someone, or contact us and we will help you find a more appropriate care program. The RSN is not a ‘one size fits all’ solution to addiction recovery, but we are committed to helping those who are battling addiction, even if our help does not mean recommending our own program. if our services are a fit for you or someone you love, or if you have any questions, please contact us.


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End Notes1 RSN is working under the organizational umbrella

of North Carolina Choice for Youth.

2 Multisystemic Therapy Services, executive summary, 2007.

3 This is often called the Social Ecological Model

4 James B. Nelson, Thirst: God and the Alcoholic Experience (Louisville: John Knox, 2004), 4.

5 Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous.

6 The Hazelden Foundation, The Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous (Harper&Row: New York, 1987).

7 General Equivalency Diploma.

8 Kay Redfield Jamison, Exuberance: The Passion for Life (Knopf: New York, 2004).

The Reintegration Support Network seeks to address an unfilled need for individual teens as they return to the community after treatment for substance abuse and addiction. In doing so, it works using a youth-centered approach to activate and promote ongoing recovery-oriented communication and support in various key life domains. It focuses on creating a partnership among the recovering youth, parents or guardians and an RSN Partner to network in the community to help youth develop autonomy, self-advocacy and self-sufficiency within a web of community connections and support.

At the core of the RSN approach is a close collaboration with the recovering young person, their parents or guardians and an RSN Partner. RSN partners are volunteers dedicated to helping youth. We work with teens who are: 14-18 years of age, completing an intensive drug residential treatment program, sober and committed to long-term sobriety, understand and are willing to commit to the RSN approach and work in each of its focus areas.

Working together, this collaborative will create a network of communication and support for the young person to give them more tools and supports for success in maintaining sobriety.

An Initiative of the Matt McQuiston Memorial Fund

Documents

Reintegration Support Network€¦ · groups, medical professionals, vocational training and experiences, education, community service, faith communities, healthy recreation, and