My regular readers know that I am an advocate of methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) even though being a recovering alcoholic I have never personally participated. I became involved with my local methadone clinic after being asked to do a story on the facility by my local newspaper. At the time, I knew very little about MMT but the owners and the administrators were very open and informative about their program. I learned enough that I returned at their invitation to lead a weekly recovery group that continues to this day.
I have been batting around the idea of formalizing our meeting into a Methadone Anonymous Group (MA) because of several reasons. The first is that I would like to see those that attend my groups begin to take ownership. This will insure that if I ever lose the ability to host the groups that they will have others that can. Another reason is that it would allow for more meetings and flexible schedules so that more could attend. And finally, the clinic will open a sister establishment in the neighboring county soon and they will need a similar program.
So I have been perusing the Methadone Support site (link logo above) and speaking with the clinic counselors about setting this up. I am not fully convinced that the MA route is best and have struggled with just sticking with the general recovery meeting style mixed with a clinic approved program for tapering off MMT. Regardless of what we do, I think there will be many more recovery opportunities when they take ownership of their own program. I plan to continue my meetings, but I hope soon to see the others follow my lead.
Delicious
Digg
StumbleUpon
Reddit
Facebook
Google
Yahoo
Technorati
Icerocket
Hi there....my name is Carol and I am the founder/director of Methadone Support Org. I found your blog because I subscribe to "google alerts" for "Methadone Support". I was so pleasantly surprised when this blog came up with MY banner/logo on it, lol....too cool! Sooo....I wanted to thank you for that and give you a little information on what kind of support our organization/website has to offer and Methadone Anonymous (MA) info.
We have an awesome woman that joined us, Melissa.....that is now our MA Director. She has done this for a long time....and can assist you in starting MA meetings! Her email address is: Melissa@MethadoneSupport.org . You also mentioned that perhaps you would keep the recovery support format that you are using now.....and in that case.....we have another meeting program called "MARS" (Medicine Assisted Recovery & Support). If you want more info on that.....please dont hesitate to email me at: Carol@MethadoneSupport.org .
So you know.....we now have ONLINE MA and support meetings.....daily in our chatroom. Check out our online meeting page.....
http://www.methadonesupport.org/online-meetings.html
Might as well tell you somemore while I have your undivided attention, lol! Our website has so many support resources on it!
One of the more popular resources is our busy community of support forums ( http://www.MethadoneSupport.org/forum.html ). Patients and providers will find lots of good info.....interact with people going thru the same things that they are.....and get some much needed support. There's about 13 different forums.....something for everyone. Once one registers, they can post in any of them. This will also be an excellent place to get more info on MA/MARS.....ask a b'zillion questions!
I can't leave out our Methadone Pregnancy Info and Support page ( http://www.methadonesupport.org/Pregnancy.html )
probably our most important resource. We are soooo fortunate to have Sharon Dembinski with Methadone Support Org.. Sharon is a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner, Certified Methadone Advocate and Lead Developer of the Program "Mother's on Methadone" (MOM) at Kent Hospital in Rhode Island. She also has a wonderful forum there as well.
Our Methadone info/news ( http://www.methadonesupport.org/news.html ) page is chocked full of great links, articles etc. I won't try to list everything, lol....please start at our homepage and have a look around....click on the many things in our "blog" (on the right side) as well as the main menu. And don't forget to see our new ADVOCACY PAGE (http://www.methadonesupport.org/advocacy.html ) too, lol!
One last thing (I promise, lol)....please feel free to take one of our poster/flyers for your clinics. Just needs to be printed out and hung up in the clinic.....handed out or whatever.....
http://www.methadonesupport.org/METHADONEposter.doc
Phew....I think that's about it...and I hope some of this has helped! PLEASE don't hesitate to drop me a line if I can be of any assistance to you! and btw....not certain if there's a resource/links page at this website....but if so, would love to have our link there. I'd be happy to reciprocate on our website if you'd like!
smoooooch.......Carol
I will follow up with you via e-mail. Thanks for all the info!
Post new comment