Addiction/Recovery Project

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The Addiction/Recovery Project is a series of community conversations, leading up to the world premiere of the play, People for Whom the World Spins and Turns, by James J. Hsiao, MD, scheduled to run at the Anacostia Playhouse June 29-July 15. 

The first event took place on March 13, 2018 at the Anacostia Arts Center. The panel discussion, WOMEN, ADDICTION, AND THE PEOPLE WHO LOVE THEM, focused on choices women who struggle with addiction make and the ins and outs of finding the right resources for substance abuse disorders.

A celebration of Women’s History Month, the panel featured Stanice Anderson, an author, motivational speaker, and heroin overdose survivor along with Dr. Winston “Kokayi” Patterson, a celebrated Wholistic Practitioner, Linda Washington Weaver , a Certified Addiction Counselor focusing on women and families, and Richard C. Watson, a Certified Peer Recovery Specialist. Learn about our panelists here.

This event was the first of a series of community conversations, leading up to the play. Tickets for the play will be available beginning April 16, 2018. For more information contact info@theessentialtheatre.org or call (202) 328-0569
 

PARTNERS
Technical and intellectual capital for the project is provided through a technical assistance grant from the Center for Social Innovation (C4). C4 functions under the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), a division of the federal government's Department of Health and Human Services.  Additional assistance in stewarding this project is donated by the national and local offices of Faces and Voices of Recovery. Major project support is provided by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.

The Panelists for Women, Addiction and the People Who Love Them
March 13, 2018

Pictured above Left to right: Stanice Anderson, Richard C. Watson, Linda Washington Weaver, and Dr. Winston “Kokayi” Patterson

Stanice Anderson, Moderator
An author, motivational speaker, and heroin overdose survivor Stanice Anderson has provided keynote addresses at conventions, drug courts graduations, and conferences with audiences of up to 7,000 people. She has facilitated seminars, trainings, and iWriteShops as well as classes at the University of the District of Columbia, U.S. Probation Office for the District of Columbia, state & local mental health departments, prisons, schools in the US and West Indies. She helped set up and launch the first drug rehabilitation center on the island country of St. Vincent and The Grenadines. In 2012, Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), chose Ms. Anderson as its National Honorary Chairperson for Wellness Week, which included being commissioned to write a poem that was distributed nationwide.

Richard C. Watson, Panelist
Richard Watson has served as a Certified Peer Recovery Specialist since 2011 for organizations including RPSVa and SAARA of Northern Virginia.  For the DC Recovery Community Alliance he was a Senior Recovery Coach clocking 2500 hours experience with over 90 clients experiencing AODD and Behavioral Health issues: homelessness; joblessness; educational deprivation; returning citizens; PTSD; HIV; and HVC. At the Phoenix Houses of the Mid-Atlantic Intensive Outpatient Services he was a Primary Counselor. He previously worked in the field of law at Washington Law & Professional Books, Richard C. Watson, Esq, Attorney at Law, and Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, LLP.

Linda Washington Weaver, Panelist
Linda Washington Weaver is a Certified Addiction Counselor with a passion for working with women.  “To heal a child you must heal the Family and the Village” is her motto. Since 2014 she has been working with the D.C. Department of Corrections. Formerly she was on staff at Hillcrest Children and Family Center, APRA, Family Treatment Court, MD Treatment Center, KOBA Partnership for Family Preservation, and RAP, Inc. She volunteers with a variety of grassroots organizations including Parent Watch, Bring a Parent, and NIA Umoja (Purpose Unity), a program providing transportation for families to visit their loved ones in prisons.

Dr. Winston “Kokayi” Patterson, Panelist
Prior to becoming an Acupuncture Detox Specialist in 1979, Dr. Winston “Kokayi” Patterson was a Drug Counselor and Program Manager/Director specializing in Residential Treatment, Community Outreach, and Youth Counseling for 35 years. As a graduate from Maryland Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine (2001) and a NADA Certified Acupuncture Detoxification Specialist, he promotes the Acudetox protocol, Acupuncture and an array of wholistic processes and services to empower the person and the community. He was one of the first Certified Addiction Counselors in the D.C. Metropolitan Area.  Dr. Patterson Specializes his training in the Wholisitic Approach to Addictions and  Behavioral Health, and Treatment, Anger Management / Conflict Resolution, HIV/AIDS, a Special Youth Wholistic Health Rights of Passage and Developing a Wholistic Healthy Lifestyle. He is a Founding member of the ADS Collective, a Trainer at TACS, Inc., and the Founder and Executive Director of AWHA.