Editor’s Note: September is National Drug and Alcohol Addiction Recovery Month. To celebrate the success of treatment and recovery programs, and to inspire people struggling with substance abuse and addiction, a dozen Mainers have agreed to share their personal stories. “Recovery Works” will feature these profiles each Thursday in the Well-Being section, replacing the “Finding a Fix” column today and through September.

Jordan Lincoln became addicted to OxyContin when he was a teenager in Houlton, dropped out of high school and got in trouble with the law. He spent some time in jail and attended two out-of-state rehab programs before checking in at Day One, a one-year intensive rehab program based in Portland.

Now 21, working full time as a carpenter’s assistant and living in Day One transitional housing, he’s gotten comfortable in the public eye and talking about his experience with addiction and recovery. He’s made presentations to high school students, testified before the Maine Legislature, been featured in a Portland Press Herald story on drug abuse and written persuasively for the weekly Finding a Fix column in this newspaper.

“I just want to help other people out, so they don’t go through what I went through,” he said in a recent phone interview. “It helps me to help other people; it helps me to stay clean and sober.”

Jordan’s attitude typifies a growing movement in this country- a willingness on the part of people recovering from addiction to drugs and alcohol to go public with their stories. Challenging a tradition of shame – and risking social stigma and rejection – former users are speaking out about the success of treatment programs and demonstrating that personal determination can and often does prevail over the lethal grip of addiction. They’re mentoring others who are struggling to get clean and sober, and advocating for more funding for treatment and support services.

Pat Taylor, executive director of Faces and Voices of Recovery, an organization based in Washington, D.C., said in a recent phone interview that support for the “new recovery” movement is growing nationwide.

“There is a tremendous amount going on in communities all over the country,” she said. “People are speaking up about what recovery has meant for them.” Many organizations, communities and states support public awareness events all year long, Taylor said, but September – National Drug and Alcohol Addiction Recovery Month – is especially active.

According to a special Web site hosted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services – www.recoverymonth.gov – just about every state has at least one public program planned for September: sunrise drumming in New Jersey, a poetry slam in Alaska, a “Dry Run” road race in North Carolina and a sober pig roast in Minnesota.

Closer to home, Mainers can attend the 2nd annual Maine Walks for Recovery rally in Augusta on Sept. 16, a day when at least 15 states are hosting similar events. Rep. Michael Michaud and Rep. Tom Allen will be honored at the event for their dedication to recovery-related efforts at the congressional level. Midcoast Mainers may also want to stop in at a “celebration of recovery” at the Choice Skyward agency in Rockland on Sept. 21. Residents of other communities should keep an eye out for local happenings as well, as treatment programs and grass-roots groups organize their own events.

Debbie Dettor, coordinator of the Maine Alliance for Addiction Recovery, says Maine has been slower than some other New England states to develop a visible “recovery network.” For example, she said, several communities in Vermont feature recovery centers in high-traffic, downtown locations, which help in securing housing, jobs, daycare and other elements of a normal life. In Connecticut, people completing addiction treatment programs are automatically assigned peer mentors – former users who keep in close touch with the newly clean and sober and help them steer clear of the temptation to use again.

These efforts, as well as building an effective political lobby, require a high-profile population of concerned citizens in recovery, Dettor said, something lacking so far in Maine. “We really need a vanguard of people to step forward,” she said. “The public needs to realize that there are two sides to the addiction story: Not only do drugs and alcohol kill, but recovery saves lives.”

Dettor stressed that, while individuals often feel strongly that their path to recovery is the “right” one, the new recovery movement embraces the value of all methods: 12-step programs, methadone substitution therapy, residential programs, sheer grit and determination, or whatever works. “Recovery by any means possible,” she calls it.

At Maine’s Office of Substance Abuse in Augusta, director Kim Johnson said the new recovery model comes at a critical time for substance abusers and addicts. In popular “get tough on drugs” campaigns, she said, some states are enacting laws that criminalize the disease of addiction and send the message that treatment doesn’t work.

“If people in recovery don’t speak out, then they and their family members will be even more stigmatized,” she said. Johnson, who will speak at the recovery walk in Augusta, likened current public attitudes toward addiction to attitudes toward cancer a generation ago. “When I was growing up, cancer was a big secret,” she said. “It wasn’t until people began talking about it that we started seeing real progress in research, prevention and treatment. If people don’t talk about the disease of addiction, it will remain shameful.”

The go-public trend doesn’t sit well with everyone. Alcoholics Anonymous and related 12-step programs specifically prohibit members from revealing their affiliation, according to AA’s public information officer in Maine, Lenny G. of Biddeford. Lenny, whose preference for using only his first name reflects the organization’s tradition of anonymity, said the measure is intended to protect the confidentiality of those who attend 12-step meetings as well as the organization’s reputation.

“If people say ‘I’m in AA,’ and then a couple of days later they go out drinking, it makes it look like AA doesn’t work,” he said.

But whatever does work, people are increasingly willing to talk about their recovery – and, hopefully, to walk the walk as well.

Dettor, the MAAR coordinator, says anyone with an interest in substance abuse, addiction, treatment and recovery should attend the big walk and rally in Augusta on Sept. 16 “to make recovery visible, take it to the streets and celebrate,” she said. “It really is crucial that we make a big splash and demonstrate that successful recovery is all around us. This is a display of hope.”

The Maine Walks for Recovery event, featuring three live bands, refreshments and prizes, will take place from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 16, at Capitol Park in Augusta, rain or shine. For more information, call the MAAR at 458-4366.