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An evening of HOPE: Youth Alcohol & Drug, Prevention, Treatment and Recovery in New Britain.

THIS EVENT IS FREE AND EVERYONE IS WELCOME! Registration is preferred but not required.

CTYF is not just about helping individuals and families, but for bringing peer-to-peer models to communities as well. CTYF’s strategy is to guide community efforts toward building peer-to-peer recovery support models locally. CTYF believes in uncovering and building upon its connections with existing youth and families in recovery that will work with local community prevention, treatment and recovery programs. We have had success providing technical assistance to local Connecticut towns and cities to create a community wide peer-to-peer recovery film event as the platform for collaboration to grow more recovery. Our Recovery Film Festival is a town-by town approach that gets key community leaders and recovery champions, schools, nonprofit programs, providers, local volunteers, and media involved.

Please follow the link below to pre-register to ensure your seat and for additional details regarding the event.

Download and share our SAVE THE DATE FLYER!

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE PRESS RELEASE OR READ IT BELOW:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

“HARD HITTIN’ RECOVERY”

NEW BRITAIN FILM FESTIVAL CELEBRATING THE POWER OF POSITIVE PEER RECOVERY SUPPORT

Forum to Address Promising Practices for New Britain Youth and Their Families Dealing with Alcohol and Drug Problems

There are many obstacles for youth seeking recovery from drugs and alcohol. For Mars, a young Puerto Rican male from Connecticut, it was overcoming language barriers, juvenile incarceration, and cultural pressures on his path to his recovery. In his film story and in person, Mars tells us that having peer-to-peer support helped him to overcome many of these obstacles to his recovery and has driven him to give back through volunteer work and inspiring other youth struggling with similar issues.

There are also many obstacles for family members touched by drug and alcohol addiction. Alan, a father of a youth in recovery, describes his story of helping his daughter who struggled with heroin addiction. Alan tells us, “We found a needle in our 15 year-old daughter’s bedroom. Now you might say, ‘Weren’t there signs way before that?’ Sure there were. But how do you differentiate between what you suspect is normal early teenage rebelliousness and something way more serious? I know now, but I certainly didn’t know then.” Now, age 21 and graduating college, Alan’s daughter Ashley, has celebrated four years of sustained recovery and works with her father as a volunteer. They are currently helping other youth and families in New Britain and other towns to grow peer-to-peer prevention, treatment and recovery support networks in their community.

Staying drug and alcohol free for youth is a challenge, but there is hope in using peer-to-peer support models. Starting with three students and two concerned faculty members, Central High School of Bridgeport, Connecticut, has developed a peer-to-peer recovery support model called “The Leadership Group,” which now has over 400 students participating. This promising practice has created a positive culture change in the school by empowering students to help other students live drug and alcohol free, and creating an attitude of “it’s cool to be sober” in their school.

This Thursday night, Mars, Ashley, Alan, and the high school students from Central High School in Bridgeport will be part of the amazing stories that will be shared at the New Britain Recovery Film Festival. The event has been planned and sponsored by the “New Britain Peer-to-Peer Youth and Family Recovery Leadership Team,” a coalition of public and private partners with a shared vision for growing the seeds of peer recovery support in New Britain.

Parents helping parents and youth helping youth stay sober through peer-based support is a growing trend in Connecticut and is expanding in New Britain. Free T-shirts donated by the local business community that say “Hard Hittin’ Recovery – Breaking New Ground in Hardware City,” music, and free “Taste of New Britain” food are all part of the evening’s festivities, entertainment and learning. The event is a public film festival celebration open for all to attend and will be held at “Trinity-on-Main Performance Center” on Thursday, March 5th, from 7 p.m.-9 p.m. Doors open at 6 p.m. with live music written and produced by youth.

Film Synopses and Program Information:

Connecticut Turning to Youth and Families and area advocates came together and decided it was extremely important to build more peer recovery support in New Britain and share their strides through youth and family support programs because all too often residents may not be aware of them as a resource.

The evening will feature two short documentaries that highlight young people and their families finding a path to recovery from alcohol and drug abuse. The films, Central Pride and Mars, were produced and directed by Greg Williams, 25, a native of Newtown, Conn.

“After getting sober at 17, I got to witness hundreds of other young people succeed in recovery from drugs and alcohol and then got to watch them take their personal experience and turn around to offer recovery support to their peers,” said Williams. “I was inspired and I knew that if I could tell their stories on video others could see, hear, and feel the power of peer support.”

Central Pride tells the story of Central High School of Bridgeport, Conn. and its promising peer-to-peer recovery support model called “The Leadership Group.” It started four years ago with just three students and through peer-to-peer outreach now includes more than 400 participating students who help each other live drug and alcohol free. Teachers and students will be attending the event to share stories of transformed lives and how their group has created a positive culture change in the school.

The film premiere of the evening is, Mars, a documentary chronicling the incredible story of a young Puerto Rican man in long-term recovery from drugs and alcohol for over three years. “What I heard growing up was ‘I’m not going to make it, you know your going to be an inmate in prison your whole life, or your going to die with a needle in your arm,’ you know and I accepted that, and that’s a scary place to be,” remarks Mars, in the opening moments of documentary bearing his name. Mars articulates in his own words a deeply honest and emotional journey through adolescent addiction, treatment, and into life as a sober young person in sustained recovery.

Between screenings, the main subjects of the films and a panel of youth and families will address issues brought up in the films and answer audience questions. The event is sponsored by Connecticut Turning to Youth and Families (CTYF), a statewide organization whose mission in part is “to help youth and families facing drug and alcohol problems connect with prevention, treatment and recovery services through a statewide network of peer-to-peer supports.”

“The power of peer support in group therapy and support programs in the community makes a huge difference between youth successfully sustaining their recovery and giving up. As parents we want the best for our kids, and sometimes we don’t know who we can talk to and what we can do to get them help,” says Donna Aligata, Executive Director of CTYF. “The sense of positive encouragement that these connections give, is to me what prevention and recovery are all about.” CTYF offers a call center and online trained youth and family volunteer recovery coaches, “people who have lived the experience and can offer positive support and information.”

In Connecticut, 16,000 adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17 need treatment for illicit drug use but do not receive it and another 18,000 adolescents do not receive treatment they require for alcohol abuse, according to a CASAC Connecticut Legislative Policy Paper.

The March 5th event is free and open for all to attend. Registration is not required and walk-ins are welcome. For more information or to pre-register, please visit http://www.newbritainrecoveryfilmfestival.eventbrite.com or call Connecticut Turning to Youth and Families (CTYF) at 860-838-3553 (option 2).

Donations are greatly appreciated, but are not required and will benefit Connecticut Turning to Youth and Families. For more information, please visit www.ctyouthandfamilies.org.