Stigmas, stereotypes through the eyes of a substance abuse survivor

DAYTON — Ohio ranks 28th in the United State for adults with substance abuse disorders, according to data from Mental Health America.

The report said more than 700,000 people struggle with substance abuse, which is almost 8 percent of the Ohio population.

Often times, substance abuse is connected to mental health illnesses. News Center 7′s Haley Kosik took a closer look at the stigmas and stereotypes through the eyes of a woman in substance abuse recovery.

Ashley Smithson is a survivor of mental health and substance abuse addiction. She is originally from Tulsa, Oklahoma, but found her way to Dayton to make a change for the better.

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She is here today, comfortable with admitting that she had a problem.

“My mother was a bit abusive,” said Smithson. “I struggled with what love was and who I was bringing into my life,”

At 15 years old, Smithson began drinking and doing drugs to forget her upbringing.

Helen Jones-Kelley, Executive Director of ADAMHS, said, “There’s generational trauma with families growing up within households where there’s so much pain occurring.”

As executive director for the Montgomery County Alcohol, Drug Addiction Mental Health Services Jones-Kelley sees Smithson’s situation happen a lot.

“The fact that I’m able to talk about it and that I am living my recovery, I am able to heal, and it stops with me,” Smithson said.

Now, at 37 years old, Smithson is clean.

“Two years and ten months,” she said. It’s not been easy for her as she describes her journey like how an ocean behaves.

“Where it goes out and it comes back in, that’s your recovery. Sometimes things are off and you’re out for a second, but then you’re always coming back in and sometimes there’s highs, sometimes there’s lows,” Smithson said.

Her lowest moment was when she overdosed. She then found her way to the Oasis House in November of 2019, which is one of the many recovery programs in the Miami Valley.

“To identify ways in which we can make a difference for lifting people out of whatever negative situation they may find themselves in,” said Jones-Kelley.

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It’s no easy task until Jones-Kelley said we learn to accept one another.

“I think it’s important for people to understand that the work of reducing stigma is not with a professional, it’s with everybody,” she said.

“Talking about it, putting it out there, normalizing it and being there for one another and leading with love, that’s what’s helped me. That’s what’s changed me. That’s what’s going to help everybody else dealing with this in silence,” Smithson said.

As a way of continuing to heal, Smithson is breaking that silence for others in similar situation. She is a peer supporter at the Goodwill Easter Seals Miami Valley.

“I just want to be hope. A light and a hope for somebody so they can see that there really is something on the other side of that darkness that they’re feeling, and that they can thrive and live a beautiful life,” Smithson said.

You can call the ADAMHS at 937-528-7777 for emotional support.

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