
While the holiday season tends to be a happy time of year for most, for some it can be rather taxing mentally. For some, the way they deal with that stress is through drugs and/or alcohol. That can then turn into an addiction problem, and one organization that is trying to help those struggling with addiction is the Lighthouse Recovery Community Center in Manitowoc.
We spoke with Christma Rusch, the Executive Director of the Lighthouse, and she explained that they are “considered a recovery community organization. The core strategies are things such as reducing stigma surrounding substance abuse disorder, building community support, and building peer to peer support, and those are things we are blessed enough to offer at the Lighthouse.”
Basically speaking, they take a communal approach to addiction recovery and help those struggling feel as they belong to something.
We asked Rusch to tell us why erasing the stigma surrounding addiction is so important. She said simply, “Stigma perpetuates shame, shame perpetuates the addiction.” According to Rusch, those who are struggling with addiction feel like, “We can’t come out and talk about it. We can’t get help because people will judge us. ” She expanded on the thought saying, “It’s a chronic health disorder. If someone is diagnosed with cancer or diabetes, you don’t shun them away and say ‘You don’t get treatment or the help you need.’”
One of the major talking points around drug and alcohol abuse is the thought that more often than not the first time someone uses the substance it was a choice that was made. Christma spoke about how that is not always the case. She pointed to the chemicals that enter our brains when we smoke cigarettes, drink a beer, or smoke marijuana, which is all pretty socially acceptable, and how they can basically rewire a young mind.
“For many people who have had trauma, some of those chemicals because a coping mechanism early on to deal with those things,” Rusch said. “It’s a little bit easier to see how things can spiral out. Something normal at first doesn’t seem like a big deal, but then it can spiral out.”
To learn more about the Lighthouse Recovery Community Center, visit their Facebook page, visit LighthouseRecoveryCommuniotyCenter.org, or give them a call at 920-374-4433.