Recovery Reinvented is seven years old. What is its impact on North Dakota?

MINOT, N.D. (KMOT) – As communities across the country continue to grapple with the scourge of drug abuse and addiction, our state leaders have spent the better part of the last decade working to remove the stigma of addiction and encourage those who seek recovery to “reinvent” their lives.

But have their efforts been successful?

Gov. Doug Burgum and First Lady Kathryn Burgum hosted the seventh annual Recovery Reinvented on the Minot State University campus Thursday.

Seven years into the program we wanted to know, has it made a tangible impact on drug treatment and recovery and the stigma thereof? Natalie Minafore of White Shield says yes, it has.

Minafore works at a sober living lodge and says she learned of the peer support program through Recovery Reinvented.

“I love that we get to use our own experiences. We get to share our own experience with our residents and clients, and we get to show them hope because I was once that hopeless person and I get to share hope now,” said Minafore.

First Lady Kathryn Burgum, whose own story of recovery served as the genesis for Recovery Reinvented, says the results of their efforts to remove the stigma of addiction can be seen in the Peace Garden State.

”We measure stigma, we do surveys in our state and we are reducing stigma. When we started, one in three people thought it was a moral failure. Now one in four people do and that means most of the people in our state believe it’s a disease,” said Kathryn Burgum.

Related content: Recovery Reinvented website

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