St. Vincent's Hospital Hosts Recovery Rally

If there was one thing that participants hoped to change with Saturday’s first annual Westchester County Recovery Rally, it was perception.

“Those of you who are not in recovery, I ask you to try to understand better,” said National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence/Westchester Executive Director Joan Bonsignore. “There are still times that people are not understood for what is really wrong.”

Bonsignore is a recovering alcoholic and former patient of St. Vincent’s Hospital, where Saturday’s rally was held. The North Street facility offers addiction recovery services, as well as treatment for other psychiatric disorders.

The event was organized by the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration (SAMHSA) to promote National Recovery Month, which was created 22 years ago in an effort to educate the public on the illness of addiction.

Several politicians, including Assemblyman Robert Castelli (R, C – Goldens Bridge), came out to the rally to speak with the hundreds of volunteers and recovering addicts at St. Vincent’s Hospital.

“There’s a reason we put erasers on pencils,” said Castelli. “We give a damn, and you do make a difference. The very fact that you can confront a terrible thing in your life and say ‘I’m going into recovery, I’m getting my life back, I’m gonna fight the fight,’ is an important thing.”

Castelli also serves on the Assembly’s Committee on Alcoholism & Substance Abuse.

Also in attendance were Dahlia Austin, Westchester County's director of drug and alcohol abuse services in the Department of Community Mental Health, Westchester County Assistant District Attorney Paul Scharf and White Plains Judge Brian Hansbury.

Along with health concerns, Hansbury stressed the importance sobriety when it comes to staying out of trouble. He said that most criminals who come in front of him are addicts.

“There are very few people who are truly criminals, down right their heart and soul,” said Hansbury. “Ninety percent or more are people who have substance abuse problems. And that’s really the core problem that brings them into contact with the criminal justice system.”

One of the most frequently-spoken words during the rally was “community.” Speaker after speaker stressed the role that family and friends play in an addict’s recovery.

“You stay sober one day at a time, you stay straight one day at a time. Many of those days are long and agonizing days,” said Castelli. “Let me give you a quote from John and Paul. Not the Apostles, The Beatles. ‘You get by with a little help from your friends.’"

Though Saturday was only the inaugural rally, some seemed ready to welcome the event back with open arms in 2012.

"We look forward to this next year again, where we'll be bigger and better," said Austin.