April Blogger of the Month

The Sober Lawyer

This Blog is written anonymously by "Dick," a recovering alcoholic attorney, documenting his journey through recovery and sobriety.

http://www.soberlawyer.com/about-me/

Don’t Let the Bastards Grind You Down

Are you ready to get that monkey off your back?

If you have a substance abuse problem (or think that you might), you are definitely in the right place and by taking a look at this website and other recovery resources you are taking a step in the right direction. There are plenty of tools for the recovering alcoholic and addict to use - if we'd only pick them up and use them! This new book is one of those tools.

Obviously, there are a lot of books about recovery from addiction and substance abuse and some of them are easier to read than others. The aim of this one was to write something that could be easily understood by any alcoholic or addict who is brand new to sobriety or trying to get clean and sober again. It's about the basics; what to expect and look out for during very early recovery.

Drawing on my own experience and that of others in recovery, this book highlights fifty things that all of us should know once we've decided to fight our addiction. Some of the topics included are:

* The First 30 Days - What to expect and how to get through it.
* Things to Avoid - Protecting your recovery and coping with stress.
* Dry Drunk - How not to be one.
* Relapse –Developing a prevention plan and what to do if it happens
* Spouses & Partners - How to include them and rebuild relationships.
* Children - It's never too late to be a good parent or role model.
* Dating in Early Recovery - The not so good, the bad and the ugly.
* Twelve Step Programs - How they work and what you should know.
* Isolating - Why we do it and why we shouldn't.
* Substituting and Fixing - Things we substitute for our addiction.

(Click here to read the chapter, 'About This Book)

Blog of the Month

Happy Recovery

Good Kid Gone Bad, or Never Good To Go Bad? -Dan Callahan, MSW I was born in 1960 into a blue-collar lower income family on Long Island twenty-five miles from New York City. My family had a strong sense of giving to the community. My dad is a volunteer fireman and has been for over fifty years.....

http://www.happyrecovery.com

New Posts on IOCC

Take the IOCC Challenge!

What I learned from Kevin Griffin by Gwen R~

New Hope Recovery Center - Interventions

Understanding Intervention Services

Interventions explained
There is some misconception about intervention services. Interventions are often portrayed in the media as highly conflictual meetings in which friends and family members air out their grievances towards one person. Certainly, interventions are confrontational, and they usually involve close family members. With a trained interventionist, however, an intervention session will be well run and contained.

An intervention is generally defined as an attempt to disrupt a person’s pattern of negative and addictive behaviors. Some individuals are unable to see how the disease of addiction has affected their lives and the lives of those around them. While some friends and family may have expressed anger, worry and frustration, their message does not get through. Addiction is so powerful and insidious because it causes the mind to rationalize compulsive and destructive behaviors to maintain the addiction. A trained interventionist can break through an individual’s false sense of reality. The objectivity that a professional interventionist brings to the intervention dissipates some of the intensity of the emotions that surface, preventing blaming, shaming and other defeating communication.

Only a trained clinician can assess whether an intervention would be appropriate for your friend or loved one.

The New Hope Recovery intervention difference
New Hope Recovery Center offers professional intervention services when needed. If you contact us, we can give you more detailed information on the intervention process and how it can help your loved one take the first step to recovery from addiction. Intervention services are tailored towards the needs of your family member or loved one. After speaking with you, we can get a better idea of the friends and family members to be present at an intervention, the format for the session and the most effective addiction treatment for the individual in need. Please contact us with your questions or concerns about interventions. We are here to help.

New Hope Recovery Center

Interventions Page

Holiday Tips for Twelve Steppers

Staying Sober and Sane Through The Holidays

 The holidays have a way of affecting us all. It can be subtle or very direct. The pace increases in our lives and the events become plentiful. Being able to enjoy the holidays is a goal I strive for every year. So what have I learned with 18 sober holidays under my belt?

 

1. Don't let meetings take a back seat. If an event is in conflict make sure you have an alternative meeting to pick up.

2. This is a great time of year to practice NOT people pleasing. Do what you can and feel comfortable with. No explanations needed.

3. Come late leave early. This is a favorite of mine and cuts out much of the emotional baggage that can accumulate at a function.

4. Keep literature in the car with reinforcing pages marked. If your not ready to leave take five and read something that will help you stay connected.

