my name is Renard I am a human being in
recovery from opiate addiction and
really thank you it’s quite a journey in
and although I’m trained as a counselor
and clinical psychologist I have a new
wrinkle in my my job description
and that is burying young people in this
community mostly people in their 20s
often with small children themselves it
was about forty five years ago a war was
declared and it ended up being not a war
on drugs it was a war on human beings
something I know just a little bit about
you know I have to think in this coming
from a public health background if this
were the Zika virus in Akron with
hundreds dead just in the last year we
don’t have an accurate count they’ve
called in cold storage for the bodies
the toxicology reports are stacked up
but if this were the Zika virus or Ebola
for instance we would call in and drop
the 82nd airborne on Summit County and I
know because I was a paratrooper in the
82nd airborne and believe me we dropped
for a lot less but I don’t want to talk
about the parents in the car we’ve all
seen the images and the memes I don’t
want to talk about these things I want
to talk about the solution the solution
is us is tribe it is building rebuilding
tribe in a disconnected world we have a
unique responsibility right here today
in Akron Ohio
to meet these needs we have a wonderful
tradition because at about this time in
1935 two gentleman met right down the
street and they conceived what would be
the modern recovery movement bill and
Bob I can hear the drumbeats already as
people are gathering as we are here
today people are gathering from all over
the world to celebrate that that to
honor our little funky Rust Belt
community as the birthplace of recovery
and I’d like to claim bill and Bob I
mean they’re they’re our homies and and
it all started here but that wouldn’t be
exactly correct
the tradition of peer-to-peer recovery
or recovery oriented care predates bill
and Bob by hundreds of years and
interestingly enough we have a river
valley here the Cuyahoga River Valley
which is an extremely unusual geological
feature in that it is a river that
almost makes a complete circle which is
extremely significant in many world
religions the circle is a sacred symbol
and it was understood that maybe the
Iroquois and the Delaware the tribes
recognized that spiritual significance
of our of our Cuyahoga Valley and if we
want to talk about one day just today
May 20th there are gatherings all across
Ohio sponsored by the Ohio can event now
the Ohio can its citizens again stepping
up and this is not government this is
you because each of you are imbued with
a unique gift a unique truth that you
can bring to bear and rebuild our tribe
again to to back up a couple hundred
years the peer-to-peer tradition the
recovery circle tradition dates
certainly to the Native American tribes
and I will cite my brother my Shawnee
brother
Tenskwatawa
tents Matawa it was actually a brother
of two comes up was a loud boastful
stinking drunk he could not even join
his brother in battle against the
children of the evil spirits that would
be white people tents Kagawa what tawa
excuse me had a transformative
experience a spiritual experience he
actually fell into a fire and from that
started he later became known as the
Shawnee prophet and started the recovery
circle tradition in the Shawnee
tradition so although again I’d like to
claim bill and Bob as sort of our our
neighbor sons and indeed they are I’m
also happy to say that Tenskwatawa is a
son of Ohio so again I am view all of us
I mean I
we have niek gifts that each of us can
bring to bear in this crisis and it’s
going to take rebuilding a sense a
tribal connection to step our game up
speaking to tribe I have a tribe that
we’ve been building here in Akron almost
exactly 10 years ago May 1st May Day
2007 we opened the Institute the Packard
Institute and we’ve been building tribe
here in our in our fair city since then
you know I don’t want this to be a
complete down buzz but I’m going to I’m
going to show you just a little bit of
what we do we take our game out on the
rivers on these great mystical rivers
let’s see
one day almost exactly one year ago I
had my tribe out on the Tuscaroras River
along with our trusty mascot pie and I
saw something swimming in the center of
the river I thought was a beaver perhaps
lost with me in circles and as we
approached it was a baby calf swimming
in the middle of the testator River and
could not gain purchase on the banks
than being too muddy so I you know I’ve
never been a river cowboy as such but we
were born again hard that day I just
wanted to share this with you as a way
of there’s hope and we are the faces of
recovery we are the faces of hope and
together we can all make a difference
speaking of making a difference I would
like to introduce my friend and
colleague Greg McNeil Greg is the tip of
the spear and if you need information
he’s the go-to I would also like to
shout out to all the other recovery
support providers some of who are here
today
fi sterling sober these are tribes that
we network with and together we will
make a difference thank you
[Applause]
