The recovery community has its own language.
We often speak it without even realizing we’re doing it. We grow accustomed to certain words, phrases and nuances. This can be an adjustment when first seeking recovery.
I remember mimicking the things I heard and...
“There’s hope,” says Eric Sorensen. “I keep it simple. I tell them there’s hope.”
That’s what he says when he meets someone living what his life was for decades – using narcotics, drinking, sleeping in back alleys, pulling food out of dumpsters, blacking...
Creativity is therapeutic, and certainly not just for artists.
Stitching sock monkeys, painting on canvas with pre-drawn images or making an altered journal in an art therapy session – these sorts of activities can lighten the mood, forge community or tease out buried...
Drawing on wood or a sketchpad while listening to people’s stories during the 10 recovery meetings he attends a week is soothing and meditative for artist Zoo Cain of Westbrook – and it’s also contagious.
“Sometimes other people start doing it,” says Cain, who is...
What has surprised you the most about sober living?
Finding enjoyment and pleasure in life without the use of a substance.
What is your greatest joy today?
Being able to be present not only for those around...
By the time Glenn Simpson awoke in a psych ward in Pennsylvania to a nurse putting an IV in his arm, he had lost track of a few fundamentals. He didn’t know what day of the week it was, what had happened to...
