It’s an interesting scenario and one that is certainly unconventional for our industry. But we believe in promoting any type of addiction treatment that has shown success and, as NBC News Maine is reporting, one such model involves couples entering into sobriety together.
The example of this comes from Glenn Simpson and Elaine Shamos, who have both faced challenging substance abuse issues. A model that they adopted and are now promoting involves couples recovery therapy. It is a support group where people in committed relationships join Zoom calls together and lean on each other throughout their sobriety journeys.
As Glenn and Elaine put it, this doesn’t have to be two people who have battled an addiction. In some cases, only one half of the couple may have struggled with a dependency. And in others, it can be two adults who both have alcoholic parents. Whatever the case may be, this model believes that there is strength in love and relationships.
“I am someone who lives with a substance use disorder, that’s been in remission for a number of years now,” Glenn told NBC Maine. “Elaine also had past relationships with people trying to overcome the disease and she has a son who has struggled with substance abuse disorder. As a couple, we work to create a life together that supports each other’s sobriety.”
Examples of how this model has worked for them includes attending each other’s virtual meetings or volunteering together at recovery clinics throughout the state. Both Glenn and Elaine have social work backgrounds and are hoping to expand this philosophy into a larger practice.
It started with articles in local magazine and now their “Couples in Recovery” movement has its own thriving Facebook page. Daily postings include inspirational love quotes and links to articles focused on relationships.
They’ve even gone a bit “viral” with social media postings about their movement and philosophies.
Elaine Shamos and Glenn Simpson make sure they spend quality time together — especially during the pandemic. Its key to…
Posted by Vivien Leigh Journalist on Tuesday, February 23, 2021
Now of course, we always encourage spouses and loved ones to accompany their significant others on the recovery journey. Just how big of a role they play is a personal decision. Privacy is another big part of the experience and we do believe that people’s wishes should be respected. Nevertheless, this does seem like an innovative way to promote love and treatment (being especially helpful during the pandemic). So we applaud Glenn and Elaine for exploring more unconventional sobriety methods.
