Articles by Amy Paradysz
Alaina Knox
Alaina Knox, 36, is five years sober and Director of Recovery Services at Sweetser. She lives in Portland with her husband, Dylan, and works alongside others who have lived experience.
Finding Strength in Sobriety
Monique Coombs has been sober since January 2019. As director of programs for Maine Coast Fishermen's Association, she brings counseling and wellness support to commercial fishermen.
Kenny Williams Choosing to Be of Service
Kenny Williams, 58, has been in recovery since 2001. He works at a Los Angeles medical center, where he advises patients experiencing homelessness on housing, mental health and medical care.
Finding Strength
Jenn Williams survived a stroke, but she's spent years helping others navigate something harder: rebuilding after brain injury while managing substance use disorder. She knows recovery isn't a finish…
Mr. Drew: Animals and His Sobriety, Too
Discover the heartwarming journey of Mr. Drew and His Animals, Too. From recovery to creating smiles, Andrew’s inspiring story shows the power of second chances and spreading joy. Join the community:…
James Rickrode
James Rickrode, a father of five, is seven years into recovery. He is vice president of Fresh Start Sober Living of Maine, which operates 17 recovery residences in the Bangor area.
Bridgton’s Strong Recovery Network
A small Maine town gathers at a community rally to remember Dr. Peter Leighton, a physician in recovery who helped build something remarkable. Bridgton now has emergency doctors, counselors, peer coac…
Removing Stigma From the Employment Equation
Nearly three thousand working-age people were missing from Washington County's employment figures. Economists wondered who they were and where. That question led to something unexpected: a network con…
Personal Recovery Story: Matt Senecal
Matt Senecal founded Senecal Construction. In early 2024 he was nearing 11 years of sobriety, and he now enjoys skiing, fishing, and boating without drinking.
Compassion in Action: Bethany Johnson
Bethany Johnson hands a caller a folder of recovery resources, her voice steady with certainty: "We do recover and we are never alone." Eight years sober in the small Maine town where addiction once c…
The Growing Power of Connection for Maine’s OPTIONS Liaisons
Ashley Roberts meets a public health nurse on a rainy Bangor morning, heading out to find people living outside. As an OPTIONS Liaison, she builds trust, learns what people need, and connects them to…
Dan Belyea
Dan Belyea is chief workforce development officer for the Maine Community College System. Sober 17 years, he speaks openly about his recovery and pushes for jobs for people in recovery.
Sobriety is a Gift That Keeps on Giving
The writer of this story has chosen sobriety since June 14, 2001. Today that life includes a healthy marriage, lasting 12-step friendships, and the freedom of making real choices.
Recovered, with April Tomah
April Tomah of Milford is a Passamaquoddy mother of three who calls herself recovered. She chairs the Wabanaki Two Spirit Alliance and works for Wabanaki Public Health and Wellness.
SaVida Health Favors ‘Compassionate Accountability’
A team member asked how to hold members accountable while showing support. That question, posed in August 2021, sparked SaVida Health's core philosophy: compassionate accountability. At their Maine op…
Generational Noor
When Amran Osman's brother died from an overdose, she realized her Somali community stayed silent about substance use disorder. Fear kept people from seeking help. Now the 24-year-old is breaking that…
Recovering at El Rancho de la Vida
Jamie Lebish lived in a refrigerator box in Seattle before finding recovery. Now, twenty-four years sober, he runs El Rancho de la Vida, a Maine residence where people in early recovery find safety, d…
The Power of Prevention-focused Coalitions
A student at South Portland High School used a substance and faced suspension, a punishment that left them adrift. Now, when students struggle with substance use, they meet with a counselor instead. T…
A Southern Maine Woman's Story
A Southern Maine woman has three decades in recovery. Her closest friends are women in her program, and she has had the same sponsor for 17 years. Her grown daughters know they can count on her.
A Cultural Connection Drives Personal Transformation
Steven Knockwood is four years into recovery and manages Opportunity House, an Indigenous men's recovery home in Bangor. Reconnecting with his culture and ceremony helped him find who he is.
Marshall Mercer
Marshall Mercer is in his third year of college and has worked at the Maine Recovery Advocacy Project. He calls himself a student in recovery and helps others find their own path to recovery.
