Isolation amid COVID-19 pandemic poses challenges to substance abuse recovery
Avoiding social interaction may be a source of sadness and frustration to most people, but to those who are fighting substance abuse it can threaten recovery, as dozens of weekly Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous meetings are canceled due to COVID-19.
“Substance abuse disconnects people from everything important in their lives — relationships, jobs, finances, health,” said David Dorschu, chief executive officer of Recovery Centers of America at Lighthouse in Mays Landing. “In treatment the goal … is to reconnect you to all of those things.”
But for folks who have finished a treatment program and need support abstaining from alcohol or illegal drugs, physical access to one of the main forms of reconnection is out of reach, Dorschu said. As David explains in this article in The Press of Atlantic City(link) by Michelle Brunetti-Post, people in recovery need to actively seek out connections at this time such as calling their recovery coach and finding internet-based meetings.
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