In 2018, Living In Recovery was established in memory of Joseph Botz, a Pittsfielder who died after a long battle with alcoholism in 2017. In October 2023, it moved into its new long-term headquarters at 75 North Street – the former Flat Burger Society space accessible through McKay Street – in the heart of downtown.
“This is very different than our last space on Linden Street. Whereas this is- First of all, it's street level, it's right here, there's a parking garage, it's easy to access, it's right near the bus station. So, it's a lot easier for people in recovery or seeking recovery or looking for support, those who've been impacted by other people's substance use,” said program director Julie MacDonald. “We're right here on the street, it's a wide-open space. As you can see, we have reception area, and we have a very- We’re standing right now in a very cool, kind of chill area with a little fireplace going. We have a pool table, we have a ping pong table, we have a stage, we have musical instruments, we have arts and crafts stuff, we're going to be having a full kitchen so that we can do community meals, so we can have cooking classes, we could have nutrition classes. So really what we're trying to do, Josh, is come at substance use support from that whole physical, social, emotional, spiritual angle, from all, to be more holistic in offering opportunities to people to get support, to give support. So, this isn't just- We're not treatment, we're non-clinical, we're just peers that are in or seeking recovery. You don't have to be a person in recovery to come here.”
The center offers everything from open mic nights and roleplaying games to musical bingo and actual musicals.
“In March, we're going to see Les Misérables at Proctor's, right? So, it's all of these different opportunities to expose people to hope in their lives, right?” MacDonald told WAMC. “Because honestly, again, if I'm just going to sit home and try not to use or anything like that, I'm probably going to get frustrated. But when I can be around other people who will are willing to support me, I have opportunities to be exposed to new things, and see, hey, is this something I like? Is this something I can do without using alcohol or drugs, right? There are so many different opportunities here, and the opportunities are only limited to our own vision.”
Living In Recovery is funded through the state’s Bureau of Substance Abuse Services. MacDonald says with a lease extended for around a decade, it gives the center a chance to dig into major challenges.
“There's really a whole systemic issue of inequality and all of that,” she said. “And if we're talking specifically around the Berkshires, right, there's a lot of intergenerational poverty, intergenerational trauma, intergenerational substance use disorder.”
Like other operations in the Berkshires – including the South County Recovery Center in Great Barrington – Living In Recovery faces an escalating crisis. In 2022, Massachusetts saw its highest number of recorded overdose deaths related to opioid use with over 2,300. Over 400 Berkshire County residents died from overdoses between 2012 and 2022.
MacDonald says more immediate access to resources is one of the region’s biggest problems.
“Right now, to get into an agency, to seek a counselor or something, can take months,” she told WAMC. “Months. To get into a place like [the Thomas Mcgee Substance Abuse center] could take a while, which is a detox for those that don't know. To get into a place like [Clinical Stabilization Services] could take a couple of months to get in. Again, if we don't have those resources available immediately for people, then how do we help them to change their lives, right? Then when we look at things such as that intergenerational poverty, how do we begin to build systems in and structure into things so that people, so there's a more level playing field. If I'm coming from a background of a family with substance use disorder, that dropped out of school, that whatever, they're not necessarily going to be raising me in such a way to finish school, because they've got their own disorder.”
MacDonald views the recovery experience in a material context, inseparable from the larger socio-economic picture of the United States, with income inequality and wealth concentration growing.
“When we look at rents and things like that around here, they're insane, right?” said MacDonald. “So, I mean, again, this is something systemic has been happening for decades. This isn't just something that's happened with the opiate epidemic, but it's something that I think feeds into it, and doesn't help to give people a whole lot of hope. Because if I have come from this family system, and I can't get into the help that I need right away or anything like that, I'm going to start to feel like this is just what my life is meant to b. I may not have the hope, because what do I have to look forward to if I don't have an education, if I don't have a good paying job.? What do I have to look forward to? If I don't have stable housing, what do I have to look forward to? I'm probably not going to be able to maintain or sustain any sort of recovery if I'm homeless, if I'm under employed, and if I'm still struggling with a lot of those issues that might be even mental health issues, that, obviously, the two of those things go together quite frequently.”
While the overarching issues around recovery remain global and daunting, MacDonald sees Living In Recovery’s work in downtown Pittsfield as essential to solving them.
“The more that we can come together and start seeing this as a community issue and not a that versus them issue, I think that that's really where we need to start,” she told WAMC. “Because, yes, we can keep going to the legislature, and I think we should, but if we can't change it here in our small community, how do we make those changes in the larger community?”
