More than 375,000 South Carolinians are in active recovery today from substance use that at one time had a stronghold on their lives.
For many, recovery doesn’t always follow a straight line— a past of heavy substance use followed immediately by a present entirely without it—but has many twists and turns.
Instead, if led by Greenville’s drug and alcohol rehabilitation provider the Phoenix Center, they can follow a harm-reduction model. Clients are encouraged to make smarter, safer decisions within the course of their substance use, paving the way for a future without the substance.
Peyton Snyder, director of withdrawal management and medication assisted therapy at the Phoenix Center, said that a harm-reduction model “respects a person’s current capacity to change.”
It meets them where they’re at. Since many reach the point of using substances to stave off withdrawal symptoms rather than to get high, it can be more practical than an abstinence-only approach.
The Phoenix Center offers free fentanyl and xylazine test strips for people to test their substances and gives out over 2,000 doses of the opioid overdose reversal drug Narcan each year. The center also offers individual and group counseling services to encourage those who use substances or alcohol to lessen their use. For example, clients might be encouraged to drink fewer beers than they might typically, inviting them to see how the change in behavior feels without requiring them to quit cold turkey.
“It opens the door. If they know we’re willing to listen to them when they say, ‘Right now, I’m not at a point where I can totally stop for myself, but I need to use more safely,’” then they know they can trust the Phoenix Center, she explained. When they are ready to get extra help, the relationship is already there.
“For someone who doesn’t necessarily use substances, the (harm-reduction approach) can seem like, ‘Really, that’s all they did?’ But to the individual, it’s more like, ‘OK, I’m jumping in with both feet,’” Snyder said. “We’re all so completely unique and have our own pathways to recovery. It’s about being able to step in and help in the way they’d like us to help them.”
Each time someone engages the Phoenix Center’s services, it gives them an opportunity to engage in long-term recovery, Snyder said.
“And we want to give a person as many opportunities as possible,” she said.
864.467.3790 | phoenixcenter.org
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