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Maintain Your Recovery During the Pandemic

The stress of COVID-19 can present many challenges to those who are in recovery. In particular, social distancing is limiting people’s ability to get support from friends, family, and support groups.

Connection to others in recovery is a big part of the solution for many in recovery. Meetings make people feel supported and understood in ways nothing or no one else can. With much of the world under orders to quarantine or shelter in place, people in recovery can struggle to maintain a connection to their support groups. The good news is many recovery groups are scheduling virtual meetings, and that number is increasing each day.

Below are links to information about virtual 12-step and non-12-step meetings. These meetings take place in a variety of ways: over the phone, in online community posting forums, in social media groups, and through video.

Also, if you have a sponsor, peer specialist, or other special relationship, maintain that connection through text, email, phone, and FaceTime, or Skype.

12-Step Programs 

  • Alcoholics Anonymous (AA; aa.org): For regularly scheduled virtual meetings, visit aa-intergroup.org and click on Online Meetings.
  • Narcotics Anonymous (NA; na.org): For regularly scheduled virtual meetings, visit www.na.org/meetingsearch. In the NA Meeting Search box on the right, select “Phone” or “Web” in the Country field drop-down list.
  • Al-Anon (for families and friends of alcoholics; al-anon.org): For regularly scheduled virtual meetings, visit al-anon.org/al-anon-meetings/electronic-meetings.

 

Other Programs

Some in recovery prefer non-12 step programs. Listed below are a few organizations who provide virtual support.

  • SMART Recovery (for people with addictive problems; smartrecovery.org): To find online forums and meetings, visit www.smartrecovery.org/smart-recovery-toolbox/smart-recovery-online.
  • Women for Sobriety (for women facing issues of alcohol or drug addiction; org): For information on the online community, visit wfsonline.org.

 

For more information and tips, visit MagellanHealthcare.com/COVID-19.

 




The Lived Experience Factor in Fighting the Opioid Epidemic

“Strung out. Looking for the next fix. A full time job that doesn’t pay, but just takes.”

That’s how one of Magellan’s Recovery Support Navigators defined her addiction to opiates. She has since overcome the stranglehold of addiction and is now in long term recovery.  Her experiences, and those of her fellow Recovery Support Navigators, provide the credibility needed to influence their peers who are still struggling with addiction and mental illness that recovery is possible and that desperation does not have to define a life.

An estimated 20.2 million Americans live with a substance use disorder[1]. That’s the population of my home state of Florida. Of that, 2.1 million Americans live with an opioid disorder. Similar to serious mental illnesses, substance use disorders can be difficult to address. Those with the lived experience of walking the path from hopelessness to wellness are experts at engaging individuals with the services and supports that foster the recovery process. Stories of changed lives are not the only proof.

A January 2018 study of our internal recovery support navigation program at Magellan Health found statistically significant improvements for individuals living with substance use and mental health disorders. A key component of the Magellan’s internal peer support program is meeting people where they are. The first engagement with members often happens in an emergency room, inpatient setting, or on the streets. Members then choose where future meet-ups happen. Often, that choice is in the comfort of their own home.  If they are experiencing homelessness, the member chooses a safe place.

The study compared utilization of services six months prior to receiving peer support services and six months following the completion of peer support services. Seventy-five percent of the members in the study had a co-occurring mental health and substance use disorder and 50 percent had a co-occurring substance use disorder, mood disorder and psychotic disorder. The study found that members in Magellan’s internal peer support program cost the health plan significantly less in the six months following completion of the peer support program than members who only had care management or who did not receive any intervention from the health plan. The study also found that six months after completing peer services, peer support decreased emergency room and inpatient hospitalizations.

The role modeling by a peer specialist of a life lived well in recovery is evidence for the individual struggling that there can be long term sustainment of recovery. In addition, the data from this study replicates prior findings that peer support has a lasting impact on the lives of those living with substance use and mental health disorders.

[1] Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (2017). Mental and substance use disorders. Retrieved from https://www.samhsa.gov/disorders