The United Steelworkers Local 6500 and Local 2020 Sudbury are inviting members who work at Vale to attend a Solidarity in Recovery group program. For those battling addiction Mickey O’Brien said he is taking his lived experience to help others battling addiction. “We struggle alone, and we recover together,” O’Brien said. That’s why he created the group, which meets once a month. USW Local 6500 vice-president Eric Delparte said it’s about members supporting one another. “I was talking to Mickey about how he had envisioned it,” Delparte said. “I really appreciate the fact that your activism comes in different ways, and the fact that you’re participating in the support group may help you -- but it may in turn help somebody else.” “It’s everything to know that you’re going to make it out,” O’Brien said. “Even then for me, who has made it out, I still have to be vigilant, right? So seeing someone coming in that’s just starting out, that reminds me of how I was. So I don’t go back out. As much as I’m helping somebody, they’re really helping me, as well.” The group is a way for Steelworkers to see each other’s hardships and successes on the road to recovery. “The more people you’re around, the more things in common,” O’Brien said. “It’s easy to get into this frame of mind of an active addiction where it’s like nobody understands how I feel. And you go to a room of people that say the exact same things that you’re thinking at the lowest of your low, then you start to understand.” O’Brien said most people know someone who has struggled with addiction, and while they are not alone, USW understands the stigma. Stories and names will be kept confidential. “Seeking help is hard enough and putting up barriers by saying who’s coming or what they’re doing makes it even tougher to come,” said Delparte. O’Brien said addiction is a disease that isolates itself and festers in solitude, but showing up for support is the biggest and best decision people can make. The group gathers at the Steelworkers Hall every last Wednesday of the month.
