Today’s news brief: an accolade for our beloved
The Intermediate Phase, in part, is a gift left for us in 2015! The healing power of love and respect, we call Affirmation, is also commemorated here today. This is Doc writing you first, for this news brief. It’s super challenging too, as various emotions flutter about, especially in September. Program members, over the years, establish tight bonds. As time passes, they become more and more trustworthy, more loving, and more respectful. The trust evolves into – “I trust that you will not hurt me or exploit me or abandon and reject me!” And the evolving love comforts our souls. And standing on the edge of death, for days on end, teaches respect for those who stand beside you, out there on that ledge, and I am no exception. 15 September 1997 is my sobriety date and sustained remission is as far as things go in this arena. The ledge is only off in the distance somewhere, no need to look, no longer interested.
Yes, September is a very special time of year for me. Often viewed as “back to school” for many. The joy of learning is a dopamine high, for me and I went back to stay sober. Twelve years of back-to-school earned a PhD, September of 2011. Then, we were blessed with another twelve years of learning from true masters of addiction who joined our network, either for help or to help! I, we, are all forever grateful for sharing life’s journey with us!
Sincerely, yours in remission, Doc
For years Doc searched for why or how a person lapses or relapses after lengthy periods of sobriety or clean time. Ten years ago, four beloved souls revealed an understanding. There is a critical phase of an addiction recovery process imperative to achieving sustained remission, from an ARMOR Program’s perspective. It is a need for cognitive training that eradicates dysfunctional thinking processes and unhealthy core beliefs, like those that previously mistook poison for medicine. This Intermediate Phase of training though, is only available to the healing process when distractions from intense triggering cues subside. These are not the neon lights in liquor store windows or slouched-over opioid users either, these are deeper-rooted ones. Things like being triggered to relive a past childhood trauma, or being abused or neglected presently, or experiencing intense feelings of shame/guilt from degradation, exclusion, or marginalization. So, once the noise and dust settle during early remission, your first few months of recovery, the mind becomes free enough to meet a new challenge, the one that no longer accepts blissful ignorance of their plight, of our plight, of your plight!
The ARMOR Outreach program, developed mostly by, Val Maria, Carmen O., Ms. Vulpes, and Richard Ebner came to life during late September of 2015, along with the insight of a few other beloved souls of that time too, some no longer with us! Lethal opioid overdoses where skyrocketing, as 2015 was when fentanyl arrived in our neck of the woods. Overdose fatalities in our community, as well as our program, presented an awakening: harm-reduction is vital, bringing help to those in need crucial, and keeping clients alive long enough to heal central. No way to tell you the number of prescription doctors who stopped prescribing for our clients with addiction disorders, death rates overwhelmed them was the common expressed rationale. Dr. Brown though, a true saint for us, was instrumental in the development of our outreach endeavor too!
Encouraging HADs (Homeless Addiction Disorders) to seek help does little. Mandating treatment more often than not backfires; and enabling is meaningless. The debilitation of such circumstances is nearly impossible to escape. The madness of a lifestyle stuck in mud becomes intolerable and the idea of a hot-shot gains appeal. Harm-reduction is often misunderstood and easily confused with enabling. Our editor in chief, Mr. Tell, keeps us updated with articles relevant to our HADs. A recent one concerning discarded syringes and exchanging needles brought back a fond harm-reduction memory, thank you Ms. Gilbert. Some years ago, a call came through requesting delivery of new clean syringes. When this client was told the ARMOR Program does not support IV heroin use, the young lady’s reply was that she’d have to go find a dirty one then, from under the bridge. Guess what, the magic bus delivered new syringes immediately: harm-reduction.
Buses with bodies begin rolling past again.
Summer seems reluctant to leave.
They will be wandering in the halls and wondering why.
Which ones will knock on drink’s door?
Silently sitting before your future.
Learning, need not leave with a diploma.
Waiting and wanting so much more.
When I was young, I drank at drinks open door.
Then Summer slipped so far away.
Time, turned into turmoil twisting.
But better things were on the horizon.
Willing, without knowing, how or why.
We are told we need a degree.
After that, some still wonder.
Profession, possessions, death?
There must be more than money.
Something spoke from deep inside,
“Stop, Look, Listen,
and be Loving!”
Then came, the ‘can’t change’ correction.
I learned how to love myself.
And now my needs are clearly free.
Richard Ebner 2025
Sober October?
Ten months in,
and time to begin.
Thirty days has September.
October thirty-one.
An extra day to be done.
Done with what, you might ask?
Done with the poison flask.
Happiness isn’t in your back pocket.
Some say, “Close the cabinet and lock it!”
Well-meaning words of advice, perhaps?
However, any of us can have a lapse.
And then, there comes the blame.
Followed by, feelings of shame.
What do you do, if first you don’t succeed?
Reduce the harm, and the less you’ll bleed.
Harm reduction is a key to recovery.
More in our world need this discovery.
Use caution when you drive.
Consider whether to imbibe.
Try to think, before you drink.
Eventually, it can become instinct.
richard ebner Oct 2025
