NWAMHC’s Awakening Recovery program is working to transform lives burdened by addiction

The outpatient substance abuse treatment program aims to enrich lives through quality care.

Words by Jenny Lynn Davis | Images by Al Blanton

Addiction can be like a vicious tornado, creating a path of destruction and damage in its wake. 

Relationships with loved ones, the ability to meet commitments and hold down jobs, and many more integral parts of a healthy and happy life are all negatively impacted by addiction. 

In a county significantly affected by opiate and amphetamine use disorders, Northwest Alabama Mental Health Center’s (NWAMHC) Awakening Recovery program seeks to help those suffering from this destructive disease.

Awakening Recovery opened its doors in 2018 in conjunction with the expansion of substance abuse services tied to a federal grant. The grant was for medication-assisted treatment from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). 

Since day one, the program’s clinicians, counselors, and recovery support specialists have sought to improve the quality of life for Walker Countians struggling with addiction. Awakening Recovery offers outpatient substance use treatment services for adults and adolescents, with continuing care services offered to all participants after successful completion of behavioral treatment.

“When someone comes through our doors and their life is wrecked because of their behaviors in active addiction, we help them figure out a path to get back on track,” says Gwen Thomas-LeBlanc, NWAMHC’s Director of Substance Abuse Services. “If we can help get someone to the point where they are staying away from using the substances that brought them here, we have the ability to help provide them tools to find ways to deal with the situations that drove them to the substances in the first place.”

Those tools range from medication-assisted treatment to psychoeducation in areas like stress and anger management and coping skills. Awakening Recovery also relies on group and individual therapy sessions to help clients navigate their roads to recovery.

“In our groups, we use evidence-based curriculum. It’s not just sitting around and sharing stories, it’s learning about the brain’s reaction to drug use,” says Thomas-LeBlanc. “Of course, there's the sharing of personal experiences, too, because we all learn from others, but it is important that the program participants understand what is actually going on in their brains and how they can work to make it better.”

While group therapy addresses the common threads in all addictions, individual therapy is reserved for each client’s personal traumas. “Some topics just aren’t meant for a group setting, and that’s where individual therapy comes in,” Thomas-LeBlanc says. “The individual sessions are more helpful to a participant for processing the issues that led them to the place they are. Those things are then listed in their treatment plan so we can ensure they are getting the best help they need.”

The help offered by Awakening Recovery doesn’t stop with clinical assistance. Clinicians, counselors, and recovery support specialists all work to provide a wide array of information in sessions—from the brain’s response to drugs to overdose prevention education.  Any services not offered at Awakening Recovery result in referrals to locations that provide access to treatment services. The program even helps participants to find jobs.

“One of the biggest challenges many folks face when they come to us is the struggle to find a job. So, we have a job board that we are constantly updating, and we have a computer with internet access available for anyone to use to submit applications,” says Thomas-LeBlanc. 

But it’s more than just the logistical aspect of job-seeking. Thomas-LeBlanc says the center encourages people to take a chance on themselves, to work through fear and become emotionally prepared to submit applications. “And then, regardless of whether they are rejected or hired for a position, we help them cope with that feeling so they don’t turn to the substances that got them here to begin with,” she says. 

One participant’s life did a 180-degree transformation during his time with Awakening Recovery, Thomas-LeBlanc reflects. She says when the client first arrived, his family wanted nothing to do with him because his relationships had been so damaged related to the behaviors of active addiction. “By the time he discharged from us, through our services and through participation in recovery support services outside the treatment arena, he had mended those relationships, gotten himself out of legal trouble, completed monitoring for the legal issues, and got a job where he consistently showed up and proved his ability to work,” she says. 

Thomas-LeBlanc adds that he learned to care for himself physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually, and it turned his life around. 

“That’s what we want to achieve with everyone who seeks our help,” Thomas-LeBlanc says. 78 

Northwest Alabama Mental Health Center’s Awakening Recovery program engages resources and community partners to facilitate access to appropriate comprehensive services for people overcoming addictions. All services are provided on a sliding fee scale based on income. No one will be denied services. If you or someone you know is in need of the services provided by Awakening Recovery, visit http://www.nwamhc.com/outpatient-and-crisis-residential-services/ or call 205-295-2336.