Hope in recovery: Lawmakers address crowd of advocates at Capitol
Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter Bill Cornell in recovery from Somerset holds a sign during Recovery Advocacy Day þÄúCourage to ChangeþÄù at the PA State Capital in Harrisburg on Tuesday, September 26, 2017.
Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter Shenna Pape in recovery from Houston speaks with State Rep.Brandon Neuman,D-North Strabane during Recovery Advocacy Day þÄúCourage to ChangeþÄù at the PA State Capital in Harrisburg on Tuesday, September 26, 2017.
Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter Rachel Hockenberry in recovery from Washington sits on the steps in the rotunda before the the event þÄúCourage to ChangeþÄù during Recovery Advocacy Day at the PA State Capital in Harrisburg on Tuesday, September 26, 2017.
Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter State Rep. Camera Bartotta, R-Carroll speaks during Recovery Advocacy Day þÄúCourage to ChangeþÄù at the PA State Capital in Harrisburg on Tuesday, September 26, 2017.
Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter State Rep. Edward Gainey , D-allegheny speaks during Recovery Advocacy Day þÄúCourage to ChangeþÄù at the PA State Capital in Harrisburg on Tuesday, September 26, 2017.
Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter State Rep.Brandon Neuman,D-North Strabane speaks with individuals in recovery from Waahington County during Recovery Advocacy Day þÄúCourage to ChangeþÄù at the PA State Capital in Harrisburg on Tuesday, September 26, 2017.
HARRISBURG – As a certified recovery specialist embedded in Washington County’s Children and Youth Services department, Kelley Cowden guides families through the process of recovery from addiction.
It is a journey she has personally navigated.
“It’s close to my heart,” said Cowden, 32, a Washington resident who has been in recovery since 2014. “It’s an amazing feeling to be able to give that hope to someone else.”
Cowden traveled to Harrisburg Tuesday with Washington Drug & Alcohol Commission for Recovery Advocacy Day in the state Capitol Building. A part of National Recovery Month, the event is intended to raise awareness of substance abuse, celebrate those in recovery and acknowledge the work of support service providers.
For many participants, it was an opportunity to try to put an end to the stigma of addiction.
“Once a junkie, always a junkie,” Cowden said when asked about common misconceptions about the disease. “Yes, I’ll always be an addict, but I’m a recovering addict.”
Cowden started drinking and smoking marijuana when she was 12. By the time she was 16, she was using heroin.
For the next several years, Cowden was in and out of jail and rehab facilities. She gave up parental rights to her two children.
“Erich (Curnow, now director of clinical and case management services for WDAC) stood by me through years of relapse. I knew I could go to him when I needed help,” she said. “Three-and-a-half years ago, I was at my bottom. My spirit was broken. I called him and told him I was hiding from my parole officer. I told him I didn’t want to go to jail. I didn’t want to do this anymore.”
Curnow helped Cowden get into a treatment program. She has rebuilt the relationship with her family.
“I wasn’t destined to be that broken girl, stealing from my family. I was destined to help other people, to be a mom and a sister and a daughter. It’s still a struggle. I make that decision every day to stay clean, to not go back there.”
Cowden and a group from Washington County met with state legislatures, including Rep. Brandon Neuman, D-North Strabane, and Sen. Camera Bartolotta, R-Carroll, to talk about their recoveries.
Neuman told the group state departments have started to work together to combat the opioid epidemic and urged those in recovery to speak out.
“I’ve heard more success stories than I ever imagined,” said Neuman. “That’s why it’s important to hear them. I don’t know if the public knows how many success stories there are.”
Some participants, including Ashley Cover, 31, advised Neuman on legislative changes that would aid the recovery community.
Cover, who moved from Johnstown to Washington for recovery, said finding a job is difficult for people with a criminal record. She asked why forgiveness programs for recovering addicts aren’t in place for all occupations as they are for nurses and doctors.
“I have a lot of friends who came from nothing and rebuilt their lives. As human beings, we should want people to be their best,” she said.
“For us, as policy makers, you have to talk to us, As well-intended as we make a piece of legislation, we don’t know what you do,” Neuman said. “We’re not where we need to be in terms of stigma. But, in the past three years, we’ve grown exponentially.”
Cover said while the stigma of being an “addict” has improved, “We have a cloud around us that we’re no good.”
“People talk about addicts like we’re not even human beings,” she said. “We all have a heartbeat.”
Discrimination was a frequent topic of speakers like State Rep. Edward Gainey, D-Allegheny, who addressed a crowd of advocates in the building’s main rotunda.
“We have to turn the state of Pennsylvania into a recovery state. We can’t put stigmas on people. We have to be on the forefront,” Gainey said. “The strongest people I ever met in my life are people who come back from drug addiction.”