A Disease, Not a Moral Issue

One of the first things I hear from women entering Right Path is that it's nice to be listened to. What that really says is that no one is listening to an addict. It's alright to not listen to the garbled voice from within, but what isn't right hasn't been made clear. The reason why no one is listening needs to be heard by the addict is a calm and reassuring manner. Because at the time, it's not you we would listen to, it's your disease and we don't want to hear from that at all. We want to hear from you without your disease.

When addiction and it's misinformed voice is understood as a disease, it will be treated like a disease. But we must make it clear that our problem is with the disease and not the person suffering from it.

Armed with new information, we have a chance at reaching to the inner most soul of the addict. We can tell them we know something new about them and that they are not their disease. Just like a cancer survivor doesn't want to be defined by cancer, neither does an addict. We want to be defined by our courage to face what we have to face every day and defeat it. I'm not worried how the world perceives me and my little band of recovering women when one of us is dieing, I am here to change my voice because I'm healthier than

addiction is, so I have to lead the way.