Diversity and Equity Council Celebrates National Recovery Month
To acknowledge the recovery movement and to spread the word about September Recovery Month, the Diversity and Equity Council (DEC) dedicated their August meeting to the topic of recovery in San Mateo County.
The conversation included a presentation on how recovery could be better integrated with care at every level. The DEC also hosted Eduardo Tirado who is a member of Voices of Recovery in San Mateo County. Eduardo shared his own experience with recovery and reflected on his youth and substance abuse and its consequences. Eduardo said about his youth, sharing “…at one point I had people telling me that I would not live past 21 and that I had no future. I started to get deeper and deeper into my drug addiction and I realized my life was unmanageable and I had no hope.”
Eduardo participated in the Our Common Ground program in East Palo Alto and believes that the experience changed his life. “After a while I accumulated a few months clean and sober and I volunteered at Voices of Recovery San Mateo County and got hired shortly after that. Today I work at Our Common Ground as well and became a Certified Advanced Level (WRAP) Wellness Recovery Action Plan facilitator.”
If you are passionate about serving under-served populations, we want to hear from you at the DEC’s monthly meetings.
The Diversity and Equity Council is a guiding body that works to integrate diversity, eliminate health disparities and advance equity in San Mateo County. The DEC coordinates, informs, supports, advocates and consults with Behavioral Health and Recovery Services and its communities. The goal of the group is to address health disparities and barriers to access in our communities.
For more information contact Narges Dillon at narges.dillon@star-vista.org or Kathy Reyes at ekreyes@smcgov.org.