Meridians Recovery Annual

Run for Recovery

I am happy to say that 2019 was quite exciting seeing as we hosted our Meridians Recovery inaugural 5K 10K fundraiser at Algonkian Regional Park. We raised $23,000 throughout the year as a result of this effort with the help of friends, supporters, sponsors, and grantors. 17 volunteers came out and Phyllis Randal spoke at the opening ceremony. There was also a last minute drone videographer who shot some wonderful footage of the event and John Burton, one of our Board members, took some great photographs. Spring of 2020 the women's recovery house will finally be opened for women in recovery in Loudoun County.

This event, being annual, will always be on the last Saturday during September, September being Recovery Month. Addiction is quite misunderstood, even among those that suffer, their loved ones and those of us that live and work in community with them. The medical community has been experiencing a restructuring of current approaches due to ongoing research. Many believe that addicts and others with addictive behaviors lack morals and discipline, but make no mistake, addiction even changes the structure of the neurons in our brains.

Addiction is a treatable, chronic medical disease involving complex interactions among brain circuits, genetics, the environment, and an individual’s life experiences. People with addiction use substances or engage in behaviors that become compulsive and often continue despite harmful consequences. 

Prevention efforts and treatment approaches for addiction are generally as successful as those for other chronic diseases. 

Adopted by the ASAM Board of Directors September 15, 2019

There is a tremendous movement going on in the field of addiction medicine that now includes professionalized peers, that are in long-term recovery, working in concert with other addictionologists. Research has finally provided proof to the medical community what people in recovery have known for years, we recover best in community with others. States, like Virginia, are scrambling to respond to the opiate epidemic. These governing bodies have issued  mandates that the community health offices have on staff, CPRS, Certified Peer Recovery Specialists, to combat addiction and, it seems many suffering with other serious mental health disabilities respond well to Peers working on their treatment teams as well.

For the last 8 years Meridians Recovery has employed this Peer approach to its recovery programming with astounding results. Currently there are no recovery houses, for women, in Loudoun County. Our efforts at Meridians Recovery are to open a women's recovery house with integrated sober living beds as well as residential programming. We have maintained success rates in excess of 4X the National average for clinical based programs. All services at our place are self-pay, as insurance companies are not mandated to support services provided at solely Peer run facilities, yet. I am happy to say that it looks like Virginia is headed in that direction, with the help of some adamant lobbyists, but it will most likely take years to get there. The women have a harder time developing a recovery lifestyle once they have arrived at an impasse with their disease.

The same reason women struggle more than men is also the same reason why we need more women's recovery options. Women often have stronger ties to family and they depend sometimes rely on survival instincts that helped them navigate the lifestyle, communities, and behaviors associated with their disease. It takes time to develop new strategies and coping mechanisms. Sometimes the ladies do not stay in recovery houses very long. The client based fees collected usually are not enough to maintain a fiscally self-supporting recovery program. This fundraiser is our plan to provide a future of sustainable recovery programming in Loudoun County that will serve Northern Virginia and the surrounding area.

Run for Recovery