DENVER — September is National Recovery Month. According to the CDC, close to 92,000 people died from a drug overdose in the U.S. in 2020 — a 31% increase from 2019. As we wrap up the month, a Denver recovery center wants to remind folks that help is out there when it comes to substance abuse.
“Getting sober is the easy part. Staying sober is the hard part,” said Sally Gibbens.
Gibbens knows this struggle all too well. The 27-year-old started experimenting with drugs at a young age, then became addicted to heroin.
“I was probably around 11 or 12 years old when I started popping pills. I was depressed as a child and didn’t know where to go for help,” she said.
Gibbens finally got the help she needed at the age of 21.
“I think the biggest factor for me is I didn’t want to die anymore,” she said. “At 21, my grandmother looked at me and said, "Sally, every time you pick up that drug, I want you to think of my face."”
Since then, Gibbens has turned her pain into purpose as an office administrator through Urban Peaks Rehab in Denver, using her experiences to help others currently going through what she did.
“As somebody who’s been an addict and been in those moments of desperation, guilt, shame, it makes it easier for the new clients coming in feeling guilty and the shame from society,” she said.
Gibbens says Dr. Chad Johnston, the owner of Urban Peaks, brought her aboard for that very reason.
After going through addiction struggles of his own for many years, Johnston wanted to give back. That’s how Urban Peaks was born.
“We are strictly outpatient. People come in and are evaluated, I’ll deal with their medications, then set them up with therapy, which is a vital component because they’ve got to address what the issue is,” he said.
Johnston says that issue comes from deep within.
“They’re doing this because they hurt and they’re trying to relieve their internal suffering,” he explained.
Johnston says out of the 250 clients his clinic is working with now, most are using fentanyl, and the age is getting younger and younger.
Statistics from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) show that more than 900 people in Colorado died from an opioid containing fentanyl in 2021, up from more than 540 deaths the year before.
Gibbens fears the fentanyl crisis isn’t going away anytime soon. She says the solution is getting to the root of the cause — mental health and education.
One thing she’s doing is sharing videos from her struggles on Urban Peaks’ TikTok account to appeal to the younger audience, stressing that awareness matters not just during the month of September but all year long.
“If you give them the tools and educate them and instill fear in them that you’ll die if you touch the substance, you will most likely die. And that’s the hope, it will scare them straight,” said Gibbens.
Urban Peaks is also giving out Zimhi — a naloxone product used to treat opioid overdoses — to its clients. It’s a higher dose injection compared to the normal Narcan spray commonly used now. Urban Peaks says it’s become more beneficial as the fentanyl crisis continues to rise in our state.