City hall proclaims Recovery Day

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 03/07/2023 (1170 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The city’s own Recovery Day has officially been set for Sept. 2 after Mayor Jeff Fawcett signed the proclamation in Council Chambers Friday morning.

The event celebrates recovery from mental illnesses, including substance use disorder, eating disorders, and anxiety disorders.

“Recovery day is essentially to celebrate people in recovery, and people that are interested in recovery and understanding that recovery is very much not linear,” Dee Taylor-John, who sits on the Brandon Recovery committee told the Sun.

Recovery is defined as the ability to participate fully in the community and live a productive life, Taylor-John said.

Brandon’s first Recovery Day was held with a barbecue and speakers in 2018 at the Global Market. Since then, the event has grown, the committee says. After a pause for the pandemic, the event resumed in 2022 and hosted more than 60 people.

This year on Sept. 2, Recovery Day will be held at a new location — the Fusion Stage at the Riverbank Discovery Centre.

Sponsored by The Brandon Neighborhood Renewal Corporation and Suicide Prevention Implementation Network, plans include a barbecue, a kids zone, and speakers and organizations with information to help support the recovery process. An Indigenous elder will open the day with a prayer and smudge.

Among the organizations in attendance will be the 7th Street Access Centre, Narcotics Anonymous, SMART Recovery, and Teen Challenge.

“It’s really important that people know all the services that are available in Brandon because, for a small city, we actually do have a lot of different avenues that people can utilize for their own personal recovery,” Taylor-John said.

Taylor-John shared that their personal recovery process involved trying different programs to help find the right one. They said that they started in one program and switched to another to find a better fit.

“So, utilizing other programs, now I’ve been successful — I’ll be six years this year for recovery” Taylor-John said.

Fawcett told the Sun that Recovery Day gives Brandonites the important opportunity to talk about recovery and mental health.

“I don’t think that there should be stigma attached to recovery, or addiction [or] mental health,” he said.

“It’s good to have discussions and realize that a lot of people are in the same boat.”

Recovery Day will take place from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Riverbank Discovery Centre on Sept. 2. More information can be found on Recovery Day Brandon’s Facebook and Instagram pages, or by contacting the committee at brandonmbrecovery@gmail.com.

The national organization Faces and Voices spearheaded an initiative in 2011 called Recovery Day. Different cities host their own Recovery Day events throughout the month of September.

» gmortfield@brandonsun.com