HOUSTON – It’s easy to ignore pain or try to laugh through it, but true strength comes from vulnerability and seeking help, especially when it relates to substance abuse.
As Houston’s oldest and largest non-profit organization for nearly 80 years, The Council on Recovery has provided the full spectrum of prevention, education, treatment, and recovery services for individuals and families affected by addiction and co-occurring mental health disorders.
Recommended Videos
Things can seem bleak and isolating when looking through apprehensive eyes, but as part of their 41st annual luncheon, The Council on Recovery sought to remind Houston residents that for anyone going through struggles, you’re never alone.
“It’s a beloved event, and it was started in the 1980s as a way to raise more money, and there was also this piece around wanting to create a platform to tackle the shame and stigma that keeps people trapped in addiction,” The Council on Recovery Interim President Judy Chavez explained. “As humans, we have such a deep need for connection and belonging. And what’s also true is that diseases like addiction are very isolating.”
For this year’s luncheon, Hank Azaria, a multi-award-winning actor who’s most notable work includes voicing various, albeit iconic, characters on The Simpsons, but can also be recognized for his work on Friends, and movies like Along Came Polly, Heat, and Night at the Museum. He has also been outspoken about his journey overcoming substance and celebrates 18 years in recovery.
Before taking that first step toward actively seeking change, Azaria tells me he had to trust the little voice telling him he needed to do so. Having previously been a part of the Al-Anon Program, for friends and family members of alcoholics, it seemed easy to self-diagnose and keep that nagging voice at bay, until he couldn’t.
“I trusted that voice enough to pull myself out before I really made a mess of my life, but I had no doubt that if I kept on going for that another year, I would have, and sure enough, that first year was very hard not to drink,” he admitted. “It was one day at a time. It was pretty much a meeting every day. And I got very, very, as we say, one of the first things I heard in recovery, in alcohol recovery, is ‘If you want to find out why you drank, stop drinking,’ and I got very restless, irritable, and discontent, as they call it in the literature -- I had no idea I was that angry and upset [without alcohol]."
Still, even after doing so well in therapy or recovery, it can be easy for one to self-sabotage, but Azaria says that through having a team of supportive individuals, i.e., therapists, sponsors, and good friends, he was able to keep from letting himself fall off the wagon.
“It was helpful to have a therapist supplementing the recovery work because I needed people in the rooms, I needed to work the program myself, I needed a sponsor, and I needed a therapist,” he explained. “At times, there were crisis moments between the nerve-wracking nature of my career, these relationships that were going horribly wrong, and my own addictions; I needed all the help I could get."
And yet, even when we know we need help, it seems as though asking for it is the most difficult.
“I think it’s like the shame barrier,” Azaria argued. “It’s very counterintuitive that admitting all those things would be the way to recover from them and heal from them, and who can you possibly trust to tell that stuff to?”
“Addiction wants you to believe you are the only one — that you are alone,” Chavez reminded. “And so a huge part of recovery and what the council offers to the community is that sense of connection, community belonging that helps people realize that they’re not alone and that there’s another way."
Who better than Azaria to exude that sense of togetherness during The Council on Recovery’s luncheon on Friday? Coincidentally, also his birthday.
“It’s a beloved event and it was started in the 1980s as a way to raise more money and there was also this piece around wanting to create a platform to tackle the shame and stigma that keeps people trapped in addiction,” Chavez said. “And by shining a light and bringing in a celebrity speaker, we can attract people to hear the message that there’s hope for recovery that we might not otherwise. And so it’s taken on a life of its own. In the 40-year history, we’ve raised more than $21 million. We’ve had more than 43,000 people attend."
Learn more about The Council on Recovery by visiting their website.