Community support most important factor in N.W.T. addiction recovery, recent study says

Support from family and friends is the most important factor in recovering from addiction, a recently published report shows.  

The study, published in the International Journal of Circumpolar Health on June 10, used a mixture of online and paper surveys to determine the type of barriers people living in the Northwest Territories face when accessing addiction recovery services.

It examined a total of 439 responses from youth and adults, men and women and Indigenous and non-Indigenous participants. 

Researchers found that a lack of support from friends and family was one of the main obstacles to successful addiction recovery. Conversely, individuals with a supportive community often recovered successfully. 

Another factor that played into healing from addiction was cultural involvement in the process.  

"People did talk a lot about wanting things that were close to home, that could involve the entire family in their healing, and were rooted in their culture as being very important,"  said Bree Denning, a PhD candidate and also a research associate at the Aurora Research Institute. She is also a co-author of the report. 

Currently, there are no formal addiction treatment facilities available in the Northwest Territories. 

This means that individuals in search of a facility to access services must travel to a southern province for care. 

Jayda Jackson was one such person. She left the Northwest Territories and traveled to Toronto where she received addiction recovery support. She has now been sober for a year and eight months. 

Before this, Jackson had attempted recovery multiple times while living in the N.W.T., but didn't have the community support that she needed to succeed.

"I was completely alone. I didn't have anyone to turn to," she said. "I didn't know anyone who had recovered from drugs that I could turn to for help. There was no one." 

Jackson said judgment from others is often a large deterrent for people seeking help.

"It's hard to be open about being a drug addict. There's so much shame, there's so much guilt, there's so much judgment. I think the judgment is the one that really pushes buttons in areas that just kind of break us down," she said. 

Jackson is now focused on strengthening community support for addiction recovery. She is developing an aftercare program for people returning home to N.W.T. from treatment facilities in the South. It would combine what she learned in rehabilitation, such as the 12-step program, while also focusing on her own Dene culture and reconnecting people with the land. 

Other places in the N.W.T. have also begun addressing the need for stronger recovery support. 

Communities including Norman Wells, Inuvik and Fort Simpson, have held celebrations for people living in sobriety or returning to their community after treatment, the report said. 

Denning suggests there are also other ways to support addiction recovery, such as cutting down on liquor store hours, not selling alcohol in grocery stores and having more activities in the community that don't involve drugs or alcohol.

"When people talk about their successful recovery, they talk about family relationships, relationships with friends, relationships with people in recovery, as being the most important factor," Denning said.