8th annual Rockin’ Recovery event helps educate, raise awareness and reduce stigma surrounding addiction
By Rick Garrick
THUNDER BAY — Rockin’ Recovery 2021 featured local stories of recovery from addiction, a comedy set by Biigtigong Nishnaabeg’s Janine Desmoulin, and music by V3nom and Barn Swallow through the Zoom virtual platform on Sept. 22.
“My recovery journey entailed me to pick up certain things, a lady laid them out for me — there were four sacred medicines on the floor: tobacco, semma, sage, cedar, and sweetgrass,” Desmoulin says, noting that she began her recovery many years ago at a women’s treatment centre in Sudbury. “She said, ‘Pick up those medicines.’ I had to be given the okay and I’m giving you the okay today to pick up whatever you need as medicine, whether it be walking, whether it be running, whether it be talking, whether it be making people giggle. That’s what you do, you pick up the medicines that you hold true to your heart, whether it be your ceremony, the things you need, your drum. Whatever you need, you pick them up.”
Desmoulin says it is important for people to focus on stories in their recovery journey that make them feel good.
“We find those good stories, we find those things that make us feel darn good,” Desmoulin says. “And we laugh at the stuff that doesn’t, we laugh at it, we look at it in the face and we [laugh], however you laugh.”
Desmoulin says she always puts her semma down before she does one of her comedy shows.
“And I ask what am I going to say up there because I don’t come up here scripted,” Desmoulin says. “That’s why I’m a storyteller.”
Cynthia Olsen, coordinator of Thunder Bay Drug Strategy, says the six people who shared local stories of recovery were the “true headliners” of the Rockin’ Recovery 2021, noting that millions of Canadians are living in recovery.
“Substance use issues are the ones that are often sensationalized, but it’s recovery that is truly sensational,” Olsen says. “The goal of Rockin’ Recovery is to engage with our community, provide education, raise awareness and help reduce stigma surrounding addiction. This is our eighth annual recovery day in Thunder Bay and it’s our second time going virtual.”
Thunder Bay Councillor Rebecca Johnson, chair of Thunder Bay Drug Strategy, says recovery is not a nine-to-five job, a 30-day rehab recovery, an hour-long meeting, or a therapy session.
“Recovery is a lifestyle,” Johnson says. “Recovery didn’t choose you, you chose recovery and that makes you one special strong human being. Every step you take, hold your head up high.”
Thunder Bay Mayor Bill Mauro says Thunder Bay has joined with other cities across the country to celebrate recovery.
“Each community has a unique approach but we stand united together in our message of hope,” Mauro says. “Recovery Day is important because we have thousands of community members living in recovery every day, and today is about giving some of these individuals a place to share and celebrate their journeys. We hope that the personal stories you hear tonight will chip away at the stigma and stereotypes that often prevent people from getting help. Having members of our community be the face and voice of recovery is meant to give hope to those who are still suffering, to say, ‘I did this and so can you.’ The recovery movement is also about building a compassionate community and about bringing community together to celebrate, show support and not stigma.”
A video of Rockin’ Recovery 2021 is posted online at the Thunder Bay Drug Awareness Committee Facebook page.