With this month’s theme being “prevention matters” our utmost primary prevention matter is protecting life. “Keep them alive long enough to heal” is the idea, a paradigm shift for us from 2015. We then follow with preliminary prevention of a lapse or relapse hopefully preventing homelessness, regression, and other matters. It’s September, the month of inspiration for our outreach program over a dozen years ago. It’s also the month of Doc’s sobriety date in 1997, twenty-nine years without consumption, free from imbibing alcohol since. And believe you, me and us, alcohol will consume you and all you care about too, when left unaddressed as an AUD (alcohol use disorder). Sober minded for 11 September 2001, we experience New York’s catastrophic Twin Towers decimation. Many lives lost that day and one family lost three of its members in an instant. The loss of anyone unexpectedly is horror. In 2015 we lost four members within a six-month stretch, unexpectedly; surely traumatic bereavement ensues!
Happy Birthday Stevie
Did you notice Faces and Voices of Recovery as a backdrop during the Ken Powers interview? That organization, a non-profit, was initially designed to combat the negative impact of stigma on mental health disorders and healing. The founders are responsible for our national celebration of Recovery this month, officially recognized in 2011. Thank you; and Brittany’s Sober Fest too – lifesavers!
Oh wow, that’s the same year Doc becomes a certified volunteer SMART Recovery facilitator. And then, as if by coincidence, September of 2011, his PhD specializing in addiction psychology is conferred. The required research laid our foundation for today’s ARMOR Program. And the darkened-cloud legacy of 2015 brings primary prevention of dying to what matters most!
Thank you, Lefty Leo, Donny Bee, Amber Stones, Kate Rhynn, and all our other early network members. You provided our office atop those Twelve Marble Stairs. They gave us an awareness unavailable elsewhere. A special thanks to you, Suspenders Ray, for temporarily housing our Massapoag Pond members. And an extra ordinary thanks goes out to Wood Jeff for many years of assistance, especially with our Quarry Clan of 2015. Oops, guess you’ll have to read the Marble Stairs.
Now for a quick shout-out to Doc’s lifelong friend and now mentor… lol… We need more warriors like Richie! The vid’s song was written by Doc during the nineteen nineties; it compliments today’s featured image “the Warrior Hero.” The piece is a gift by international artist, Arline Erdrich. According to Doc, essentially, she saved his life via her loving affirmation, respect, and healing art.
Ode to Richie
How can traumatic devastation be transformed into lifesaving resilience? That’s where our Intermediate Phase gets busy. Ms. Coyote and Mr. Fisherman achieved remission, or recovery according to some schools of thought, one for several months and the other over a year, respectively. They taught us something: having extinguished unwanted acting-out behaviors was only a portion of recovery and insufficient for sustainable remission. Unfinished business remained! It takes more than time to heal beyond healthy remission into sustained: their darkened-cloud legacy. You’ll remain always in our hearts and minds!
