Ten Year Anniversary of Recovery Stories

Ten years ago today I launched these words into the virtual ether:

‘I’d like to welcome you to Recovery Stories, a new website that is focused on helping individuals and families recover from serious problems caused by drug and alcohol use.

We’ll not just be trying to help people directly affected by drug and alcohol addiction, but also help people whose lives have been indirectly affected by the substance use problems of a loved one. Family members and friends also need to find recovery.

One important feature of this website is that it will carry the ‘voice’ of recovering people. Solutions to serious substance use problems are manifested in the lives of millions of people who are in long-term recovery. These lived solutions can provide important insights into principles and practices that underlie recovery from addiction.

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‘I am 14 years sober today!’ by Veronica Valli

ID-100227306-300x300Congratulations, Veronica! And thank you for your great blog.

‘Today is my 14th sober birthday. When you get to my age, birthdays aren’t something you necessarily want to shout about.

But recovered addicts and alcoholics have a different attitude to their sober birthdays. Every year we have under our belts has been hard fought for. This did not come easy. It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done, so hell yeah; I’m going to let everyone know how proud I am to have got this far. [Too right! DC]

So here are the 14 things I’ve learnt about sobriety along the way…

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5th Year Anniversary for Ron Grover’s blog

dm1One of the most popular blog postings on this website is From Discovery To Recovery: My Emotional Journey As The Parent Of An Addict by Ron Grover. Well worth a visit.

Ron celebrated the 5th anniversary of his blog An Addict In Our Son’s Bedroom last month. Here is what he had to say:

‘On January 20, 1999 I began writing this blog. Never when I began did I think it would become what it has and last this long. At this point it has become an old friend and it keeps me connected to friends all over.

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‘4 year anniversary of withdrawal from psych drug cocktail: healing continues’ by Monica Cassani

yayCONGRATULATIONS Monica on your 4th Anniversary and your fantastic website.

Here is what Monica had to say on her blog:

‘Below is the post for the anniversary of the completion of the psychiatric drug withdrawal process I went through that I wrote for last year. Much of it remains relevant and true, so I thought I’d share it again.

I actually have had my best year since coming off drugs this last year. I started seeing improvements somewhat faster in the last year and am getting significantly physically stronger and healthier in general. Discovering the histamine intolerance a little over a year ago led to the most significant personal dietary change I’ve made.

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‘Narcotics Anonymous Comes of Age’ by Bill White

rsz_201307diamondjubileelogoBill White has recently written a blog and co-authored an article on the 60th Anniversary of NA.

‘Narcotics Anonymous (NA) is too often relegated to the status of stepchild of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA).  NA’s unique history, culture, and distinctiveness are routinely obscured within references to “AA and other Twelve Step programs.” 

For the past several years, Chris Budnick, Boyd Pickard and I have been conducting research on the history of NA, and we recently authored an article commemorating the 60th anniversary of NA’s founding.  In this article we identified and discussed 12 things we believed every addiction professional should know about NA.

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