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Bridge to recovery: Years ago, Diana Harrington heard a sobering truth from James Jeffords
October 6, 2008
Mel Huff
Times Argus Staff
PLAINFIELD – Thousands of people recently walked across the historic Brooklyn Bridge to dramatize their conviction that anyone can cross the bridge to recovery. Among them was Diana Harrington, Vermont's delegate to the national Recovery Rally.
The rally launched a multi-year initiative by the Arts and Entertainment Network, the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, federal agencies and non-profit organizations to raise awareness that addiction is a treatable disease, the organizers said in a written statement.
Fewer than 10 percent of the 22 million Americans who struggle with addiction to alcohol or other drugs receive the treatment they need, either because of stigma, lack of awareness or expense, according to a national survey on drug use and health. The goal of the Recovery Project, inspired by the A&E documentary series "Intervention," is to develop a better understanding of the root causes of addiction and of its impact on society.
The delegates were chosen to represent their states because of their efforts to help others overcome addiction. All have been in recovery for at least 10 years.
Harrington has been in recovery for more than 23 years. During that time she found a vocation as the public face of recovery in Vermont.
She testified at a 2001 legislative hearing on the cost of addiction to the state. She won the Jack Barry Communications Award "in communicating the power of recovery from addictions." She has served on the board of Friends of Recovery and now chairs the board of the Turning Point Center. She is also a hands-on volunteer. At the Turning Point, she works with "people who are really struggling, who have no place to live and no money."
Harrington grew up in Adamant. In January 1974, she graduated from U-32 and took a job in James Jeffords' law office. That summer Jeffords decided to run for the House of Representatives, and by the following January Harrington was in Washington, D.C.
"I was the first person you saw when you came in from Vermont," she said.
Harrington, like many young staffers, grazed the tables at the endless Washington receptions for free food and booze. After six years of life in the capital, she returned to Vermont to work in Jeffords' Burlington office. (From 1991 until Jeffords retired in January 2007, she ran his Montpelier office. She retired when he did.)
Harrington continued partying after she came back to Vermont, and she began missing work. Then, shortly before the holidays in 1984, Jeffords called her and said, "I'm flying up this week and I really need to talk to you."
Harrington thought, "This will be great!" She assumed he wanted her opinion about some issue.
The two met at a restaurant. Jeffords got there first, and when Harrington sat down across from him, her boss "immediately started to tear up – tears were running down his face," she recalled. "He said, 'You know, if you don't do something about your drinking, I'm going to have to fire you.'"
Harrington was stunned – Jeffords was known for sticking by his staff, no matter what.
"I realized I had to do something about this for him," she said. After New Year's, she started a 12-step program, "for him, of course, not for me. It took me three months to understand that I was doing this to save my life, not his."
Harrington was 28 years old at the time.
About 10 years later, she was asked to join the board of Friends of Recovery-Vermont. Harrington had not been particularly vocal about her recovery, and she told Jeffords that accepting the invitation would mean not only making her story public, but disclosing where she worked.
He told her, "Put your story out there."
"What if people see me in a public place and I drink again?" she countered.
"You've got 10 years of sobriety. What are you afraid of?" she said he asked. "Go forth."
People need mentors to help them through recovery, Harrington observed. That conviction explains her role as an advocate and volunteer.
"Staying away from a substance that defines your life for so long (is difficult)," she noted. "When I would drink, I used to think that I was the funniest, most beautiful, most brilliant person there ever was. That alone is addictive, that feeling. People get something they need, and it's very hard to give it up."
Nearly 5,000 people marched across the Brooklyn Bridge – politicians, celebrities, nonprofit administrators, people in recovery, family members and friends. One group of marchers represented a shelter.
"There were men there with 18 hours of sobriety. They were marching. There was another guy who had 18 days and he'd never made it over seven before," Harrington said.
"I love the whole recovery movement," she declared. "It's so much more than just abstinence. It's a lifestyle that supports good health and good behavior and good intentions.
"I thought when I got sober I would never, ever have fun again. I was 28 years old. Well," she said, "I've had more fun than I could possibly image having when I was drinking, and I remember it all.
"There's so much for us that we don't even know," Harrington reflected. "When you're one-day sober or 18-days sober, you're in a survival mode. But there is a place where you will go, and you will say, 'This is a wonderful life.'"