Festival to celebrate recovery from substance abuse

The skies were dreary with a gray morning drizzle. Mary Jo McMillen was slightly damp but proudly wearing a baggy T-shirt that read "Utah."

She stood to be filmed and photographed before a crowd of thousands and felt humbled for the moment in which she took part.

McMillen, wife for 18 years, soccer mom of girls ages 13 and 15, owner of two dogs and dedicated Ute fan, appears to be a typical Utah resident.

But last Saturday, she was recognized for one thing that sets her apart in the local community, when she and 50 other representatives from each state and the District of Columbia stood before the nation as former drug and alcohol abusers who have been in recovery for at least 10 years.

A&E's Recovery Rally in New York City welcomed more than 10,000 recovered substance abusers and their supporters as they walked across the Brooklyn Bridge and formed a human bridge symbolizing the road to recovery from substance abuse.

McMillen took part in the national event after being nominated by a committee of recovery advocate foundations in Utah that appreciated the values and influence she has had through her journey from substance abuse to recovery, which entailed abusing drugs and alcohol at 15, recognizing her sickness at 24, working to help others recover at 26, and celebrating her 24th anniversary of continuous recovery on Wednesday, at age 48.

"This has basically become my life's work," McMillen said.

Both she and her husband, Shawn McMillen, a long-term recoverer of 29 years whom she met working in the substance abuse treatment field, devote their lives to raising awareness and support for others in long-term recovery.

McMillen, who now supplements her life with yoga classes and Buddhist meditation and prayer, said she knew she wanted to share her experience with others to help them in their path to recovery from addiction after her first job in substance abuse treatment at the University of Utah's Neuropsychiatric Institute in Salt Lake City.

But McMillen said she never dwells on her "qualifying story" — the years leading up to recovery — because the process is about focusing on the lifestyle change that comes with recovery, and using those changes to help others make a permanent transformation.

"Recovering people contribute a great deal to their community," McMillen said.

Yet service is not always the first quality people associate with recovering people with addiction, which is something McMillen said she hopes to change.

As an outpatient clinical coordinator at First Step House substance treatment center in Salt Lake City, McMillen's mission is to celebrate recovery, advocate policy-making to support treatment facilities, provide support for recovery peers and families, and educate people about recovery in general.