RI Advocate Recognized for Outstanding Achievement at National Event
WASHINGTON, D.C., June 22, 2011 – Faces & Voices of Recovery, the nation’s leading addiction recovery advocacy organization, has awarded three activists and one grassroots community organization for their contributions advocating for the rights of people and their families in or seeking recovery from addiction to alcohol and other drugs.
Jim Gillen, Anchor Recovery Community Center and Providence Center Recovery Services manager, was the only Rhode Islander to receive one of the four prestigious awards. Jim launched RI’s first Recovery Community Center, visited by over 4000 people each month and runs the only recovery service division in the state. Jim is also one of the founders of Rally4Recovery, a day-long recovery celebration held each September.
“I am so honored to receive this award,” said Gillen. “That the work we are doing in Rhode Island is being recognized at a national level is very exciting and empowers me and the whole community to keep working to change people’s lives.”
Award recipients were selected from nominees submitted by organizations and advocates from across the U.S. The recipients were featured at an awards benefit that included the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)’s Administrator Pamela Hyde; Congressman John Sullivan (R-OK); White House Office of National Drug Control Policy’s Deputy Director of State, Local and Tribal Affairs, Benjamin Tucker; SAMHSA’s Center for Substance Abuse Treatment Director, Dr. Westley Clark; Editor in Chief of theFIX.com, Maer Roshan, and over 200 other recovery movement leaders. The event was co-hosted by the Hazelden Foundation’s Center for Public Advocacy.
The awards ceremony fosters excellence in advocacy related to recovery from addiction. The event honors the legacies of two trailblazers who dedicated their lives to removing barriers for individuals and families affected by addiction: Johnson Institute founder, Dr. Vernon E. Johnson, and recovery advocate, Joel Hernandez.
The award recipients and Faces & Voices of Recovery-supported recovery community organizations (RCOs) nationwide have launched local and state campaigns to support people in or seeking recovery from addiction. Their efforts seek to end discriminatory laws that keep recovering people from jobs, housing and other services. The RCOs and advocates also develop and deliver innovative peer recovery support services including a growing network of recovery community centers. The advocates also educate the public and policymakers about the reality of recovery from addiction to alcohol and other drugs.
Learn more about the 2011 America Honors Recovery Award recipients.
About The Providence Center
The Providence Center is at the forefront of innovative approaches to behavioral health care designed to meet the changing needs of the more than 10,000 people served each year. Since The Providence Center opened its doors in 1969, it has been a community fixture, providing people from all walks of life with mental health and substance abuse services in their homes, schools and neighborhoods. In addition to comprehensive high quality behavioral health services, The Providence Center gives people the tools they need to change their lives. Through 39 programs and wraparound services, including food and housing, job training, legal services, primary health care and wellness activities, The Providence Center helps the people it serves to succeed.
About Faces and Voices of Recovery
Faces & Voices of Recovery is organizing the over 20 million Americans in recovery from addiction to alcohol and other drugs, their families, friends and allies in a campaign to end discrimination; broaden social understanding; and achieve a just response to addiction as a public health crisis.