I was none too happy when I found out they were building a wellness and recovery program just blocks from my house.
I was envisioning a bunch of addicts walking all over the neighborhood.
Heck, I even signed petitions to block The wellness and recovery program from moving into our neighborhood. I have since seriously changed my mind. In the five years since the wellness and recovery program moved in, I have not had any problems with addicts walking around the neighborhood. The only issue I’ve ever seen, is on graduation day, there might be a few extra cars looking for parking in the neighborhood. Last year, I learned that the health and wellness center is not just for addiction. It helps with mental health issues as well. Now I feel kind of bad that I was trying to keep this institution away. My own brother has mental health issues and I hate it when he is treated differently than other people. My prejudices we’re causing me to have a lot of guilt. So much so that I decided the only way I could rectify my wrongs was to volunteer at the wellness & recovery program. They were very happy for the help. They started me in the mailroom but I’ve since moved on two leading some of the programs. All people who need help, in one way or another. The patrons of the program are just like the rest of us and I’m so happy that I can help them in their recovery process. And they, in turn, help me with mine.