Al-Anon: Personal Experiences
Yaeko walked into her first Al-Anon meeting thirty-five years ago while her husband attended AA. She carried the belief that if she was smart enough, good enough, she could stop his drinking. Al-Anon…
Millions of Cups of Coffee and Not a Drop to Drink
Helen Thorgalsen stands behind the counter at H.B. Provisions, the general store she built with her partner 20 years ago in Kennebunk. She's been sober for 34 years. This is her story of recovery, of…
The McAuley Residence
Nicole walks through the doors of the McAuley Residence as a single mother searching for a way forward. At this Portland transitional housing program, she discovers something she thought impossible: a…
Finding Meaningful Work and Helping Others Find Theirs
Zachary Walker turns 30 this summer, settling into a cottage with his girlfriend while helping other Mainers find jobs and stability. Seven years into his recovery, he works as a Peer Connector for Go…
Coming to Faith
She kicked the drywall in anger during rehab and her feet broke through in the shape of a heart. Years of using drugs to silence shame had nearly killed her. Now, in a converted bar that became a chur…
Accessing Recovery Supports
Bruce Noddin sat in a prison ministry meeting when he noticed the same faces returning to the system again and again. That observation sparked a statewide network connecting corrections staff, nonprof…
Sober Living Comes Full Circle
Daryl Blums and his fiancée Katahli Stieg, in recovery for 7 and 3 years, co-own and run two sober houses in Southern Maine. They give others the support they once needed.
Maulian Dana
Maulian Dana is the Penobscot Nation's first Tribal Ambassador. She stopped drinking on June 4, 2018, and calls it the best thing she has ever done for herself.
Family Support Groups : help, hope and support for loved ones
Susan sat in a Nar Anon meeting nine years ago, worried sick about her son's addiction and unsure where to turn. She discovered something unexpected: she needed support too. Through the group, she lea…
The Farm – Maine’s oldest co-ed treatment center
Michael Yerema has watched people arrive at The Farm for 25 years, many from detox units or jail cells. Maine's oldest residential treatment center, nestled minutes from the Canadian border, offers so…
Mission Driven
Eddie Greyfox Burgess parks his turquoise 1965 Ford Fairlane at festivals and car shows, spreading health pamphlets and conversation. A former social worker and counselor in recovery since 1994, he tr…
Tech Support
Dr. Ted Logan didn't wait for a crisis to bring treatment online. Years before the pandemic, he moved his practice to video visits so rural Mainers could access care without driving hours or sacrifici…
Braided Services
Rhonda Decontie watched her father weave traditional singing and prayer into 12 step meetings, teaching her how culture and recovery belong together. Now, as clerk of the Penobscot Nation Healing to W…
Sophia’s House Program Director : Tricia Grant
Tricia Grant is program director at Sophia's House. She is following a calling to help others "become survivors and then thrivers," and she says it took time to let go and let God.
Sophia’s House, a safe place to call home
In a restored convent on Lewiston's Blake Street, six women trafficking survivors will move into rooms of their own this year. Sophia's House offers two years rent-free, plus job training and support…
Brotherly Love
Ten men sit in a circle on Middle Street in Portland, shoes off, voices steady as they speak about hurt and hope. For twenty-three years, Stephen Andrew's Courageous Men Circles have offered something…
Recovery’s elder stateswoman celebrates four sober decades
At 90, Joan Giles has been part of Maine's recovery community for 41 years, sober since 1978. Over those years she ran a 12-step bookstore and helped run meetings in a prison.
All together now
On a Saturday night in downtown Brewer, 125 people crowd into a converted furniture store for peer support meetings and dancing. The BARN, a recovery center, has become a lifeline for people seeking c…
Transformed: Painter Eric Sorensen
Eric Sorensen pulls socks from his backpack to hand to people sleeping on Portland streets. Eleven years ago, he was one of them, pulling cardboard from dumpsters to survive. Today, he's a painter and…
Making Connections
A woman held up a sock monkey she'd stitched and said, "This is the first thing I've made in my life." In recovery programs across Maine, creative activities like painting, pottery, and fabric work ar…
Creative Expressions
Someone finds peace with hands in garden soil. Another unwinds rebuilding an engine. A third discovers calm while baking. Creative expression takes endless forms, and it's far more than art. It's how…
Fit For Recovery
Keagan Delaney takes a walk through Portland's nature trails most mornings, but his real fitness goes deeper. Two years into recovery, he's learned that getting physically strong builds the endurance…
Employers Open The Doors for Those in Recovery
Charlie Bickford runs Maine Paint's four locations and regularly hires people newly sober. When someone from a recovery meeting asks about work, he considers giving them a chance. His reasoning is sim…