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(IOP) after detox. As part of the IOP, he had to do online meetings for about four hours in the morning, but he balanced that with in-person sessions at the recovery center, which, by that time, he felt ready to attend.

“Without the center now, I’d probably still be in trouble out there,” Siekierski said, adding that although he was worried about returning after his relapse, nobody judged him. “They all said, ‘Welcome back.’”

Now, he takes that same approach when he sees new people at the center. “The center is my home group now, and I try to welcome the next person. Not push them, but let them know that uncomfortable feeling is the first step in feeling comfortable,” Siekierski said.

“With COVID, don’t let it be an excuse. Don’t let it be that big of a fear, letting it get in front of your recovery,” Siekierski said. “Don’t stop what’s working for you because COVID is a fear. I lost my sobriety because I became complacent at home. You’re stuck in your head; that addict thinking comes back, that no one wants to hear my problems. It’s a downfall. The drugs make you feel good for a moment, but don’t lose everything you worked for.”

Because Opening the Word is all-volunteer, it was able to stay open throughout the quarantine while other state-funded facilities were closed. “We felt like we were essential workers, too. People in recovery desperately needed support,” Ford said. “Idle time is the devil’s workshop, as they say. It made it very difficult. That was the reason we decided to open – and stay open.”

Opening the Word followed all of the governor’s mandates as far as mask-wearing, sanitizing and cleaning and was able to offer most of its usual programs during the quarantine. The center has a robust schedule of meetings and activities, including Recovery Yoga, Music in Recovery, Recovery Art and Recovery Bible Study. According to Ford, not a single person contracted COVID through attending programs at the center the entire time it was open during the quarantine.

“We felt like we did the right thing,” Ford said of staying open. “A lot of people were grateful to have 12-step meetings online, but there were really people who needed to be in person.”

She added, “A lot of groups were totally displaced because of COVID. Even churches — so many 12-step programs happen in church basements.”

Crystal de Angelo, who helps run the Loved Ones Support Group at Opening the Word, said that for many people going

Marie Bugbee shows off her completed collage during an art class July 2 at Opening the Word Peer Recovery Center.

PHOTOS BY RICK CINCLAIR/TELEGRAM & GAZETTE

Instructor Katie Gould leads a yoga class June 30 at the Opening the Word Peer Recovery Center in Webster.

PHOTOS BY RICK CINCLAIR/TELEGRAM & GAZETTE

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to meetings or seeing their therapists online, it was very difficult. “It’s really hard to do telehealth and connect. If it’s the only option, people are using it, but it’s not always helping. Can you imagine someone who’s struggling with substance abuse and trying to explain that over the phone?”

Everyday Miracles Peer Recovery Center was one of the places that was not able to fully open during the quarantine, because it is funded by the state Bureau of Substance Addiction Services, according to Earielo. The center did maintain services by hosting Zoom meetings every single day, and staff members would call members they didn’t see online to check in and provide support. They provided technology for people who didn’t have access to the Zoom meetings, did grocery drop-offs and distributed masks when supplies were low. After a couple of months, the staff was able to be in the building for emergencies, Earielo said.

“Our doors were open, but they weren’t open for regular business. If it was someone who desperately needed to talk to someone, our door was open. If someone needed to detox, our door was open, and we provided the cab fare to get them there,” Earielo said.

A yoga class is held at Opening the Word Peer Recovery Center.

‘There still are a lot of people who aren’t sure about coming back’

By early March of this year, Everyday Miracles was able to have in-person meetings for up to 10 people; now, up to 25 people can be in the center at one time and masks are still required. Earielo said the members are excited to be back, but even so, the center’s population is lower than what it was preCOVID. Currently, approximately 150 people a week utilize the center, which was about the number who came in just one day prior to the quarantine, he noted.

“There still are a lot of people

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who aren’t sure about coming back or haven’t been vaccinated. The population we deal with, they’ve either been mistreated by the health system or they don’t trust the health system,” Earielo said.

At Opening the Word, attendance also dropped during COVID, and it was particularly low in January and February. To help increase membership, Ford recently applied for and received a Promoting Cultural Humility in Opioid Use Disorder Treatment grant of $94,000, awarded through the office of Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, that will allow the center to add four part-time paid positions and aim to bring diversity to the center. The money will also help pay for cultural diversity training for the staff and to have materials printed in Spanish.

For centers like Everyday Miracles and Opening the Word, that accessibility for all people, welcoming environments and a variety of programs are key to helping those in recovery or those who are thinking about being in recovery. “For us, we need to put a face on recovery, and that’s what we try to do here,” said Earielo, who himself began as a member of the center. “We know about the deaths and the hardships that come with addiction, but we want to put a face to there’s another side of the coin – that recovery is possible.”

For those who utilize the centers, like Vazquez and Siekierski, that has made a difference throughout their recovery path. Kevin King, treasurer of Opening the Word Board of Directors, said the center provided a healthy atmosphere for people to come together during COVID. And because the centers are for those in recovery for all substance use disorders, people like Ann Marie Ebbeling have also benefited from the programs throughout the pandemic. Ebbeling, who turned to alcohol during the quarantine to cope with being home and not working, found a safe space at Opening the Word where she said felt welcome and not judged.

“It helped me because I felt alone with my disease,” Ebbeling said. “I personally think it saved my life.”

Siekierski agreed, saying, “That center offers a lot, and it’s going to continue to offer a lot. The people who go there are serious about their recovery, and they can be because there are so many programs.”

Like Siekierski, Vazquez, too, credited Everyday Miracles with saving him, after a life of gangs, drugs and prison time. “I fell in love with heroin and went on 20-something-year spree of programs, detox,” he said. “I got comfortable on the streets. Doing drugs – it felt natural to me.”

Four years ago, he overdosed for the first time, and that changed his outlook. He started going to Everyday Miracles and, after a suggestion from Earielo, Vazquez stayed at Dismas House first as a resident and then became house manager. He has now been in recovery for three years and is the house manager of Reconciliation House in Webster, but still helps out at Everyday Miracles.

“That’s what saved me – I took the advice of someone else,” Vazquez said. “I fell off so many times before this that this time I decided to listen to someone else. Best decision of my life.”

For those who are struggling, Vazquez said he would tell them to find a system and others to talk to. “You can’t do it alone. You’ve got to reach out,” he said. “Recovery is like money. It’s absolutely awesome to have, but it’s a lot better to share it with others. If you feel something bad coming on, call someone. There are a lot of good people in recovery who will help other addicts.”

And while COVID may be not as severe as it was during its peak, the effects from it still are. “It’s the fault of COVID for this ripple effect,” Ford said. “The experts say it’s going to be years before we fully realize the impact. It’s everywhere and allencompassing.”

She added, “Maybe one of the things that hopefully we’ve learned from the pandemic, because of the long reach it’s had into people’s lives, is how vulnerable people are who are suffering from substance use disorder, in terms of relapse – as anyone else who’s suffering from any type of disease – and maybe more. I believe it’s because of the stigma associated with substance use disorder. We need to pay attention to this going forward, just as we would any other chronic illness. That’s what this is — a chronic illness.”

A Friday night art class is held at Opening the Word Peer Recovery Center.

PHOTOS BY RICK CINCLAIR/TELEGRAM & GAZETTE

Colby Peete works on a collage of photographs cut from magazines that represents aspects of his life during a Friday night art class at Opening the Word Peer Recovery Center.