{"id":1314315,"date":"2019-09-05T19:18:56","date_gmt":"2019-09-06T01:18:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/?p=987173"},"modified":"2019-09-05T19:18:56","modified_gmt":"2019-09-06T01:18:56","slug":"former-carbondale-familys-national-bus-tour-seeks-end-to-stigma-around-mental-illness-addiction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/former-carbondale-familys-national-bus-tour-seeks-end-to-stigma-around-mental-illness-addiction\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Carbondale family\u2019s national bus tour seeks end to stigma around mental illness, addiction"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
The Cruze-Harrington family, Tim, Robyn, Lilly and Chloe.<\/strong>
Provided<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Tim Harrington is now several years removed from his former life in the Roaring Fork Valley, but it was here that the seeds were sown for his latest mission.<\/p>\n

This past winter, Harrington and his wife Robyn Cruze sold their home in Denver, pulled their middle school-aged daughters, Lilly and Chloe, out of school, converted an old school bus into a tiny home and set out on the road.<\/p>\n

The purpose: to spread a message of hope for ending the stigma surrounding mental health and addiction.<\/p>\n

That means shifting the conversation around those issues, Harrington said. And that\u2019s exactly what they are aiming to do as part of a year-long bus tour across the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cInstead of focusing on how badly things are going, or how much things need to change, we need a consistent message of hope,\u201d Harrington said in a recent phone interview from New York City \u2014 one of the many Wide Wonder<\/a> bus stops.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
The Wide Wonder Life bus.<\/strong>
Provided<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Stigma comes from the negative, and focusing attention on things like criminal statistics around drug addiction, or looking at suicide statistics as a result of mental illness only adds to the stigma, he said.<\/p>\n

Instead, Harrington says, why not call attention to the fact that 25 million people in the United States are in remission from substance abuse, according to the U.S. Surgeon General.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t get to the other side of the story,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd it\u2019s the same with people who are suffering from mental illness.\u201d<\/p>\n

A personal story<\/h4>\n

Harrington was living the life in the Roaring Fork Valley in the 1990s, where he worked in the restaurant business and eventually ran an Aspen restaurant. But the lifestyle only fueled an addiction that started at a young age.<\/p>\n

He lived through trauma as a child, and grew up in a social system in California where drugs were acceptable.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlcohol was used in my family to celebrate, and to medicate,\u201d Harrington said. \u201cI always liked to say I didn\u2019t have a drug problem, I had a drug solution \u2026 it distracted from and chilled the pain.\u201d<\/p>\n

He battled addiction for 20 years, through interventions, treatment, relapse, homelessness, reaching out for help, and recovery.<\/p>\n

During his time in the Valley, he said he lost 15 friends to suicide.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s an us and them paradigm when that happens, and feeling bad for \u2018them,’\u201d he recalled. \u201cBut it should be an us and we issue.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harrington eventually went to work in the recovery business himself as a way to give back. He moved back to the Valley in 2008 to helped with the startup of the Jaywalker Lodge in Carbondale \u2014 a residential addiction recovery program for men.<\/p>\n

Now, along with his wife, who is an internationally recognized author on the subject of recovery, the Cruze-Harrington\u2019s are taking their message across the country.<\/p>\n

Pulling up roots<\/h4>\n

\u201cThe Valley is still a big part of our lives,\u201d Harrington said. \u201cIt\u2019s one of those places you can leave, but you never really leave.\u201d<\/p>\n

But it was in Denver that he built his practice as a family recovery support specialist and outspoken advocate for emotional health.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re travelers by nature, and had always traveled with kids,\u201d he said. \u201cWe weren\u2019t working in the traditional sense, and so we decided to combine our experiences personally and professionally with mental illness, and take it on the road.\u201d<\/p>\n

They spent $60,000 of their own money to convert the bus into traveling living quarters, and turned their passion into an adventure \u2014 with a purpose.<\/p>\n

Through an ongoing series of TED-style talks and educational events, the Cruze-Harringtons are keeping the conversation around mental health and addiction going.<\/p>\n

They\u2019ve gotten national and local media attention along the way, and the momentum keeps building, Harrington said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a real internal exploration, as well as external,\u201d he said. \u201cWe couldn\u2019t be more excited about our own vulnerability, and sharing that with others. It\u2019s amazing how many people out there are as passionate about the issue of stigma and wanting to change that.\u201d<\/p>\n

But that\u2019s how big change happens, Harrington said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have an army of wellness advocates, if we really choose to use it,\u201d he said. \u201cA big part of recovery is anonymity. But that can sometimes be counter to how we get change going.\u201d<\/p>\n

Instead, for those who are willing, the goal is to encourage people to use that voice and share their personal story, he said.<\/p>\n

jstroud@postindependent.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Cruze-Harrington family, Tim, Robyn, Lilly and Chloe.Provided Tim Harrington is now several years removed from his former life in the Roaring Fork Valley, but it was here that the seeds were sown for his latest mission. This past winter, Harrington and his wife Robyn Cruze sold their home in Denver, pulled their middle school-aged […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1314315","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-20 11:52:41","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1314315","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1314315"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1314315\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1314315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1314315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1314315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}