Around Town

Improbable Players Presenting Play on Opioid Addiction at Mosesian Center

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Watertown-based Improbable Players will be presenting a show at the Mosesian Center for the Arts showing how people got started using opioids. The Improbable Players provided the following information:

Improbable Players Presents: A Re-Staging of End of the Line on Wednesday, Oct. 17, at 7 p.m. at The MainStage in The Mosesian Center for the Arts, 321 Arsenal St., Watertown, MA 02472 (Getting to the MCA). For tickets click here https://web.ovationtix.com/trs/pr/999504

Program contains talk of drug use. In 2014 Improbable Players created a theatre piece to show how people got started with opioids.

Around Town

Improbable Players Receive $200,000 Grant from Cummings Foundation

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The following information was provided by Improbably Players:
Improbable Players Inc. is one of 33 local nonprofits awarded a total of $10 million from Cummings Foundation through its new Sustaining Grants program, which provides funding for up to 10 years. Christina Everett, Co-Director (Program Management) and Shahjehan Khan, Development Co-ordinator, represented the nonprofit at a May 3 awards night at TradeCenter 128 in Woburn. Watertown-based Improbable Players use theater performances & workshops based on true stories and performed by people in recovery to address addiction, alcoholism, and the opioid epidemic. Performances are 25-45 minutes long followed by a talkback/Q&A. Drama workshops give students the space and tools to combat social pressures and find coping strategies that work for them.

Around Town

Right Turn Expands Services for Family of Those Facing Addiction

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In an effort to expand family services to meet the demand, Right Turn, a noted addiction treatment center is now offering a Family Addiction Workshop at their
Watertown treatment center on the first Saturday of every month at 9:30 a.m., the Watertown-based group announced. The 4-hour workshop is designed to educate and guide attendees who have a loved one immersed in the complex world of addiction and is facilitated by Jon Cohan CADC and Gabrielle Dean MSW, MPH, with added curriculum by Diana
Clark, JD, MA. With the aid of a multimedia presentation, workbooks, and group exercises, participants are provided practical information on developing healthy boundaries, the role of denial, the effects of addiction on brain functioning, and the concepts of co-dependence and protecting. More information can be found on Right Turn’s website (http://www.right-turn.net) or by calling 781-646-3800

Around Town

Watertown Addiction Recovery Center Has Creative Approach to Getting Sober

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An addiction recovery center that started as a place for rock musicians to get sober has moved to Watertown and found success in treatment that includes art and music in the therapy. Right Turn, located on Arsenal Street, began in 2003 when Woody Giessmann – former drummer of The Del Fuegos – realized there was a need for recovery for musicians and other creative people. The center’s first offices were located in Arlington, but moved to Watertown a few years ago when it needed more space. In 1993 Giessmann became an addictions specialist after facing drug and alcohol addictions while he was a musician, said Gabrielle “Abby” Dean, clinical director for Right Turn, who has been working with Giessmann since 1995

“Musicians kept calling him saying ‘I need help,'” Dean said. Enough musicians or their agents called, Dean said, and they decided to start groups for people looking to get sober.

Around Town

Candlelight Vigil Remembers Those Lost to Substance Use, Supports Those Recovering

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For the third straight year, a group trying to end the plague of opioid addiction held a candlelight vigil for the family and friends of those who have lost people to their substance use including several more Watertown residents who died this year. Pete Airasian, a recovering addict who helped start Watertown Overcoming Addiction with Wendy Clark Morrissey (who lost her brother to opioids), said he was grateful for the big crowd in the lower hall at St. Patrick’s Church Wednesday night. The losses, however, are tough. “It is sad, but they always say it gets worse before it gets better,” Airasian said.

Around Town

Support Group for Family, Friends of People Facing Addiction

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Mount Auburn Hospital announced it will be hosting a free support group for family and friends of people with alcohol, drug or gambling problems. 

The hospital sent out the following information:

WHAT: Are you being impacted by someone close to you who has an alcohol, drug or gambling problem/addiction? Mount Auburn Hospital has developed a support group to help. Beginning in August, the hospital will present the Family-Friends Support and Education Group focusing on how addiction impacts a family’s finances, physical health and psychological wellbeing. Participants will learn about options for support by understanding the short and long term impact of addiction on the family system and identify ongoing community supports that are available to improve your quality of life. The support group will be facilitated by Marianne Parent, LMHC MA. WHEN: The support group will be held monthly on the second Thursday of each month from 7-8 p.m. on the following dates:

Thursday, August 10, 2017
Thursday, Sept.

Addiction

Katherine Clark Applauds Watertown for Work to Stop Epidemic of Opiates

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The effort to stop the epidemic of opioid and heroin addiction across the country has led to some strange allies, Congresswoman Katherine Clark said Thursday night, but local efforts like the one in Watertown are just as important as bills passed in Washington. 

Clark spoke at Watertown Middle School during the Erase the Stigma event hosted by W.A.T.E.R.town (Watertown Access to Treatment, Educations and Resources) Task Force on Substance Use Disorder. Addiction to opiates, which often begins with using prescription painkillers, has touched all demographics, Clark said, and even the youngest. “At Melrose-Wakefield Hospital, a small community hospital, 5 percent of the babies born are dependent (on opiates),” Clark said. This led her to sponsor legislation to to help opioid-exposed infants in 2015, and she got some help from across the aisle. “The co-sponsor was (Senate Majority Leader and Republican) Mitch McConnell,” Clark said.

Addiction

People Share Their Stories of Addiction, Including 1 of Watertown’s Most Famous Residents

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Addiction’s grip can seem overwhelming, and sadly some lose the battle and their lives to the disease. Wednesday night three Watertown residents – including Eliza Dushku – shared their experiences with substance use to try to eliminate the stigma around addiction during the second annual Watertown Overcoming Addiction Candlelight Memorial Vigil. 

Hundreds gathered at St. Patrick’s Church Wednesday night to remember loved ones lost to addiction and substance use, and to give hope to those trying to get sober or remain drug and alcohol free. Dushku shared her struggles with alcohol and drugs, and said her sobriety has allowed her to come back to her hometown to pursue one her life goals of getting a college degree. Growing up, Dushku said she enjoyed going to parties, and would head to “keggers” at Oakley Country Club or Gore Place. “I always wanted to do more drugs, drink more, go harder.