In long-term recovery for 21 years, First Lady Kathryn Burgum shares her personal experience and encourages others to do the same by emphasizing the importance of storytelling in ending the stigma of addiction.
First Lady Burgum empowers people to join her in ending the stigma of addiction by talking about how addiction has impacted your life. Whether you have lived experience, are a caretake or frontline worker, or have a friend or co-worker who has struggled - talk about it. By doing so, you are normalizing the conversation around addiction and helping to eliminate the stigma which will encourage more people to reach out for help and will ultimately save lives.
“Talking about the disease of addiction will reduce the stigma because stigma is a barrier that prevents people from reaching out for help and connecting to lifesaving resources and services. We recognize that this change doesn’t happen in a day, but events like this can act as a catalyst for people to become energized to take ideas and bring them back into their own communities."
Talk delivered at the seventh annual Recovery Reinvented in Minot, ND on October 5, 2023.
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