Any help would be greatly appreciated!

finally, a clinic was able to open in our area!!! i have been clean for 8 years traveling to an out of town clinic for treatment. i have watched so many people in the last 4 months come in and start their road to sobriety now that they can get to a methadone clinic! WHAT A GREAT THING TO SIT BACK AND WITTNESS...now i am trying to help with another local hurdle. We have NA & AA meetings all over in our area but there is 1 HUGE problem, if you attend one of these meetings and let anyone there know that u r on methadone u pretty much get shunned! meetings r supposed to b a safe haven. a judgement free zone where the only thing needed to attend is the WANT to be clean and sober. the want, everyone is different and needs different treatment. addicts r addicts ! it doesn't matter how u became one or what u did while u were active, the thing that matters is that u r trying to b clean & sober. I remember at the beginning stages of my recovery, i would go to a local meeting and feel as though, i couldn't share becuz i would b judged, sooo, guess what? i never shared in meetings, thats not how u should come out of a meeting feeling.
so, all in all, i have been asked by my clinician to get a MA meeting started for our area. I am so excited that she believes in me & my recovery so much and believes i am the right person to put this in place for my fellow people! if someone could please help me get going in the right direction that would be great! Please help me get this going, i am so interested in doing this and from the talk around the clinic, many of the clients would love to have these meetings to attend. a safe place where u truely are not judged for any part of your life, the before, the during, the after, and the now!
please help me help them!!! THANK YOU~ R

Good morning living,
I too live in an area where there is such a need for a Methadone clinic, last year we were to have one finally after so many years of not having one. Not for lack of trying though. It seemed our community leaders were all for it but the actual community members were afraid. Afraid of the stigma it would/could bring. Lack of education is such a crime in itself.
Last year after gaining approval and finally securing the buidling needed. One of the agencies so badly needed pulled out. Why? Money! That's why.
There was a deadline of Oct 1st, 2012 in order to obtain the extra money needed from the state but the building needed extra work to be done and the deadline could not be met.
We our community is still working on bringing this much needed clinic to our city. Until then, we wait and many will go without the treatment they need so badly.

So when I read about your town and your clinic I felt such a great relief for you.
Your problem of needing MA meetings is not a new one. Too often people are not allowed to share if on medical maintenance.
I remember a quote from when I attended meetings: "All that is needed is a desire to stop using"

One place to start would be within your clinic. Find out if your clinician is willing to help you on this. Does your clinic have a group room that can be utilized for this purpose? Or perhaps a local church or even a meeting room at a local hospital. Some allow meetings for NA/AA so why not find out about MA. This is a huge undertaking for one person but that doesn't mean that it cannot be done. Good luck and please keep us posted. Your doing a wonderful thing for your recovery community.
D

NAMA Recovery could also help get one of their sponsored 'Methadone Advocacy' support groups up & running your area... www . methadone . com ..... check it out! :-) NA/AA also rejected me, but I did find support with SMART, though it is not specific to opioid addiction. Thanks for sharing! I hope TN will soon open more clinics, as there is a MASSIVE shortage here, and it seems the powers the be continually prevent clinics from being able to open! Good luck!