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Substance abuse recovery month brings 7th annual Paint the Town Purple celebration

By Sara Molina

Posted September 12, 2023

purple

The 7th annual celebration took place on Monroe County Courthouse's lawn. (Sara Molina, WTIU/WFIU News)

Monroe County’s Substance Use Disorder Awareness Commission (SUDAC) held its seventh annual Paint the Town Purple last Friday on the courthouse lawn. 

The event celebrated National Recovery Month, giving Bloomington locals a chance to connect with people in recovery from substance abuse.

“We want to honor the people who are making their decisions to move into recovery,” said County Commissioner and SUDAC representative Penny Githens. “Recovery looks different for everyone, as we talk about and we're honoring all of those different paths, it is really a community issue.”

The event hosted public speakers and local recovery agencies, many of which partnered with SUDAC to plan the celebration.

According to the National Center for Drug Abuse Statistics, Indiana’s overdose death rate is almost 30 percent above the national average. Bloomington has seen an increase in drug-related fatalities since COVID-19 started, said SUDAC president Peter Iverson.

“As drugs become more and more potent, it is costing people their lives,” Iverson said. “With addiction, it's just a terrible thing that individuals struggle with over and over again… We know that people in recovery [are] always taking it a day at a time.”

The celebration welcomed individuals from diverse backgrounds, as the audience spanned from children, to IU students, to senior citizens. Iverson pointed out that addiction does not have a look. It can affect anyone.

Read more: Statewide program trains Indiana schools to spot drug overdoses, use naloxone

Jackie Daniels, director of clinical development at Bloomington’s Indiana Center for Recovery, publicly spoke as a professional resource, but also as someone with lived recovery experience.

Daniels, who found recovery in a nearby treatment center over 20 years ago, started working at the center in 2017 to help people who are in situations similar to her past.

“I think Bloomington has a lot to offer in terms of addiction recovery, and even mental health recovery,” she said. “One, because we have so many great services and resources, but I think there's also a community that is willing to recognize that recovery is part of the fold or the fabric of the community.”

Daniels, Iverson and Githens all mentioned a sense of community. The abundance of purple filling the courthouse lawn emphasized their message. Purple is the official color of Recovery Month.

“It's really a unifying thing,” Iverson said. “I'm an elected official, and I'm wearing purple. We have our health department staff and different staff from Monroe County government, they're wearing purple… When we are all engaged in these activities, wearing purple…  it really does bring us all together.”

Monroe County’s substance abuse recovery resources can be found here.

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