DENVER — Wednesday, Feb. 26, is the final day for artists to contribute to destigmatizing drug addiction through a simple gesture.
The Behavioral Health Administration said the Recovery Cards Project distributed 150,000 cards over the last five years.
These are greeting cards, with anything from encouraging to funny messages, for people in recovery to give them recognition for their journey.
Denver7 talked to an artist in recovery about why this means so much.
“We have greeting cards for all types of normal things in life, like birthdays or weddings or baby showers, and also to get people through difficult times,” David Swartz said. “It really just helps normalize addiction. You know, having a greeting card alongside birthdays that speaks to addiction really helps reduce the shame around it. Either for the person that's going through addiction or someone that's supporting them.”
Swartz has been in active recovery for seven years.
“The drugs and alcohol stopped working,” Swartz said. “I stopped getting the relief that I was getting before, like I just couldn't I couldn't drink enough or take enough drugs to feel numb enough. And so I just became frustrated.”
That’s when Swartz started working on his recovery, starting his journey in Pennsylvania and eventually moving to Colorado.
He eventually got involved in the Recovery Cards Project and spoke to why he thinks it would have helped him.
“There were a lot of greeting cards in the rehab that I went to, but none of them spoke to addiction, which was kind of interesting,” Swartz said.
BHA said people can receive these cards for free in Colorado.
Different organizations and recovery centers can also request these cards. If you are out of state, you can get a digital copy.
The application online is quick and can be found at Recovery Cards Project.
“It's a tough journey, and there's a lot of backtracking. It's never it's not a linear course. So there's a lot of steps backwards. Sometimes it's two steps backwards and one step forward, but if you keep going, it'll get better,” Swartz said.
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