A Bushwick woman’s recovery from drug addiction starts on TikTok

“Holla back youngins! 365 days!”

Kim Quidone’s videos on TikTok each start out the same way: with an update on how long it’s been since she's used crack.

From there, the boisterous 48-year-old Bushwick resident updates her 200,000 followers on how she’s doing and introduces them to the family members, friends and neighbors that populate the courtyard of her public housing complex. When she held a party in the courtyard to celebrate a year of sobriety earlier this month, some of her TikTok followers showed up to offer their support in person.

“When you're in addiction, you live in a dark place. You don’t associate with too many people,” said Quidone, who credits her online followers with helping her kick a drug habit that lasted more than 20 years. “But seeing that there was people that really cared about my wellbeing and was willing to help me, it really made me wanna change the way I was living.”

New York lawmakers and health officials have sounded the alarm about social media's potential to harm mental health, especially for adolescents, in recent years. But platforms like Instagram, TikTok and Facebook are also increasingly where people who are in recovery from serious mental health and substance use disorders turn to post about milestones and try to find support.

@distrikt14 True Stories By Kim AKA THE UPS BANDIT #krackinupwithkim #BABYLOTTO ♬ original sound - Rizz :part_alternation_mark::part_alternation_mark:

Addiction specialists and researchers who spoke with Gothamist said finding community, whether in person or online, is crucial to recovery because substance use disorders can be so isolating. But they also said it’s important for treatment providers and people in recovery to think about how to mitigate the potential risks of social media, such as triggering content, misinformation and interactions with people who might enable or encourage drug use.

“If we ignore [social media] or claim it is all bad, I think it does a disservice to people who are struggling who can connect meaningfully in that way,” said Dr. Jonathan Avery, vice chair of addiction psychiatry at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center.

Avery said individuals in recovery often have to be thoughtful about the people and behaviors they surround themselves with in real life, and the same is true for social media. “Following or unfollowing people, curating what sort of posts you see, setting filters — all those things go a long way,” he added.

Dr. Kristine Torres-Lockhart, the chief medical officer for the addiction treatment center Phoenix House New York, said many patients go on Reddit and other online forums to get treatment information and share their experiences. She said addiction specialists should also be posting in those spaces to ensure the information people are getting is accurate.

“ We have to recognize that people are obtaining their information via social media and not necessarily going on the web and looking at peer reviewed articles,” Lockhart said.

“Recoverytok” is a corner of TikTok where people of all ages and backgrounds post videos about their efforts to overcome conditions such as eating disorders or drug addiction. Some people use popular meme formats as a lighthearted way to talk about serious behavioral health issues, while others offer intimate updates on their progress and setbacks.

But Quidone’s videos stand out. Her posts, which sometimes come multiple times a day, aren’t just about her recovery; they also offer up an exuberant slice of New York City life and make it clear that she’s a part of her community. Videos follow her to the salon, a Puerto Rican Day festival and Coney Island.

“Out here, there's a lot of drug use,” said Ralph Perez, who attended Quidone’s sober anniversary party and described himself as “over 37 years clean.” He praised Quidone for being open about what she’s going through.

“ I think it could encourage other people to do the same thing and seek help,” Perez said.

Quidone first went viral on TikTok not for talking about recovery but for telling outlandish stories about the antics she got up to while using drugs. In her first video, posted in June of last year, she tells the story of how she once tried to evade her parole officers by hiding naked in her refrigerator.

“ I ain’t have no food anyway, right? So I took all the shelves out,” Quidone says in the video, which was recorded and posted by her friend Rizz.

Within hours, it racked up tens of thousands of views, according to Rizz, who asked not to be named to protect his privacy. Soon, Quidone said, her new followers encouraged her to get sober — and she took their advice.

“If this is what's helping her, then we just gonna continue to do it,” said Rizz, who has been recording and posting Quidone’s videos ever since.

Even though she projects a positive outlook online, Quidone said she doesn’t want people to think sobriety has been easy. She said she’s had to learn how to manage her anxiety and has had many ups and downs.

In March, Quidone’s 20-year-old son Ariel died of appendicitis, shortly after being sent to Rikers Island on robbery charges.

@distrikt14 True Stories By Kim AKA THE UPS BANDIT #krackinupwithkim #justiceforAriel ♬ original sound - Rizz 〽️〽️

“ The saddest part about it is that they took away my son in the best part of my life,” Quidone said. “I was finally [getting] a chance to be a mom.”

But she said she is trying not to let anything deter her recovery and is currently volunteering in a food pantry while she looks for work.

For a while after Quidone got sober, she kept posting videos online in which she told stories about the antics she got up to when she was using drugs — stealing from the store, donning a Darth Vader costume to escape from parole, selling someone a pair of Jordans she found that were both for left feet.

She’s since eased up on those anecdotes, even though she said her followers sometimes request them.

“ I used to be a whole different person,” Quidone said.