SMART Recovery offers help, hope to those in need

The Braidwood Area Healthy Community Coalition (BAHCC) has helped bring another program to the area, providing recovery assistance for those who battle with substance use disorder.

Self-Management and Recovery Training (SMART) Recovery is a new program being offered by the BAHCC, providing both in-person and online recovery meetings for individuals, as well as their families and friends.

SMART Recovery addresses harmful habits and behaviors including alcohol and drug addiction, as well as negative behaviors related to relationships, sex, spending, gambling, eating and exercise disorders, and self-injury.

Danita Morgan is a recovery coach and facilitator with SMART Recovery. Morgan works closely with the BAHCC on recovery efforts, as a way to pay it back from her own experiences.

After years of struggling with bipolar disorder, heroin addiction, and dealing with the loss of her son, Morgan went into recovery in 2019.

In the fall of that year, she turned herself in to the Braidwood Police Department for a non-violent offense she had committed, and was helped by the department. She later participated in and graduated from the Will County Mental Health Court program, and promptly began giving back to others.

The SMART Recovery program is the latest community program that Morgan and the BAHCC have been able to bring specifically to the city of Braidwood for those who need help with addiction and other behavioral issues, as well as their families.

The program provides practical tools to deal with addiction or harmful habits based on cognitive and motivational psychology and addiction research. SMART Recovery is designed to help individuals make and sustain positive changes that can lead to a balanced life.

SMART Recovery is a non-profit organization that operates under specific principles:
• Help individuals gain independence from addictive behavior.
• Teach how to enhance and maintain motivation; cope with urges; manage thoughts, feelings, and behaviors; and live a balanced life.
• Base efforts on scientific knowledge and evolve as scientific knowledge evolves.
• Provide opportunities for Individuals who have gained independence from addictive behavior to stay involved to enhance their gains and help others.

Support meetings reach participants learn how to develop and implement their own recovery plan to create a more balanced, purposeful, fulfilling, and meaningful life through use of a four point program: 1. Build and maintain motivation; 2. Cope with urges; 3. Manage thoughts, feelings, and behaviors; and 4, Live a balanced life.

Developed in 1994, the science-based program emphasizes self-reliance, self-resilience, and self-empowerment, allowing participants to take an active role in their recovery with no requirement for commitment to any specific program.

SMART Recovery programs are designed for individuals and family and friends, as well as treatment professionals, courts, corrections officers, young adults, veterans, first responders, and volunteers.

SMART Recovery serves 1 million people per year in more than 20 countries.

SMART Recovery meetings for individuals take place on Mondays from 7-8:30 p.m. at the Braidwood Park District Old Smokey Community Building, 245 W. First St. in Braidwood.
Meetings for Family and Friends take place on Wednesdays also from 7-8:30 p.m.

For more information, contact Morgan at 815-483-4001 or danitamorgan.recovery@gmail.com

Additional meetings and schedules can be found online at www.smartrecovery.org.

The service is sponsored by the BAHCC, which operates on grant funding, donations and volunteer work, and is in the last of its five year federal Drug Free Communities grant to achieve the coalition’s objectives of recruitment, retention, increasing youth involvement, sustainability plans, and increasing local resources for substance abuse prevention.

In addition to providing community resources, the BAHCC also hosts a community garden outside its center on Reed Street, sponsors students who attend the Cebrin Goodman Teen Institute, and holds workshops on mental health with community partners including 515 Fitness from Coal City.

The coalition also works with the Will County Rapid Response Team to distribute Narcan to local community, supports the Text-A-Tip line in partnership with the Wilmington Coalition, and hosts the bi-annual drug takeback event, among other community activities.