By GLYNIS HART
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CLAREMONT — On Thursday afternoon, Jeremy Hartsell, who’s completed his training to become a peer counselor for people trying to recover from substance abuse and addiction, got a call from folks at TLC Family Resource Center.
A man came in asking for help with his drug use, they said. He was at the end of his rope. He was talking about killing himself.
Hartsell dropped what he was doing and hurried to the center, but when he got there the guy was gone.
“People have no safe place to go,” he said. He was upset, and Hartsell doesn’t look like a guy who upsets easily. Once a president of a motorcycle club in Arkansas, Hartsell was addicted to methamphetamine for 20 years. He served time in prison. He lost people he cared about.
“I finally had enough pain and heartbreak,” he said.
Seventeen months ago, after coming to Claremont and getting involved with HOPE, Hartsell began to change his life.
“I’ve been clean 17 months now,” he said over coffee at the Tumble Inn Diner. “I’ve accomplished more in the last year and a half of my life than in the previous 20 years. I’ve been helping people and that feels good.”
Working on his own recovery, Hartsell learned about healing. And like other former addicts, he knows the head games they can play with themselves and others, because he’s lived with the same motivations.
“Twelve step programs didn’t really work for me,” he said. “But through HOPE I found SMART — it stands for self-management and recovery training — which is cognitive-based. It’s about using tools to change behaviors.”
According to the SMART website, it is a self-help program unlike and unconnected to Alcoholics Anonymous. It is based on the theory that drinking and drug-using are coping mechanisms that people turn to because of problems that they have, and teaches them ways to manage their problems without drugs or alcohol. It reads: “Your thinking creates your feelings and leads you to act. By managing the beliefs and emotions that lead you to drink or use, you can empower yourself to quit. Then you can work at problems you have with abstaining.”
Participants also learn to manage self-defeating beliefs, such as “it’s genetic, so I can’t quit,” and feelings of worthlessness. And they focus on positive ways to find happiness and improve their lives. Hartsell found helping other people makes him happy.
“I’ve got 20 years experience in the darkness of addiction,” he said. “Maybe I can help other people and be a light for them to find their way.”
Hartsell, along with his friend and mentor Wayne Miller, is planning to open the new recovery center on Pleasant Street in downtown Claremont.
Hartsell has taken the courses to become a certified peer counselor, so he can help others who want to get clean. “There’s a gap between people who need help and LDACs (Licensed Alcohol and Drug Counselors). That’s where peer support comes in.”
The recovery center in Claremont closed earlier this year, after a lack of funding caused its parent organization, Hope for N.H. Recovery, to shut down its centers in Claremont, Berlin, Franklin, and Concord.
Dartmouth-Hitchcock and other donors provided some funding to keep the Claremont center going temporarily, then TLC Family Resource Center took over temporary control. They were able to continue one-on-one counseling, but did not have the space to hold group meetings.
Hartsell has completed all the coursework to become a certified recovery service worker, and now needs to pass a test, and get experience under a LDAC counselor. Hartsell’s job is funded by Americorps, which views him and other recovery workers as volunteers to whom it pays a stipend — just enough to live on. The recovery center on Pleasant Street has federal funding dedicated to fight the opioid epidemic.
Right now the windows are shrouded with plastic while the place gets a coat of paint and a few other renovations. On one side, a large bright room with windows on the street can host recovery group meetings and large gatherings. The other side will be divided up into offices and professional counseling spaces.
“People can go to the emergency room and that helps them in a crisis, but it doesn’t help with recovery,” said Hartsell. He’s thinking about the guy who asked for help, and didn’t get it. “This is really important.
“People don’t have any hope,” he said. “If we’re going to solve the problem, it’s going to take the whole community to do it.”
To help out with donations or volunteer, contact TLC Family Resource Center at (603) 542-1848 or call Wayne Miller (802) 359-7705.
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