Stories
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Liz’s Story: Families & Long-Term Recovery
I am Liz Tankel and the parent of a person in long-term recovery. I am an activist and advocate for families impacted by the opioid epidemic in my home state of Pennsylvania. Before I share my family’s story, I need to acknowledge that my family had every advantage in dealing with this problem. As a…
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SAFE Campuses Spotlight: Fighting for Collegiate Recovery with Lina & Sahr
For Lina Abdalla and Sahr Johnny collegiate recovery isn’t just a job or hobby, it saved their lives. Together they run the collegiate recovery program (CRP) at the University of Massachusetts – Boston (UMB), like colleges and universities across the country they have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and are struggling to keep connected with students…
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SAFE Campuses Spotlight: Lilinoe Kauahikaua
For Lilinoe Kauahikaua, the Program Coordinator for the Mālama Project at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa and Collegiate Recovery Leadership Academy participate, recovery means more than just working to overcome substance use disorder, for her, it was about reconnecting with her roots and culture. Learn about Lilinoe’s healing journey and how she’s working to help other students in…
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Amy’s Story: Families Recover Too
You might be sitting here asking yourself why didn’t this girl just leave him? Well I’m here to tell you, I fought Alex’s addiction right beside him, but I often felt that I was fighting harder than he was. Trying to help someone struggling, you often break your own heart because eventually you realize you’ve…
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Alex’s Story
Addiction is a special kind of hell. It takes the soul of the addict and breaks the hearts of everyone who loves them. In 2020, it’s been three years since losing my husband Alex, and for some reason this year has been harder than the two before. Grief hits me at such odd times, I…
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Jay’s Story: Why I Carry Narcan…Everywhere
We first met Jay Shifman when he volunteered with SAFE’s Naloxone Awareness Project, helping to promote awareness of Naloxone and help people find it in their communities. But Jay does more than just promote this lifesaving drug – it goes everywhere he does! Narcan/Naloxone comes with an unintended additional purchase, stigma … but the more…
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Beth’s Story: If I had Known
“I lost my youngest son Joe on June 24 of 2017 to a heroin overdose. He was 32 years old.” – Beth French When a death is caused by addiction, a parent is left with many questions, and I asked myself most all of them: Was this a suicide? How did this happen? Why did I…
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Recovery Month: I am a Peer Recovery Specialist
“I am a Certified Peer Recovery Specialist. If you choose to have me as a part of your prevention, treatment and recovery team, you can expect something different.“ By Becky Sterling You can turn to a counselor for much needed advice based upon well studied research about what most people can expect and how that…
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Daniel’s Story: Getting Out of My Own Way
“My life slowly became everything I wanted it to be. The key part of it was getting out of my own way.” I grew up with every opportunity a person could dream of. I had successful and supportive parents, I had absolutely every need provided for me and I had no extreme trauma as a kid.…
