Lessons Learned: A Community Is Essential For Your Healing In Recovery
- Mark Lefebvre
- Feb 7
- 7 min read
Updated: Jun 27
Tom O’Connor, Co-Author & Publisher.
Mark Lefebvre, Co-Author & Author of “Healing A Village: A Practical Guide To Building Recovery Communities.
Topic
Substance use disorder (SUD) is a disease. This disease affects every community. An individual and their family members facing this disease often feel entirely isolated. If we have a substance use disorder, we can try with all our might to recover on our own.
However, that road alone is far longer and treacherous than it needs to be. Many people struggling with excessive substance use are not accustomed to talking about what is happening in their lives. SUD causes people to withdraw to hide the full scope of their use, and the perceived stigma surrounding SUD can lead to shame and silence.
When you are in substance use recovery, you need a supportive community to surround, challenge, encourage, and bolster you. It takes a village, a personal clan of recovering people, friends who stay away from substance use, and professionals to keep you pointed in the right direction. There is no shame in needing others, as we are wired to rely on them from birth.
I am deeply honored to have Mark Lefebvre as my co-author of this issue. Based upon Mark’s lessons learned, he recently published his book titled “Healing A Village: A Practical Guide To Building Recovery Communities.
Additional Information For You
Most people don’t know that community support groups can help them manage the many challenges of helping them or a loved one. It is up to every neighborhood to close the door to that substance use stigma that continues to surround this disease and open the door to support, in the true sense of the phrase “It takes a village.” It takes a village to help heal someone with SUD.
Mark’s Life Story
Mark Lefebvre founded and was statewide director of the Maine Recovery Friendly Workplace (RFW) program, which focuses on building statewide capacity to recruit, train, and support Maine businesses as RFWs. As the Pinetree Director of Community Engagement, Mark was responsible for developing Recovery Ready Communities in New Hampshire and Maine, two US states most impacted by the opioid crisis. Mark is in long-term recovery from substance use disorder. He and his wife, Vivian, are among the co-founders of Safe Harbor Recovery Center, a peer community center in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
Mark’s new book, Healing a Village: A Practical Guide to Building Recovery Ready Communities, is about hope.
According to Mark:
Over 107,000 fellow Americans died in 2023 from drug overdoses, and another 178,000 died from excessive alcohol use. Lethal illicit drugs such as fentanyl, methamphetamine, and xylazine are showing up on our streets and poisoning people, including those who may not even intend to use these toxic synthetic drugs.
Healing a Village details a plan to build recovery capacity with a community to remove barriers and improve access to services for individuals and families seeking help from addiction.
Building recovery capacity within a community involves removing barriers and improving access to services for individuals and families seeking help for substance use disorder. Successful community coalitions have delivered positive outcomes for their communities—from prevention, harm reduction, treatment, and recovery support.
Mark provides real-life examples of successful community coalitions that have delivered positive outcomes for their communities – from prevention to harm reduction to treatment to recovery support.
According to Mark:
When I exited our local hospital in 2012 following a 4-day detox, there were no treatment and recovery resources within my community. I was forced to travel to the West Coast for treatment. That is no longer the case in my community today.
I often think back to that day in August 2012 when I was about to be discharged from our local hospital—clueless, hopeless, and unsure about my future. Whisked off to the airport by my wife with a hastily packed suitcase in the back seat, we made that ride in awkward silence. Neither knew what the future held for us as individuals and as a couple. Addiction is indeed a family disease. In hindsight, I know now that I was one of the fortunate ones. I had the financial means to go to treatment, albeit out of state, to a program that was recommended based on the experience of a family friend. I was able to get the professional treatment that likely saved my life.
Our local hospital did not have an aftercare case worker to make calls on my behalf. They did not have a resource center for me to research programs in the area because there were no programs there. The discharge documents included a book of Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and my medical diagnosis of generalized anxiety disorder, major depressive disorder, and polysubstance disorder. I was to follow up with my general physician.
If I were to be discharged today from the same unit, I would have an aftercare program that included a referral to one of the several treatment centers within the state. The case worker would have a contact for me to call a recovery community center (RCO) to assist me with my recovery journey. I’d be referred to a prescribing doctor or nurse practitioner for medicated assisted treatment (MAT). If I needed a ride, one would be provided by a volunteer from the RCO. If I required harm reduction services, I had multiple options locally due to the development of a coalition to provide these services. If I needed a peer recovery coach, I had several options to meet with one. If I needed an intensive outpatient program (IOP) following residential treatment, I would have local access to such a service. If I was homeless, there was a community health van to provide me with medical services. The RCO would provide me with supplies if I lived in a tent encampment. If I needed a case worker to get me into the appropriate level of care today, I could call 2-1-1 and enter a statewide referral program. If my family needed assistance today, there are several providers of family addiction services within a few miles.
Your Call to Action
Whether you or a family member are afflicted with a substance use disorder (SUD) or a healthcare provider, because SUD recovery is a life-long journey, you want your recovery community members to build sustainable community coalitions.
Recovery is a vital and endless voyage for people with SUD. It is a lifelong journey that requires a community of support. Community is essential for avoiding feelings of isolation, rediscovering oneself, and connecting with others who understand what one is experiencing. Laying the foundation for a strong support system of peers, groups, and other healthy communities with shared interests is essential to thriving and growing throughout a lifelong recovery.
In designing a successful SUD recovery, it is essential to open up, share feelings, and ask for help. Your village, a community of support, helps you build a practice of support, which enables you to share and understand that you never have to face anything alone again.
Build and Sustain Your Support Community
It is essential to stay connected to your substance use support community. The more you engage with your village support individuals and programs, the less likely you are to have a relapse. If you “go it alone, " you aim for a setback.
According to general substance use disorder (SUD) research, for the best possible outcome, adopt and maintain the following:
Form a community consisting of a regular recovery group, a therapist specializing in SUDs, a personal substance use sponsor, recovering friends, and friends who are not engaged in substance use.
Practice relational regularity with your community with weekly repetition meetings.
Create accountability with someone you trust will hold you accountable weekly.
Share when you slip or relapse with everyone in your tribe.
According to SAMHSA research for the substance use disorder (SUD) recovery community:
To Build Your SUD Recovery Community
The first step in building your recovery community is to be aware and honest regarding what you need:
Who helps and encourages you to make informed, healthy choices. Is it a single health coach, or are there group activities you can participate in that will inspire you to maintain a healthy lifestyle? Join a gym or workout fitness group for physical exercise?
Where will you stay after being discharged from recovery treatment? If you received medically supervised detox treatment in your home, will you continue to receive it after being discharged? Will you be living with anyone or alone? If you are living with someone, do you feel safe with them? If you are living alone, who lives nearby who would be willing to support you to ensure you are stable and healthy?
What kinds of daily activities will you participate in? What will your daily schedule look like? Will you have too much free time on your hands? What type of activities help ignite purpose, and how often and for how long will you engage in them? There are peer-based support groups like Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) or Narcotics Anonymous (NA), SMART Recovery meetings, and other self-help groups.
Who do you think will be good community members, and why? Who currently supports you? Will you have access to them once you complete SUD recovery treatment? What kind of support do you need? Which individual in your community will serve as your primary accountability partner? Who makes you feel loved and full of hope?
How do you get your family members positively engaged and supportive?
Keep non-substance use friends and politely move everyone who uses non-medical substances off your support island community.
Find a mutual support community. SAMHSA’s Introduction to Mutual Support Groups for Alcohol and Drug Abuse provides a list of online and offline resources with ideas to help you.
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