MANCHESTER, NH – For all that has changed in the two years since HOPE for New Hampshire Recovery became the state’s first peer-to-peer community recovery center, one thing has not.
Melissa Fortin-Crews is still on board with the mission, 100 percent – even though she is no longer on the board of directors.
Motivated, in part, by backlash following a political ad paid for by the Republican Senatorial Committee in which Crews calls out Gov. Maggie Hassan for “mishandling” the addiction crisis, Crews resigned her post earlier this week.
“I stand behind every word I have said. My position has not and will not change. This is not or has never been about politics to me,” says Crews. “People are dying and if you are going to call this a crisis, it should be treated as such. I have continually been told by this administration to quiet down and be patient – followed up by ‘that’s not the way it works in NH.’ Well, the way it works is not working.”
Crews has been at the center of Manchester’s recovery movement, helping to move the plan for HOPE for New Hampshire from blueprint to bricks-and-mortar for years. She helped secure a building donated by Families in Transition which became the first tangible phase of HOPE, on Market Street in May of 2015.
They quickly outgrew the space and moved to 140 Central St., fully understanding that the need for community resources would require an even larger space. And so, as operations moved to Central Street, a bigger plan was also in the works. A four-story building was purchased soon after by Crews’ husband, Andy Crews, and developer Dick Anagnost. That project, which will bring recovery wrap-around services together under one roof, is slated to be ready in December.
Crews says bureaucracy and political red tape have no place in the recovery movement, and yet, it’s always there.
She says her comments toward Hassan’s handling of the heroin crisis and funding for recovery services were based on her honest experience. She still believes everyone wants the same outcome, which is to build an effective recovery network and improve outcomes.
The sad fact is that people are still dying, says Crews, and the response from the state, too slow.
After spending the past two years in the trenches, working with politicians on both sides of the aisle, Crews says she’s expended enough time and energy in that arena. She knows where she is needed.
“I, in no way, ever want to hurt HOPE for NH Recovery or anyone involved. I made the decision to resign only because I can be much more effective volunteering and advocating. I will, one-hundred percent, continue to support the work of HOPE for NH Recovery. People in recovery and recovery community centers are invaluable to this fight,” says Crews. “It is my hope that people will begin to believe in the simplicity of what’s really needed and stop over structuring it. People need to feel connected to something. Period. Help people feel happily and usefully whole, and you change their life.”
Hope for NH’s growing pains have included a few changes at the top, with Cheryl Coletti-Lawson, a business and weath-management professional, currently at the helm as President and CEO. None of the original board members remain.
And as the state continues to grapple with the unmet need for detox beds, certified recovery professionals, affordable recovery housing and effective treatment programs, Crews will remain loyal to the peer-to-peer recovery model that is central to HOPE for New Hampshire.
“This is a very complicated issue that has taken me 22 years in recovery and three years of a deep dive into how it works in NH, to understand,” says Crews. “I’m sorry but ‘that’s not how things work in NH’ isn’t good enough for me.”
