News  Charlestown Recovery Court celebrates graduate Jouseph Martinez

Mr. Martinez was presented with a certificate of completion and received words of encouragement and pledges of continued support by members of the Recovery Court team during an intimate heartfelt ceremony where Shannon Lundin, Director of Recovery and Community Engagement, Chapters Recovery Center, was the keynote speaker.

“While I was in Recovery Court I followed the Guidance of my Probation Officer, Mr. LaFortune, and participated in NA and AA where I was able to get to a point where I could run a house meeting at my first program. I got to announce my progress in Recovery Court each week which helped me keep moving forward,” Mr. Martinez said.

He added, "With the direction of Honorable Judge Grant and the Recovery Court team, I was able to finally reach my goals. Since the beginning I was serious about it, really wanted it and that’s the reason why I was able to finalize the whole entire 18 months. If you really want it from the inside, you can do it too.”

The Charlestown Recovery Court is one of three recovery courts in the Boston Municipal Courts. The other BMC recovery courts are based at Dorchester and East Boston courts. There are also approximately 30 adult drug court sessions in the District Courts.

National statistics show that 75 percent of Drug Court graduates remain arrest-free at least two years after leaving the program.