RESPECT Institute of Ga. teaches those in recovery to tell their stories

Published 1:34 pm Monday, May 16, 2016

MOULTRIE, Ga. — Words have power.

Eight women learned that last week during a training session of the RESPECT Institute of Georgia. All eight had come to Moultrie from across the country seeking recovery from substance abuse, and they had found it. The RESPECT Institute taught them to tell their stories to inspire hope in others who had not reached that point in their recovery.

The women received certificates of achievement during a graduation ceremony Thursday, May 12.

RESPECT grew out of the substance abuse battle of Joel Slack. Slack was in and out of rehab before finally beating his addictions and finding a place in corporate America, according to information presented at the ceremony by Jen Banathy, an instructor for the RESPECT Institute of Georgia. But even though he had overcome his struggles and his life was back on track, he couldn’t shake the thought of all of the people he had met during his periods in rehab facilities.

Slack quit his job and devoted his life to helping those in recovery, Bathany said. He started by going around to recovery hospitals and evaluating them from the patient’s perspective. He found that respect was one of the main factors that determined how much easier recovery could be — not only from his own experiences, but from patients he talked to. He found that the more a patient was respected and treated like a human being, the better they recovered. Thus the name of the organization he founded: The RESPECT Institute of Georgia.

This was not the only thing Slack noticed, however. As he talked to numerous patients he realized that while their files were thick with their story of addiction, the patients had a hard time telling their story. Slack realized that the best tools rehab facilities had were their own patients. If a patient could tell their story and show others the humanity within them, others suffering would be able to relate and those outside of the realm of addiction would lose some of the stigma associated with those battling addiction.

The eight graduates in Moultrie last week chose three of their own to be keynote speakers for the event: Deanna Kice, Latoya Redmond, and Ramona Osborne.

Kice spoke about the abuse of her parents and her father leaving her and her mother. She became a nurse, but her addiction cost her her license and a string of jobs after it before she came to Moultrie for its renowned rehab facilities.

Redmond talked about life in Panama as the child of a military family and being overcome with obsessive-compulsive disorder and anxiety, which led her down the path of her alcoholic father. She had a breakdown during her sophomore year in college and lost an eye in a drug-induced fall down the stairs.

Osborne described growing up in a very strict religion where not much was allowed, including birthdays and holidays. She said she was never happy, and she rebelled through a boy, who she says was her first addiction.

Osborne said she hated her life, and would say it quite frequently, but she told the audience she can now replace the word hate. She closed her story by saying “I can honestly say now, that I love my life.”