Fighting Isolation: Recovery Persists In The Pandemic

MASSACHUSETTS — Before the pandemic, one Alcoholics Anonymous group met everyday at noon in Boston’s financial district. Most of the people attending worked in the district but lived elsewhere. When meetings were forced online, the group adapted pretty quickly, expanding to meet multiple times per day, seven days per week. One attendee, Liz, said when she started going, there were only 25 people. Now, 300 people Zoom into most of the meetings.

“There are so many newcomers on these meetings who go there and don’t have cameras on because they’re shy, but they’re getting the message,” said Liz. (This story will include first names only to keep with the AA tradition of anonymity.)

There are more than 2,200 AA meetings just in eastern Massachusetts—when everything closed, meetings across the state and the world had to figure out how to keep going.

“People just quickly decided that's what they were going to do,” said Julia, who attends AA in Massachusetts, about online meetings. “Everybody kind of jumped on the bandwagon.”

That switch opened meetings up for a lot of people—you no longer had to be able to get to meetings in person, meaning you could listen in while making breakfast or driving to work. You could even attend an AA meeting that was hosted in another country.

“I'm now a parent and having the ability to not have to get child care makes going to a meeting so much more convenient, and easier,” said Julia, who has been going to AA meetings for 12 years. “I used to go to about five meetings a week and now … I go to one while I'm getting dressed in the morning.”

Liz also found the switch to online meetings to be an asset. She said she attends five meetings a day from the safety of her own bedroom, and while many people have reported feeling isolated during the pandemic, Liz was able to stay safe and connected through the virtual meetings. She didn’t always feel that way—when the pandemic first began, Liz didn’t know what to expect. Her sister took her to her first meeting, which was two weeks before the pandemic was declared a pandemic. When everything was forced to shut down, it was a horrible shock.

“I thought the world was coming to an end,” she said. “It was absolutely terrifying. It was like I needed to go to the hospital and they shut the door on me.”

Liz realized pretty quickly, though, that the new format would work even better for her than the old. She no longer felt isolated—she had access to meetings and support 24/7.

“I can remember driving around trying to find a meeting at 10 o'clock at night crying and I couldn't find the place,” Liz said. “You just open the laptop, and there are other people who will love you and help you.”

The shift to virtual meetings had similar benefits for members of Al-Anon, an organization for people who are affected by others’ alcoholism. Irene, an attendee in Massachusetts, said that she used to attend meetings when she visited her daughter out of state, but then was unable to attend the same group when she returned home. With the shift to online, she’s been Zooming into meetings no matter where they are, and availability isn’t the only benefit to trying a new meeting—people you’ve never met could say something that surprises you or makes you think about something you haven’t before.

“It's not just convenient, it's often really helpful in one's program to hear different people,” said Irene.

Jane, another attendee of Al-Anon meetings, says that she’s seen the fluctuation in meeting size act as a benefit for people.

“I will attend one meeting that has 80 people, and I attend one that has eight,” she said. “That is the beauty of Al-Anon—we have a lot of variants on that. And some people at an eighty person meeting won't speak … and some people like the bigger meeting to get to be able to be quiet.”

Though meeting virtually afforded some people the ability to attend more meetings than they otherwise might have, it was a difficult transition for some. Older members sometimes struggled to learn about new technology, and other people who lacked the technology to join online. People in recovery houses might not have the data plans needed to access Zoom. Even when the technology worked there were some kinks to work out, such as reminding people not to show their full names on Zoom.

Another issue, Irene pointed out, is finding a private space to talk during those meetings.

“When you have a meeting to get to, for that hour, or hour and a half, or whatever time you’ve got, you're in an environment that's safe to talk about where you are, where you're at, what's going on,” she said. “The challenge has been … if you're virtual, you're probably in your house.”

Al-Anon and AA are two separate groups,and a misconception Irene and Jane noted is the idea that Al-Anon is “against” AA. Al-Anon’s stated mission is to support people whose lives have been affected by someone else’s drinking.

“No matter what anybody is facing, there’s a place to go,” Irene said. “We’ll help you, we’ll support you. Just put that hand out.”

Through all of the changes, the process is still working for people. The first of the “Zoom babies,” people who started attending AA during the pandemic, are reaching one year in recovery.

While AA groups were making the transition to online meetings, rehabilitation facilities were meeting some of the same challenges with their outpatient units. With inpatient, though, the facilities had to make quick decisions that would allow their patients to continue care with no interruptions.

Spectrum Health Systems provides rehabilitative services, and needed to figure out how to keep patients in treatment quickly. Sherry Ellis, the chief operating officer, said they outfitted their campus in Westborough to accommodate patients that tested positive for COVID-19. They have a wing that has a separate entrance, and people who are coming in to detox or for residential care can stay there when they’re positive. They have a trailer where all of their incoming patients are screened for the virus and immediately set to the task of finding PPE. This year, all of their staff was vaccinated, and Spectrum has expanded to helping out other practices.

“Because we implemented so quickly we were able to help other smaller community providers, who didn't have access to the vaccine, get their community health workers vaccinated,” said Ellis.

Shawn Daugherty started his position as vice president of Operations at Vertava Health, a provider for mental health and substance use conditions, at the end of April 2020. When he arrived, the logistics for serving patients had already been figured out for the most part.

“When I got here, it was both a combination of trying to sift through the information that was coming through and also trying to make sure that, if anything, we were doing more than we had to do to make things safe,” said Daugherty.

Vertava has systems in place for isolation, quarantine, and testing, and has been able to maintain some of its typical practices—such as eating meals in small groups—while staying within state guidelines. When someone tests positive, they’re moved into an isolation room.

“Of course, their treatment doesn't stop. We have tablets where we have the person engaged in treatment virtually while they're in, because COVID is very serious but so are substance use disorders and the importance of honoring that person's journey toward being sober, healthy, and well,” Daugherty said.

“That's why we're here. We are truly treating the epidemic of substance abuse during the pandemic, and that commitment and mission doesn't stop just because somebody tests positive.”

For information about Alcoholics Anonymous, visit the national website and find local meetings here.

For information about Al-Anon, visit the national website and find local meetings here.

Learn more about Vertava Health.

Learn more about Spectrum Health Systems.