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Recovery Inspiration

Nov 03
0

The Healing Truth of a Stranger

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Our family suffered a terrible tragedy, the death of our son and Henry’s brother, David. David died of a drug overdose on 12/20/15. David was well into rehab at a very well regarded treatment center. By all accounts he was doing well. We had planned a visit to David two weeks after he died. Henry has been mourning the loss of his brother ever since. Only yesterday (10/27/16) Henry told me (his mother) about the following as we were driving home from school. He had never mentioned any of this until yesterday. The day after David died, Henry was understandably in search of meaning regarding losing David. He was browsing on Instagram and saw a post written by a young woman who was struggling with heroin addiction. Henry responded to her post with the following message, which he did not want me to share with others, but I can’t help…

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Nov 02
1

COR: A Tenderloin Tale of Hope

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I no longer drink alcohol. It’s something I need to explain, because it’s something I don’t fully understand. This is a relatively recent thing, I should add. I have been dry for sixteen months, after nearly 50 years of… not being dry. My earliest exposure to alcohol came in a religious context. At my parents’ Passover table one year – I must have been five or six – I discovered that the sweet wine used in the service produced a dizzying sensation that was at once both frightening and funny. After that, I looked forward to the sips and small cups that punctuated Sabbath and festival observance, and which, with the benefit of hindsight, served as the nursery slopes of (much) more copious drinking as an adult. In my first career, as a peripatetic double-bass player, alcohol was the sea in which we all swam. From my decade of small-time…

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Mar 18
1

Why “open recovery” matters for the community

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Center for Open Recovery’s Drug Diversion Program is geared towards supporting  participants to make positive behavioral and lifestyles changes through the reduction of and/or elimination of using alcohol and other drugs as a solution that actually causes unwelcomed and unintended problems. Instead of reaching for substances, we help clients identify other healthier choices that they can make to enhance their lives and empower themselves to live healthily and positively. Our Drug Diversion Programs consist of 12-24 weeks of group education and counseling sessions. Ryan K. recently participated in the three month Drug Diversion Program, completing the program in January 2016.  He shared the unexpected benefits of his experience: “As I think back to being handcuffed and walking out of the courthouse, it was hard to see what could come out of it.  I was arrested — a bag of cocaine fell out of my pocket at the Bay to Breakers…

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Jan 27
1

Secondhand Drinking Recovery

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My name is Lisa Frederiksen. I’m 62 years old. In 2015, I celebrated 34 years recovery from anorexia and bulimia – the eating disorders with which I’d struggled for 12 years. I also celebrated 12 years recovery from secondhand drinking – the impacts of loved ones’ drinking behaviors with which I’d struggled for nearly four decades. “Recovery” From Eating Disorders Thanksgiving is the day I quietly celebrate my recovery from bulimia even though my recovery had started around Halloween.  That’s when I happened to read a small column in a Newsweek magazine that talked about a woman who’d been eating huge quantities of food and then throwing it up — for seven years. The column went on to call this behavior bulimarexia. I’d never heard the term but just reading that someone else was doing what I’d been doing, and that she’d stopped, dropped me to my knees. I write, “quietly celebrate,” because back…

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Jan 22
1

From Darkness to ‘Open Recovery’

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“As I think back to being handcuffed and walking out of the courthouse, it was hard to see what could come out of it. I was arrested — a bag of cocaine fell out of my pocket at the Bay to Breakers race. Those were dark days. It was tough for me to swallow the impact of my situation – especially on my family. My parents work for the government – and as a result of my arrest, my mom lost her security clearance. Instead of going to jail, I participated in the 3 month Drug Diversion program at COR. Most of us got there and were anxious to get through it. There were 20 people in the program when I arrived. We met weekly and over time we began to open up and talk. The facilitators really cared. I got comfortable and began to see how the others transformed…

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Nov 06
1
new life

A Pause in the Storm

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Did I have a drinking problem? Let’s just say, I did not have a problem drinking. I drank at sporting events, in college, at pool parties. I never thought that much about it. But things spiked when the economy went down in 2010 and my firm essentially closed its doors. I was under-employed and it hurt. I was home drinking and doing yard work. I went to get some gas and came back. Then the police arrived and I was arrested for a driving under the influence. It was an unfortunate mistake. I had essentially done the same thing years before. My wife had poured out my booze – so I went out to get more. And when I got back – the police showed up. I had never been arrested before. I enrolled in a DUI class at COR (then it was called NCA) – as part of what…

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Nov 06
0
road to addiction recovery

One Man’s Journey

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My name is Richard … I have 31 years of continuous sobriety. I grew up in a loving middle income family in New York City … My father was a business owner and an ALCOHOLIC … my mom was a stay at home mother…. My job was to IGNORE the stress of his drinking, anger, and bickering. I acted as if everything was normal … this is where I developed my CO-DEPENDENCE … I learned to hold in the stress and compensate with FOOD, my first ADDICTION. It helped me to regulate my emotions and hide my pain.               This was followed by  GIRLS, PORNOGRAPHY, ALCOHOL, FALLING IN LOVE, and  DRUGS… BREAKING OUT At the age of 23, I was married, and a salesman . I was like a 50 years old man!!!!!!!!!!!!! At 26, in 1967, I tried L.S.D. and  TURNED ON and DROPPED OUT … I left everything I knew and moved…

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