The “Facing Recovery” Community Event is This Saturday at Caras Park

On Saturday, the Western Montana Mental Health Center is hosting their Facing Recovery event. According to Program Manager Patrick Ryan, this is a community event aimed at raising awareness, diminishing stigma and celebrating life in recovery from substance use and mental health disorders. He says the first part of the event is from 11:00-3:00 and that will be all about recovery and wellness.

“We are going to have informational booths,” Ryan said. “We are going to have a drum circle on the main stage featuring Matthew Nord from Tangled Tones Music Studio. Bring your own drum, come on down and have some fun. That will be from 12:00 to 1:00. We will have balloon animals and face painting for the kids. We are having free rides at the carousel from 1:30 to 3:00 and that is for the whole community. Just go down and ride for free.”

Ryan says the second part of the event will be a celebration of recovery.

“We have two bands that are going to play,” Ryan said. “We have two local comedians that are in recovery and they will talk about that. We also have two local authors that will speak. We have all of that going on from 5:00 to 9:00 down at Caras Park. We will have a great light ceremony to close out the night.”

The event is free and Ryan encourages anyone and everyone to attend. If addiction and mental illness are community problems, Ryan believes the community is the solution. He says it is really important to provide support to the most vulnerable people in our community.