By Crystal McGough, Editor
CLAY – Faith United Methodist Church, located at 7315 Old Springville Road in Clay, will be hosting a Community Addiction Forum on Saturday, July 15. Members of the community are invited to come and learn about different forms of addiction and trauma that can affect anyone, and any family, regardless of age, race or social status.
“Our intent is to provide the community information, resources, and tools that will help people face the challenges of all kinds of addictions, including hurts, bad habits, and hang-ups,” said Joe Hobby, one of the Celebrate Recovery leaders at Faith United Methodist Church. “We have secured a number of excellent resources, including the Sheriff of Jefferson County; a family counselor specializing in drug use; a recovering addict; and representatives from Bradford (Health Services), the Addiction Prevention Coalition, and Celebrate Recovery.”
The event will begin with a light breakfast at 8:30 a.m., followed by guest speakers from 9 a.m. to noon.
“We did this about seven years ago and it was pretty successful,” Hobby said “We have six well-respected people who are going to talk about addiction. With the growing danger of drugs such as fentanyl, it is more important to give our citizens all the information, resources, and hope that we can muster. Seven years ago, we did not have to worry about fentanyl. Now, fentanyl is a major problem.
“If I had a kid in high school, or even middle school, I would want to know about what’s going on and what my kids are seeing and facing,” he added. “Especially with fentanyl because it doesn’t play. You could take one dose of fentanyl and it just be the perfect high, then you could take another dose and die. It doesn’t discriminate based on age, money, race, anything.”
While drug and alcohol abuse are certainly big factors in addiction recovery programs, Hobby said that recovery and 12-Step programs like Celebrate Recovery address much more.
“It’s not just about drug abuse or alcohol abuse. It’s about hurts, habits and hang-ups,” he said. “If you’re angry with your parents … if you haven’t forgiven your brother or sister, if you hate your divorced (spouse), these are all things that need to be addressed in your life. It’s a lot more than alcohol and that’s what we try to tell everybody.”
Hobby said that he believes everyone could benefit from going through the 12 Steps.
“You learn a lot about yourself,” he said. “Some of it you don’t want to learn about, but if you’re brave enough to go through it and take a strong look at yourself, it will help you. It will help anybody.”
Community Addiction Forum information and itinerary:
Location: Faith United Methodist Church 7315 Old Springville Road. (Note: your GPS may show Trussville, but the location is Clay, Alabama.)
8:30 AM – Continental Breakfast
9:00 AM – Polly McClure – Welcome
9:10 – Mark Pettway, Sheriff – Jefferson County – An overview of drugs in our community
9:30 – Danna Perdue Melton, Family Counselor – Drug abuse and its effect on the family
9:50 – Break. During this time, speakers will be available to answer questions
10:15 – Dorian Young, speaker, recovering addict – A message of hope
10:30 – Marbi McCann, Bradford Health Services – Inpatient and outpatient services
10:50 – Tyler Currier, Addiction Prevention Coalition – Additional services / information
11:10 – Shan Odom – Pastor 1st Methodist Trussville – Treatment for more than addiction
11:30 – Panel discussion / group Q &A
Noon – dismissal.
Local Celebrate Recovery Meetings:
Trussville – Tuesdays, 6 p.m. dinner; 6:30 p.m. worship followed by small groups
Clay – Thursdays, 6 p.m. dinner; 6:30 p.m. worship followed by small groups
Springville – Fridays, 6 p.m. dinner; 7 p.m. worship/large group; 8:15 p.m. small groups