5. Remind yourself of the true meaning of the holidays. Whatever you celebrate ~ key into the spiritual and try to flush the commercial.

6. Allow a few moments extra to slow down before holiday tasks such as shopping, cleaning, entertaining, decorating etc. Key in on that spiritual aspect again.

7. Don't forget to HALT (Hungry Angry Lonely Tired.)  Basic needs can get skipped in all the hub bub. Again slow down for a few minutes to make sure your needs are met ~ including meetings.

8. Get out that gratitude list ~ remember how it use to be ~ share your ESH if you are having trouble remembering.


9. Attend a sober activity instead of a function that may be too much too soon.

10. If the best you can do is not use ~ that is HUGE and should not be dismissed ~ that can be the BIGGEST gratitude you will ever have. Let all other aspects of the Holidays take the back seat.

11. Stay close to meetings, sponsors, support and counselors ~ pick up a commitment ~ you may not be aware of the effects the Holidays could be having on you.

12. Finally don't forget the many alkathons that are held during this time of year. Find out where they are and put the information in your wallet.

written by Gwen R.

Recovery Universe

Recovery Universe is going on it's 5 year of serving online recovery to suffering alcoholics and addicts worldwide.

The idea for Recovery Universe was born in a treatment facility in Atlanta, Georgia. I spent 110 days there and got really close with a few people there that I wanted to keep in touch with after treatment. I was a application developer and did not know too much web programming at the time but I made the commitment to setting up a video chat room that my friends and I could use to keep in touch after we all got home. Ironically this never ended up happening but something even more exciting transpired. In February of 2004 Recovery Universe launched still with the intention of only being for a few friends. By the late summer of 2004 RU had over 500 members and the forums and chat rooms were growing fast.

In 2005 RU underwent its 1st real transformation since the inception. This is the version that adapted the popular logo that has been used since. The colors of the site have always reamained the same (blue and tan) but the site has undergone 4 major overhauls. 

By 2006 the site was running strong and I was getting emails daily thanking me for providing a safe and clean place for people to share their experience, strength, and hope online. This reinforced in me the reasons I started the site to begin with and made me more active than ever in the site itself. 

By 2008 things had been up and down. Good times and bad times and I had all but stepped out of using it as a tool for myself and more just hid behind the scenes and worked on improving the site. 2008 was a rough year for me and I had stepped away completely as I got a new job and supported my wife while she began going to alanon. I needed the time to work on myself and get things right in my life. The computer was just simply taking too much of my time. 

2009 is now here and my life has seemed to settle somewhat. I am getting a good balance going in my life and have returned to RU with newly aquired web programming skills and a strong desire to use Recovery Universe as an outlet for my programming hobby. What you see now is a compilation of 5 years of hard work and dedication to Recovery Universe. It is a safe clean enviroment for people to share. The people I have met and memories I have from this website are priceless. I hope to be alot more involved in the site in the future and will do my best to make sure that the doors of Recovery Universe stay open for the newcomer.

So please enjoy yourself and come share your experience, strength, and hope with us...

Yours in Recovery,

 J.J.D.

VISIT and JOIN Recovery Universe

January Blog of the Month

A post from The Angry Sober Dude...

"Twenty years, one day at a time.

In sobriety I was kicked out of college, lost my drivers license for a year, fired, broke and in debt, severely depressed(and wanting OUT) and of course the biggie which was loosing my twin sons at 28 weeks due to TTTS.

In sobriety I graduated from college, met my wife in AA, got a great job, moved around the country and met some great sober people (including this guy who goes to the Bowers Park meeting) and of course the biggie which was the birth of my two daughters who are now 5 and 8 years old.

Growing up in my house sucked, my dad was violent and an addict and my mother was a punching bag who always wanted to “clean” my room.

When I walked into AA people put their hand out to me and saved my life.

DO IT! Every time you see someone new walk in the door make sure you say hi. IT SAVED MY LIFE!

Mike B. wherever you are thank you. You appointed yourself my sponsor and took me to meetings and kept me alive.

Bill R. I know where you are but thank you anyway. I shared the most humiliating and shameful things in my fourth step and all I got back from you was love. You are my example of how a man in AA should be.

I am proof that this program works thanks to people like you.

Thank you."

Stop by and read more from The Angry Lonely Dude