Students, Texans rally for recovery

Crowds gathered for the Big Texas Rally for Recovery to bring together individuals and groups from all over Texas to celebrate those who are living successfully in recovery from alcohol and drug addiction and to send a message to those who have not yet found recovery that hope is out there on Oct. 1 at the State Capitol.

The rally was put together by Texas Recovers, a non-profit group based out of Austin that offers community support and education for those affected by addiction. Other sponsors of the rally were the Association for People Affected by Addiction, Benchmark Recovery Center and Right Step Spirit Lodge, among others.

The event kicked off at 4 o'clock to perfect weather with the rally commentator, Neil Scott, who hosts the radio show Recovery Coast to Coast. Scott got the crowd pretty pumped with messages like "Say it loud, say it proud ‘I am in recovery!'"

The first speaker of the day was Thomas "Hollywood" Henderson, a former Dallas Cowboys player and spokesman for recovery centers across the country. Hollywood spoke very candidly about his public experiences with drugs and alcohol. He gave witty but very real accounts of his long recovery process. Henderson has since made many films and PSAs about recovery.

This is the first year for the Big Texas Rally for Recovery, and the first ever state-wide celebration in Texas. It brings to light a very important topic: addiction is a disease, not a crime; and it is not something that people should have to battle alone. The project coordinator for the rally, Paula Heller-Garland, wanted the rally to happen on the steps of the state capitol to hopefully gain the attention of legislators and make them hear the stories of recovery.

"I think [the current legislative policy] punishes people for having a disease. I'm not opposed to people having consequences for engaging in criminal activities, but they incarcerate them instead of rehabilitating them…and that has to change," Ms. Heller-Garland stated over the phone.

In the state of Texas, for every dollar spent on incarcerating someone for addiction or drug-related issues, 96 cents is spent on social services that come with addiction such as food stamps, welfare, etc. and many believe that this needs to improve drastically.

One group that is helping to make this change locally is Austin Community College's own student club, the Social and Human Services Club (SHS).

Based at Rio Grande campus, SHS has provided information on drug abuse and dependency, as well as offered many vital resources for those that wish to seek help.

Last semester, SHS offered an alcohol auditing screen for students that was free and completely anonymous.

Students answered a few questions about their alcohol use, and SHS members would score the answers and determine if there was a potential for abuse and could possibly give the student in question the proper recourse and send them in the right direction for help.

September was National Recovery Month when individuals are encouraged to celebrate recovery, but where groups for recovery explain that there are possibly 2 million people out there who are still living with addiction.

"Recovery is possible," Ms. Heller-Garland told anyone who feels they are still trapped in this position. "It's a good and happy life, not a miserable existence sitting alone in a room without drugs or alcohol. And there are so many people who have been there before, you can seek out a group or organization and people like themselves. Just don't give up."

Pilar Lozano, President of the Social and Human Services club at ACC, shared similar words of encouragement.

"They can do it, it's been done before and it can be done again," Lozano said. "There's a huge community out there for people in need of recovery, there's help."

For many at the rally, it was a celebration of their own success in recovery. Beth Schnabel, who was carrying a sign that read "For me, life began March 3rd 2005" spoke openly about what recovery meant for her.

"It's like I had been living in black and white," Schnabel said. "All of the sudden, I had to pull of the side of the road, I could see in color. I got out of my car and was just looking at the sky and the flowers and was like ‘oh my gosh.' I had changed at that point."