OUR VISION

All Missourians with alcohol and/or other drug use disorders are
assured prompt, equal access to treatment & recovery support services
allowing them to achieve and sustain recovery and
be accepted as valued members of their communities.

OUR MISSION

The Missouri Recovery Network mobilizes those in recovery,
their families and allies to help end discrimination, broaden social
understanding about addiction and recovery, reduce barriers to
and support recovery, and achieve an improved public response
to alcohol and other drug use disorders as a public health crisis.

MRN’s Perspective

     Long-term recovery from addiction to alcohol and other drugs is real for thousands of Missourians and hundreds more get well every year.  There are as many different paths to recovery as there are different people in recovery.  Regardless how people achieve recovery, their lives, and the lives of those they touch – their families and their communities – are vastly improved as a result.  Those in long-term recovery are the living proof that recovery happens and that there are real solutions to the public health crisis of addiction.

     For much too long, the vast majority of the recovering community – those in recovery, their families, friends and allies – have been silent about their experiences and successes.  As a result, there has been no unified public voice advocating on behalf of recovery and for those who still need to achieve it.  The few voices that have been heard tend to be viewed by the public, and policymakers, as rare exceptions.  Voices advocating for the important prevention and treatment enterprise have been heard, but silence and anonymity keeps recovery a private matter, of little consequence to the public agenda.  THIS SILENCE MUST END.

     Times are changing on the national level.  The recovering community is unifying around key priorities – to achieve better understanding of addiction and recovery, reduce stigma, gain needed resources and end discrimination.  The Faces and Voices of Recovery Campaign is working to eliminate barriers to recovery for every American, every family, and to create a better life for today’s children and future generations.  It is making advocacy real and urgent.  Will Missourians be part of this movement or linger in its backwaters?

     The mission of the Missouri Recovery Network is to activate and mobilize the recovery community – people in recovery, their families, friends and allies – to advocate for help to overcome addiction to alcohol and other drugs.  MRN will support and encourage action at the local level, where people live, work and play.  MRN will explore every opportunity to raise levels of public awareness and achieve a more prominent presence on the public agenda.

     MRN will actively support policies to help all Missourians have better access to recovery and reduce the stigma and discrimination which keeps many people from seeking recovery or moving to better lives once they achieve it.  It will focus media and policymakers’ attention on the fact that without support for recovery, addiction will continue to be a massive and growing burden on society.

     To do so effectively, MRN seeks to establish dialogue between recovering and non-recovering people and the organizations that represent them.  It seeks active consultation, cooperation and collaboration with those who share in this mission.

     MRN will promote widespread understanding that long-term recovery is a process that takes time and may even include periods of relapse.  Only when Missourians have a sound appreciation of recovery, and fully understand the recovery process, will laws and policies be effectively changed to reduce stigma and lower barriers.  Making this a reality, rather than an exercise in wishful thinking, requires substantial effort.  MRN will equip advocates with the understandings and skills to take appropriate action in the public sector, in spite of the very real obstacles and challenges to be met.

428 E Capitol, 2nd Floor * Jefferson City, MO 65101
phone: 573-635-6669 / 877-669-2280 * fax: 573-635-7257
e-mail: bschell@actmissouri.org
 

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