INTERVIEW: Fighting the Addiction Stigma with Overdose Lifeline

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INDIANAPOLIS — Fighting the stigma and shame of drug addiction, while also helping those in recovery, is the goal of Overdose Lifeline.

The organization celebrated its tenth anniversary Tuesday with the unveiling of the expanded Heart Rock Recovery Center in Indianapolis. Founder and CEO Justin Phillips created Overdose Lifeline after she lost her 20-year-old son to addiction.

“As I reflect on ten years of doing this work sort of in his honor and memory, the tremendous strides we’ve made in our culture around the stigma and the shame associated with substance use disorder, (I believe) we have come a long way,” says Justin Phillips.

Part of that progress is the expansion of Heart Rock, which serves women who are battling addiction and are either pregnant or in the process of getting custody of their children. Phillips says expanding the number of beds in the recovery center will help with the number of incoming patients, but over the next ten years Phillips hopes that so much progress has been made towards addiction treatment and stigma that an organization like Overdose Lifeline isn’t necessary.

“If we can continue to do better around the shame and stigma and denial, and really be willing to adopt harm reduction policies, that would be what I would like to see over the next ten years,” Phillips explains.