Addiction and the holidays: What to know about loved ones during challenging time
The holiday season is the perfect time for families and friends to come together and exchange gifts. For many, the weeks-long stretch from Thanksgiving to New Year's is a welcomed distraction from routines, including time off from work or school and an opportunity to reconnect with loved ones after months apart.
For people struggling with addiction, those moments are also the re-introduction of stressors or opportunities to fall back on bad habits.
“Christmas, Christmas Eve all the way up to New Year's is a huge time where people actually often relapse back from recovery,” said Andrew Rosenbarker, a recovering addict from Johnson City who is currently pastor of Two Rivers Church in Corning.
“Family members often say we have to go out and have one final celebration to end out the year on a happy note," Rosenbarker said, "but they often don’t have their family member's recovery in mind.”
Holidays can be the toughest time
“A lot of people who have a drug addiction for a long time are estranged from their family,” said Brandon Beuter, a former drug user and a certified recovery peer advocate at AIM Independent Living Center and Chairman of the Steuben County Opioid Committee. “They often don’t really see their family or have no family involvement. So, the holiday season is just another stressor.”
Beuter said family members often reach out once a year, sending gift cards or money. Sometimes, that's not the best idea.
“Drug dealers are making a killing around holiday time,” Beuter said. “I think it's just important that you let people know that there has been an increase of other drug substances causing overdoses, not just opioids. Press pills, fentanyl being in marijuana, fentanyl being in cocaine."
Citing ODMAP, an online tracking program, Beuter said overdoses trended upward in 2022. This year, there have been 534 reported overdoses in Broome County, 76 of them fatal, a 41% increase in deaths from the year before, according to Beuter.
In Steuben County, there have been 278 reported overdoses, a 5% increase from 2021. With a week left in 2022, the 11 fatal ODs is four fewer than last year.
ODMAP is updated daily in Broome and Steuben counties, using data from 911 services, sheriff's departments and local police agencies, Beuter said. Chemung County does not update its data on the site. The data is available only to public safety and public health organizations.
“For many, it’s a tough time,” he said. “It’s a lot of things. It’s holiday time. Not being in a place that you want to be and feeling more depressed because you can't spend the time with family or you don't have family that's involved enough to spend that time.”
Rosenbarker said family members and friends should be mindful of recovering addicts and their surroundings through the holiday season.
“Just because they're family and friends doesn't mean you have to put yourself in a position that takes you back into relapsing,” Rosenbarker said. “People should just be mindful (that) having a drink in front of them can introduce them back to the addiction world. Sometimes when you get drunk you start looking for harder things, so just be mindful of that.”
Holiday messages:Jewish leaders turn to message of Hanukkah to fight antisemitism
Keeping warm:As home heating bills increase, Southern Tier families may qualify for help
Public money:Funding targets Broome County eyesores, new housing: Here's how the money will be spent
Recovering addicts make good partners
Wanda Earley began smoking crack cocaine shortly after moving to Avoca in Steuben County when she was 26. On Jan. 1, the 53-year-old Vestal native will be eight years sober and she's found a career as a Steuben County Certified Recovery Peer Advocate. The holidays, she said, always present a challenge for addicts.
“Because the guilt or what people call the ethics,” Earley said. “They get, I can’t do anything anyway. I’m a loser. I suck at life. I can’t help my kids. I don’t have my family anyways. So what good am I?"
What was her response?
“So why don’t you look at the good stuff?” she said. “I am all about looking at the positive side. Please look at the five good things and forget about the 20 bad things. I just want people to look at one positive thing to focus on, the one positive thing because that's what's going to get you through, just that one positive thing.”
Earley called herself "a functioning addict" for 17 years before the last three years of her addiction, when "It was pure hell. I was a real mess. I was doing things I wouldn't normally do., I wasn't working. I didn't have my kids around.”
"I don’t know how to explain it other than I was slowly failing in life. But I didn’t realize it and I didn’t believe it. I was thinking that I was doing OK while my life was falling apart around me.”
Earley then turned toward the Steuben County Alcohol and Substance Abuse Service.
“I used to hate the people that I work for now and I love them now," she said.
Looking for help for addiction? Try these resources
Narcotics Anonymous Zoom meetings are held regularly.
A general list of NA meeting times and locations can be found at na.org/meetingsearch. An AA meeting list can be found at aa.org. Each lists virtual meeting times and dates.
The New York State HOPEline is available 24 hours per day, every day, at 877-846-7369. All calls are confidential.
This article originally appeared on Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin: Holidays a difficult time for people in recovery: How to help