recovery from opiate addiction and
really thank you it’s quite a journey in
and although I’m trained as a counselor
and clinical psychologist I have a new
wrinkle in my my job description
and that is burying young people in this
community mostly people in their 20s
often with small children themselves it
was about forty five years ago a war was
declared and it ended up being not a war
on drugs it was a war on human beings
something I know just a little bit about
you know I have to think in this coming
from a public health background if this
were the Zika virus in Akron with
hundreds dead just in the last year we
don’t have an accurate count they’ve
called in cold storage for the bodies
the toxicology reports are stacked up
but if this were the Zika virus or Ebola
for instance we would call in and drop
the 82nd airborne on Summit County and I
know because I was a paratrooper in the
82nd airborne and believe me we dropped
for a lot less but I don’t want to talk
about the parents in the car we’ve all
seen the images and the memes I don’t
want to talk about these things I want
to talk about the solution the solution
is us is tribe it is building rebuilding
tribe in a disconnected world we have a
unique responsibility right here today
in Akron Ohio
to meet these needs we have a wonderful
tradition because at about this time in
1935 two gentleman met right down the
street and they conceived what would be
the modern recovery movement bill and
Bob I can hear the drumbeats already as
people are gathering as we are here
today people are gathering from all over
the world to celebrate that that to
honor our little funky Rust Belt
community as the birthplace of recovery
and I’d like to claim bill and Bob I
mean they’re they’re our homies and and
it all started here but that wouldn’t be
exactly correct
the tradition of peer-to-peer recovery
or recovery oriented care predates bill
and Bob by hundreds of years and
interestingly enough we have a river
valley here the Cuyahoga River Valley
which is an extremely unusual geological
feature in that it is a river that
almost makes a complete circle which is
extremely significant in many world
religions the circle is a sacred symbol
and it was understood that maybe the
Iroquois and the Delaware the tribes
recognized that spiritual significance
of our of our Cuyahoga Valley and if we
want to talk about one day just today
May 20th there are gatherings all across
Ohio sponsored by the Ohio can event now
the Ohio can its citizens again stepping
up and this is not government this is
you because each of you are imbued with
a unique gift a unique truth that you
can bring to bear and rebuild our tribe
again to to back up a couple hundred
years the peer-to-peer tradition the
recovery circle tradition dates
certainly to the Native American tribes
and I will cite my brother my Shawnee
brother
Tenskwatawa
tents Matawa it was actually a brother
of two comes up was a loud boastful
stinking drunk he could not even join
his brother in battle against the
children of the evil spirits that would
be white people tents Kagawa what tawa
excuse me had a transformative
experience a spiritual experience he
actually fell into a fire and from that
started he later became known as the
Shawnee prophet and started the recovery
circle tradition in the Shawnee
tradition so although again I’d like to
claim bill and Bob as sort of our our
neighbor sons and indeed they are I’m
also happy to say that Tenskwatawa is a
son of Ohio so again I am view all of us
I mean I
we have niek gifts that each of us can
bring to bear in this crisis and it’s
going to take rebuilding a sense a
tribal connection to step our game up
speaking to tribe I have a tribe that
we’ve been building here in Akron almost
exactly 10 years ago May 1st May Day
2007 we opened the Institute the Packard
Institute and we’ve been building tribe
here in our in our fair city since then
you know I don’t want this to be a
complete down buzz but I’m going to I’m
going to show you just a little bit of
what we do we take our game out on the
rivers on these great mystical rivers
let’s see
one day almost exactly one year ago I
had my tribe out on the Tuscaroras River
along with our trusty mascot pie and I
saw something swimming in the center of
the river I thought was a beaver perhaps
lost with me in circles and as we
approached it was a baby calf swimming
in the middle of the testator River and
could not gain purchase on the banks
than being too muddy so I you know I’ve
never been a river cowboy as such but we
were born again hard that day I just
wanted to share this with you as a way
of there’s hope and we are the faces of
recovery we are the faces of hope and
together we can all make a difference
speaking of making a difference I would
like to introduce my friend and
colleague Greg McNeil Greg is the tip of
the spear and if you need information
he’s the go-to I would also like to
shout out to all the other recovery
support providers some of who are here
today
fi sterling sober these are tribes that
we network with and together we will
make a difference thank you
[Applause]
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