Families in Recovery

The economy is bad and getting worse. Jobs are being lost. And the financial and familial pressures of the holidays are fast approaching. For most of society, life is feeling tense. For people from alcoholic homes and homes with mental health issues, chances are good that things are getting downright awful. I want to explore the impacts of this potential issue in the Rochester community.

A recent study in Illinois has shown that hospitals are seeing both a surge in demand and limited facilities to meet these demands. People seeking the specialized help offered in hospitals are being sent to alternate facilities and more likely than not, ultimately getting fewer services or no services at all.

This is a triple whammy.

Whammy 1: the organizations that count on government and philanthropic dollars to treat people with alcohol/drug and mental health disorders are finding a rapidly drying well.

Whammy 2: at the same time, this is the very population most vulnerable and therefore most in need during this crisis.

Whammy 3: this nets out to more and more people and families in dire need of help and not getting it, with more spouses and kids in a seemingly hopeless situation. This leads to more problems in these families (higher divorce, increase substance abuse, greater rates of depression and suicide) which require more resources to be treated. This takes us back to Whammy 1 – the resources are drying up to help them.

What a mess – a painful, vicious cycle of a mess. At Families in Recovery, we are working on a plan to help the people from these families in the Rochester community. My organization will offer the education, the information and knowledge to help people understand and learn to cope with their family’s problems.

As I look at the larger trends in society towards fewer treatment resources, I can’t help but wonder how much worse this will get. There are many well run, important organizations in the Rochester region whose purpose is to treat those with alcohol and drug problems. But if their financial resources dry up, where will they go for the funding necessary to keep doing their important work?

The ripple effects of a failure to fund this work will be felt throughout our community. Just because the dollars go away does not mean that the problems do – just the opposite.