Shannon Olsen

Professor Bullock

Community/Public Health

14^th September 2023

Pre-Community Partnership Assignment

            I chose to work with the Portland Recovery Community Center to engage in community partnership. The Portland Community Recovery Center is a center for those who are in recovery from any type of substance use disorder, and it offers activities and a safe space for these recovering individuals. My prior knowledge of this population includes hat recovery for many addicts is not linear and there are different stages of recovery individuals could be in. I know that there are certain trigger actions and words that I should avoid with certain individuals in the population, and that anyone and everyone could be going through recovery, and it might not be as obvious as some would think. I have cared for patients in mental health facilities that  had addiction disorders including alcohol abuse, and nicotine addictions. When caring for these patients in the past year I noticed that a lot of them have been through traumatic events, hard upbringings, and low-quality home environments. My learning goals for this volunteering experience would be to know exactly what to do in the case of a drug overdose, and to learn what coping strategies work the best for patients with addictions. This volunteer experience makes me nervous because I feel as though the whole experience might tug at some heart strings due to having delt with addictive personalities in my family. I feel ready to effectively communicate with individuals at the center and to make connections with people while trying to achieve my learning goals. I feel almost obligated to help those in recovery because I have personally experienced addiction in my family and its consequences. I feel as though this experience will be inspirational, emotionally challenging, and educationally beneficial. Other community programs for this type of population include Spring Harbor Hospital in Westbrook, ME. I did my mental health clinical rotation at Spring Harbor Hospital and saw many individuals staying for long periods of time at the facility to help themselves recover from many different mental health disorders that included addictive personalities. Working with individuals in recovery is an important experience to have in order to have more compassion and understanding for future patients with addictions.