“Once we shine a flashlight on the secrets in the darkness, we show that we’re real people. I am the face of recovery.”

That is how Heather Barna-Dowling of Jim Thorpe, who works with SYNC Recovery Community, explains one of the main goals of SYNC: to break down stigmas of addiction and recovery.

Approximately 30 people gathered together at the Carbon County Environmental Education Center to hold a butterfly release to honor family members, friends, coworkers; those who are dealing with addictions and those who lost their battle with addictions.

“A butterfly lies beside us like a sunbeam. And, for a brief moment, it’s glory and beauty belong to our world. But then, it flies on again; and, although we wish it could have stayed, we feel blessed to have seen it,” Patty Rehrig, a volunteer with SYNC Recovery Community, shared with the group.

“When we’re active in our addiction, we spend our time doing what our addiction does. When we come into recovery, we have a whole lot of time that we don’t know what to do with. Our recovery community organization provides events to people who might not have the opportunity to get to these events,” Barna-Dowling said.

SYNC is an organization made up of people dealing with addictions of all forms. They are people who are involved in addictions, in recovery, or perhaps friends or relative of people in who have addictions, or just want to be able to help.

“SYNC is designed by peers helping peers to break the stigma, and show people in recovery that there is light after coming into recovery,” Barna-Dowling explained.

The group organizes events such as kayaking, train rides, hiking, rafting, yoga, and more.

Visit SyncRecovery.org for upcoming events and more information; or email info@syncrecovery.org or call 610-651-0707.