The Mountain Council on Alcohol and Drug Dependence is a group of professional counselors, business leaders and recovering persons with the shared mission to provide advocacy, information and referral, education and training both to chemically dependent individuals struggling to access recovery services and to support the provider in better serving the consumer.
An effect of mental-health reform in North Carolina has been a marked decrease in services and treatment availability for substance abusers. The decrease in services is being felt in jails, homeless shelters, hospitals and 12-step programs in our area. With the removal of local mental-health programs there has been no unifying body to continue communication and interagency collaboration. MCADD was formed by a few dedicated providers to address this problem and attempt to improve the system from a grass-roots perspective.
In raising public awareness of addiction, Director Marie Nemerov says MCADD aims to “decrease the stigma associated with addiction and advocate for the return of mental and substance-abuse services to the community.”
MCADD needs community members to bring their strength and experience to help advocate for the addicted person. September is Recovery Awareness Month. Call 398-2262 or visit www.nc-mcadd.org for more information.
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