Deborah Fickling came to New Mexico in 1989 as a recovering drug addict. On Thursday (9/10) she leaves for New York City as a representative of the state where she has managed to stay clean.
Fickling, 56, of Chamita, was selected as New Mexico’s delegate this year for the Recovery Rally in New York City, where she and advocates from across the country are set to hold a rally Saturday morning and march across the Brooklyn Bridge. The event, sponsored by several anti-drug organizations, is meant to raise awareness about alcohol and drug addiction and encourage other addicts to seek treatment.
Fickling, who sought treatment for alcohol and prescription drug abuse in 1987, said she sees the trip as another way to advocate for those who have dealt with problems similar to hers.
“One of the things that has really contributed to my recovery is this process of paying it forward,” said Fickling, who works for the state Behavioral Health Collaborative and is a local advocate for people with addiction and mental health issues.
Alcoholism runs in Fickling’s family, but she said she didn’t realize she had a substance abuse problem until immediately before she sought treatment. While living in Boston, Mass., she had a nervous breakdown during a visit to a therapist, which landed her in the hospital and eventually in a drug and alcohol treatment facility for six weeks.
Over time she said she learned her addictions, to alcohol and the anti-anxiety drug Xanax, were linked to her problem with depression.
“In my case, being an addict was a lot about distracting myself from the issues at hand,” she said.
Fickling said she never used the substances after leaving treatment, and she moved to New Mexico just two years later after visiting a friend in Santa Fe. But her mental health issues continued to be an issue, ultimately causing her to lose a job as a technical writer at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in 1996.
It was then that she sought help from the state’s behavioral health system, which eventually inspired her to become an advocate for other addicts.
In one form or the other, Fickling has continued to work since then to advocate for other substance abusers while constantly fighting her own battle with addiction. And as for her 21-year streak of avoiding alcohol and drugs, Fickling doesn’t take the accomplishment lightly.
“I try to be relatively humble, but I think it’s a really big deal,” she said.