37 mins
The Big Question
QUESTION
Jamie McIntosh, elder at Linlithgow: St Michael’s
Jane Dargie, elder, Craigiebuckler Church Aberdeen and Church of Scotland Guild Events Convener
“Early on in my career, I worked for Bethany Christian Trust as a fundraiser. I worked directly with vulnerable people, including recovering addicts. The experience opened my eyes to addicts’ chaotic lifestyles and the pain they had suffered – it taught me that time after time there were reasons for their addiction.
“I am passionate about fundraising – bringing together people who need help and people who want to help. I’m Fundraising Manager of Blythswood Care. There is lots of fundraising research about why we support certain causes and ignore others.
Rightly or wrongly, if people believe someone is to blame for what’s happened to them, they are less likely to support that person. Therefore, in fundraising we must demonstrate that someone needs help and that they deserve help.
“In Blythswood Care, our Easter Appeal told the story of Gheorghe, a blacksmith, whose life fell apart. It started with wanting a drink. Wanting a drink turned to needing a drink. Eventually, Gheorghe became an alcoholic.
“You will always get people who choose to support trendy or more ‘deserving’ causes. However, there are people who see an addict as someone made in God’s image and want to help. In Blythswood Care, we have amazing supporters – people who see beyond someone’s addiction – and see someone who could be our brother or sister in Christ.
“As Christians, who are we to judge? If we suffered the same problems, can we definitely say that we wouldn’t become an addict?”
“Today there is a wider range of behaviour to which a person can become addicted – not only substances like alcohol or drugs, including prescription drugs, but also activities.
“Almost everything that produces feelings of pleasure or relief can become addictive – shopping, work, gambling, sex, pornography, computer games and even food.
“Thinking back to my nursing days, weekends saw an increase in patients suffering from alcohol or substance abuse. I used to get irritated as I felt it a waste of our time and they chose to be addicts didn’t they?
“Then I remembered the babies born to addict mothers, that high pitched cry which
I can still hear today.
“It made me angry.
“Who am I to be so judgemental ?
“Today addiction is seen as an illness and rightly so.
“An illness that changes normal behaviours and priorities, interfering with the ability to go to work, or school and to have good relationships with friends and family.
“No matter what stigma remains about addiction it is important to continue to get the message out there that recovery is possible .
“There is always hope. Jesus came to reach broken people. He saw people as precious, valuable and in need of healing. As our Guild theme has been ‘Go in Love’, we remember God’s love for everyone.”
The Rev Dan Harper, minister at Bridge of Allan Parish Church
Kenneth Nesbitt, member Dalgety Parish Church, Dalgety Bay.
Ella Gill, reader in Training, Lochaber
“Addiction is something that we will all encounter in some form in our lives, either directly or indirectly. When faced with the consequences of addiction, in our own lives or those of others, we can be challenged or reassured, ostracised or supported, or possibly worse met with ambivalence and indifference.
“I don’t think it is possible to encounter an addict of any sort, or be addicted to anything, without your perception of addiction being changed. This is particularly true if you seek to encounter the person who is addicted rather than the behaviours of the addict. It is where this happens that I have seen the greatest shift in perceptions of addiction and of those who are addicted.
“When we see the individual who is addicted as a person to be loved and supported rather than a problem to be solved then our perceptions cannot help but change. This shift from seeing a person as a behaviour, to seeing them as a loved individual created in the image of God allows us to meet them where they are. Meeting someone where they are gives further understanding to the nature of addiction, that it is far more than physical dependency but a means of escape and distraction from real and pressing issues.
“Perceptions of addiction in the church have changed and need to change further, remembering that people who are addicted to a substance are people rather than a set of behaviours or simply labelled ‘addicts.’”
“Society’s’ views cannot be easily summed up. Professionals in the field of research and intervention have moved quite some way from the simple view of addictions vs abstinence, and a range of interventions on multiple levels are now available. Addictions are now recognised not simply as isolated problems, but often as part of a context of multiple social and societal issues. As such, people with addiction problems have more subtle routes to acknowledging their problems and seeking assistance, often within the context of other, complex problems.
“For those outside the intervention industry, however, people with addictions are often seen through the lens of the behaviours they are perceived to display.
Where the craving for the addiction is overwhelming, the resultant behaviours are the things that impact on those who encounter the addict, from the A&E staffsuffering violence, to family members who live in the abject misery addiction brings, to the general public who are fed news stories of addicts committing acts of violence and worse. It is notable that within the past few years, mental health issues and stigmas have been challenged, very positively, and addictions often fall very clearly into the realms of mental health.
“Those who do not seek help are seen as their own worst enemy. Nevertheless, misguided collusion can be just as bad as ignorant condemnation. We have a long way to go before the perceived behaviours of addicts of all kinds allow people to see beyond those behaviours, and to the person.”
“The answer to that has to be yes. There is a greater understanding that some addictions represent medical issues rather than just self-indulgence and lack of control. For addictions to alcohol, drugs and smoking there is more openness and more access to help. In the past, the addict and those around them were less likely to admit there was an issue – there was shame and embarrassment and so the problem continued. Now, addicts are encouraged to acknowledge they have a problem and seek help but this openness can be a hill too high to climb.
“Legislation has also altered perception by acknowledging the rights of those around the addict, whether it is the family or work colleagues. The impact of smoking in public places, at work and around children has been targeted as more became known about passive smoking, and restricted by laws. “The effect of alcohol on the ability to make decisions and to operate safely in the workplace is recognised in conditions of employment as well as in legislation.
“The result of this greater understanding and knowledge about the mechanism of addiction should all be helpful, but it can make society less tolerant of those who continue in their addiction. It’s very easy to judge another’s behaviour and lifestyle.
Much work has been done to prevent addiction as well as to help both addicts and those on whom the addiction impacts.
“All this work would be greatly helped if our perception of addiction included less judgment and more grace.”
This article appears in the June 2018 Issue of Life and Work
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