August 1, 2020 | Fourth Issue
Introducing: Spokane Falls Recovery Center Twelve Step Meetings
We are very excited to share that we have started a twelve-step meeting at our facility! Many of our clients have never been to a meeting before, so we have put together a meeting format that is equally as educational as it is functional. As there are few meetings actually happening in person, we thought it would be beneficial to facilitate our own, and exclusively for our clients.
This is just something extra that we do for our clients, and it is completely voluntary. As much as we enjoy our clinical staff, we have kept this meeting separate from anything relating to our clients’ treatment plans. We meet outside of our normal business hours, and even the staff that facilitate the meeting are volunteering their time.
For many of us, meetings such as AA and NA were essential components of our recovery program. We feel compelled to share that part our story with the individuals who are trusting us with their early recovery. Sobriety is something that we can only achieve if we share it with others.
We Believe in the Miracle of Recovery!
Brandon’s alcohol and drug use began when he was in college, and quickly escalated into addiction. Over the course of twenty years he functioned as well as he could but went to treatment five times. Eventually, he could not function anymore.
He decided he was finally ready to do what had been suggested, which was to change everything. He gave up his material belongings, career, friends, family, and moved across the United States in pursuit of the new Brandon.
He never thought it would be possible to have a wife, children, and career that fulfilled him. Today, he gets to help people overcome the disease that almost took his life, and he is an exceptional husband, father, friend, leader, and business owner.
Spokane Falls Recovery Center would like to give special recognition to Carol Streit for creating our television advertisement. Her ability to capture where we have been, and how we can help others, was remarkable. Sharing her past Hollywood skills with our team has been such a gift and we are grateful for her work on this project.
Monthly Staff Editorial: Self-Awareness
There is a specific moment that I find myself recalling frequently. It occurred when I was in treatment in Spokane, WA about six years ago. I was on the phone with a loved one and I experienced a moment of clarity. It was clear to me that I had much to learn about recovery. I had listened to other people share about what recovery looked like for them, but still did not know exactly what it looked like for me. Yet, for the first time in my life I was content with not having all the answers. The way I expressed it to my loved one was “I am okay with not being okay.”
For years I had donned a personality, an alter ego if you will, that thrived on alcohol. When properly lubricated, this entity would act as if there wasn’t a care in the world. All was well, as long as the need for alcohol was being met. When alcohol was not readily available, this personality became agitated and persistent on acquiring more alcohol, or else it would let all hell break loose. In other words, the craving for alcohol made me most definitely not okay with not being okay.