Volunteer Spotlight: Bill Buehner

Bill is a recovery coach with Healthy Acadia’s Maine RecoveryCorps. He recently shared what brought him to the program and what drives him to help others in recovery.

As an Advanced EMT, I saw firsthand the impact of the opioid epidemic in Washington County where I reside. The number of overdoses that still occur is alarming. Too many young lives are needlessly snuffed out due to lack of services/resources and stigma surrounding substance use disorders. 

When an old injury forced me to retire from my career, I found myself searching for a way to continue to serve my community and was introduced to recovery coaching as a way to use my own lived experience with substance and alcohol use disorders to help others. I knew right then and there that this would be my own way of helping to reverse the trends that I’d been seeing for so many years. I spent just a few days volunteering at the Downeast Recovery Center in Machias, and then signed up for the Recovery Coach Academy. 

I am now in my second year as a recovery coach and have 23 years in recovery. Seeing the people that I coach reach their goals has been a great accomplishment for me. One person, in particular, comes to mind. He had been dealing with substance use disorders for a long time and was quite resistant to help. When I connected with him, he was actively using and a bit out of control. I wasn't sure I was helping him but didn't want to give up on him either. 

One night, he was under the influence, feeling suicidal, and had the police looking for him, and he called me and said he needed help. Not just any help but, MY help. Wow, what an amazing feeling! I was able to connect him to the services he needed, and through his own hard work and commitment, he now has eight months of sobriety. I never thought that I would have the ability to help someone turn their lives around the way he has. 

I wish I had a recovery coach when I was first in recovery, I can only imagine how different my journey may have been. I’m so proud and honored to be a recovery coach today and working with people in my community. It is so rewarding!

Recovery Coach Academy is free and open to anyone seeking to learn more about substance use disorder and is also the first step toward becoming a recovery coach. Learn more about the program and/or register for an upcoming session here.