Consistency and community are the cornerstones of sobriety for many on the path to recovery. For participants in West Virginia’s Drug Court system, the stability that comes with such an intensive, out-patient program was in jeopardy as courts closed -- a judicial emergency was declared for West Virginia on March 22.
These programs are “an innovative and effective solution to addressing substance use within the criminal court system,” according to the National Drug Court Resource Center. “As the name implies, drug courts are specifically for persons with substance use disorders. These court programs offer individuals the opportunity to enter long-term drug treatment and agree to court supervision rather than receiving a jail sentence.”
Drug Court participants maintain intensive out-patient treatment that allows them to recover while working, building their skill sets and taking on key responsibilities like parenting, finances, education and more. The first program began in 1989, in Miami-Dade County Florida as incarceration levels skyrocketed beyond capacity.
It was a Wednesday or Thursday when Michael J. Aloi-- a U.S. Magistrate Judge for the Northern District of West Virginia in Clarksburg-- found out the work-from-home order could mean halting Drug Court treatment.
“It kept me up at night,” Aloi said. “I mean, these are some of the most vulnerable people already. They’re not going to be getting treatment as they normally do and now we all have these additional stressors without any of the help they need? I thought, ‘Oh my God, what are we going to do?’”
Jill Henline, U.S. Probation Officer and coordinator of the Northern District Drug Court, jumped into action. All it took was a Zoom account and solving any access-
to-technology issues for the participants, though there weren’t many.
“We’re in a unique position for our court because we’ve been pushing phones and emails with our participants all along,” Henline said. “Being a responsible adult and having a phone, having a phone plan, having the data, you need that for your regular life. You have to apply for jobs online. You just need this kind of thing.”
Nonetheless, the current Drug Court participants have a story to tell that isn’t one of vulnerability at all; instead, it’s one that’s quite inspiring. This particular group has been together for a while now without many transitions, with the most recent participants joining in December and January.
The group calls have had anywhere between 5-20+ participants, along with recovery coaches, community advocates and the Aloi/Henline team together. Other meetings were phase-based check-ins that allowed one-on-one with conversations discussing the responses to recovery work going virtual.
Names won’t be used for privacy reasons, but here are the sentiments I found really moving in my conversations with the participants about their experience in recovery as the pandemic has unfolded.
Q: What has “going to meetings” been like when you’re stuck at home?
A: “For me, it’s been cool because there are so many out there to choose from, so I’ve been going to international ones. You can go to the NA (Narcotics Anonymous) website and find like the in-person groups they’ve switched all over to online so it’s a new chance to meet new people.
Q: Have you been able to meet new people as a result of online meetings?
A: I've met a lot of new people who do all the different meetings because I haven't done any of the local meetings that we have. They're all like, off the NA and Celebrate Recovery websites. I've met a lot of new people because I have a couple of like support groups on Facebook. So I've met a lot of new people all together throughout all this. It's not specifically alcoholic or narcotics or anything like that. It's just addicts like recovering, addicts just joining together trying to get through all this.
Q: So you're a mom at home, trying to help your kids with their homework. How has all that been working?
A: A lot of breakdowns, got to the point where I had to start paying my little brother to help [my daughter]. Because I just couldn't do it. Like, I didn't understand it. He just now taught me how to read the messages from the teachers. I’m just hitting Google and I don’t know how to do it. Now she’s getting the hang of it too, like she's actually seeing her grades go up and she's like, ‘Oh, maybe I can do this.’ Oh, well, it's stressful. I mean, none of us have done it before, for parents with their children. And it is hard but it also feels really good and encouraging when you say you can do it. And it gives us a lot of time to spend together like she has this extra project where we have to find recyclables around the apartment and she has to make me something for Mother's Day. So I think that's the time for us to bond, too. I haven't gotten Mother's Day stuff for a few years now so I'm really looking forward to it.
Q: What do you think about the whole online transition?
A: Yeah, I'm just trying to be patient. I'm just ready for Drug Court to start back up. I guess I've missed everyone. Yeah. I actually enrolled in three college courses I've been doing for the past two weeks. Two from Harvard, one from Berkeley, and you get the certificate and all for doing it. It’s free, too, because of COVID. So anyway that's what I've been doing. I didn't know if anybody knew that but there are over a thousand free college courses. Right now I'm taking psychology and social psychology and then the Opioid Crisis in America.
Q: How has online work been going for you?
A: I like it online. I'm simply a loner or I mean, I like being alone you know, so then with my son, it's easier for me. And there are a lot more opportunities since it's online now, I think. It makes it easier. More accessible.
Q: What has your experience been parenting through this?
A: I just really appreciate it more because before like, I felt like I was just getting the hang of getting back into everything, but I was getting frustrated really easily. And I think it's helped us both grow in that aspect of like, both misunderstanding each other but just coming together and working together. I don't know like it’s given me a much better bond with my kids. Like it's just it's really nice.
And, finally, one of the participants shared, unprompted, his thoughts on the social norm that people are usually meaner behind screens. In terms of recovery, though, he thinks it has made him more truthful, honest and open. Some of the other participants echoed this aloud, some posting the “thumbs-up” emoji to their screen.
The overall sentiment was clear: the spare time to focus on recovery, to take a pause on normal life stressors and to still be connected with their community keeps the team moving forward. Aloi says the tight-knit group has proven to be extremely beneficial through these trying times, saying “fortunately, for us, we have people that have been involved with us for a while. They know our expectations of the program and we work with them to eliminate barriers before [the pandemic] even happened. So we are very lucky in that sense.”