ManyFaces1Voice: Phil Valentine

November 6, 2014

Unknown-1Every now and again when I am feeling a little down, I see a piece of recovery film and it lifts my mood. I found a piece like this yesterday, a film clip from ManyFaces1Voice of Phil Valentine. Here’s what is said about Phil:

‘Phil Valentine is the Executive Director of Connecticut Community for Addiction Recovery (CCAR).

Phil has been instrumental in the development of the recovery movement. He’s been at CCAR since January 1999, when he organized CCAR’s first Recovery Walks! A sought after speaker, he is recognized around the world for his leadership.

In 2006, the Johnson Institute recognized his groundbreaking work with an America Honors Recovery award.

In 2008, Faces & Voices of Recovery honored CCAR with the first Joel Hernandez Voice of the Recovery Community Award, recognizing it as the outstanding recovery community organization in the country.’

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ManyFaces1Voice: Patrick Fogarty

May 19, 2014

Unknown-4Check out the latest filmed Recovery Story from ManyFaces1Voice.

‘Patrick Fogarty received a gift on the day he was supposed to receive a sentence of years in prison.

During a caseworker’s pre-sentence investigation, Fogarty found himself being honest and telling her he had a “major drug problem.” He said, “I’m good with going back to prison. Send me back. I have nothing.”

That honesty – and the caseworker’s compassion – earned him a spot at The Healing Place in Louisville, Kentucky, the organization where Fogarty now works as a result of entering recovery in 2008.

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Transforming Youth Recovery: Cameron’s Story

May 9, 2014

unnamedTransforming Youth Recovery, one of the founding partners of the ManyFaces1Voice campaign, helps students in recovery thrive with community, educational and peer recovery network supports. By the end of 2015, Transforming Youth Recovery will have issued over 100 grants to institutions of higher education across the country to start or expand recovery support programs on their campuses.

Cameron Taylor, whose story is below, attended a recovery high school in Houston and is currently enrolled in a university in Texas that has a recovery program for students.

‘I started using when I was in the seventh grade, you know smoking cigarettes and pot and drinking with my older brother. We didn’t really have anything in common and this was a way for me to get to hang out with him.

We started using together more frequently and we got into other drugs too. My parents knew that my brother was using, but they didn’t realize I was. They were really worried about my brother, as he was getting worse, so we went to live with my father in Houston.

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ManyFaces1Voice: John Silverman

March 19, 2014

Unknown-3“I didn’t know anything about recovery. I didn’t know there was a place to come. I didn’t know there was some hope, so if we don’t put it out there, so if we don’t talk about how we recovered, how is anybody really going to know.”

John Silverman is a person in long-term recovery since 1984 and an Executive Producer for The Anonymous People film. He is a former member of the New York City Police Department, and has been performing private investigative and related security consulting for over 20 years.

After leaving the New York City Police Department and entering recovery, John founded his private investigative company, Silverman Associates, in 1988.

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ManyFaces1Voice: Michael Askew

March 10, 2014

UnknownI might be on the other side of the world, but every time I see Michael Askew on film I know I am seeing a true recovery carrier in action. Here is Michael on ManyFaces1Voice.

“Right now, we have to believe that this is a valuable commodity because every time you see somebody in recovery getting well, you know the community is healing. Families are healing, it’s like throwing a rock into the water and that ripple effect…”

Michael Askew is the Manager for the Bridgeport Recovery Community Center under the leadership of Connecticut Community for Addiction Recovery (CCAR).

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ManyFaces1Voice: Nell Hurley

February 6, 2014

“People who are in long-term recovery from addiction and other drugs have the ability to say, “This is who I am and this is what recovery has done for me,” and to reach out and help the person who is coming up behind them.”

Watch film of Nell Hurley, who is a woman in long-term recovery since 1997. She is the Executive Director of The Minnesota Recovery Connection in St. Paul, Minnesota and a board member of Faces & Voices of Recovery.

Nell has a wide range of experiences that include leadership roles in curriculum and education program development and has held positions at various non-profit organizations in Minnesota including the Minnesota Historical Society, Breck School, the Minnesota Museum of American Art, and In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theater.

Resulting from her own lived recovery experience, Nell is passionate and committed to the growth of the recovery advocacy movement.

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ManyFaces1Voice: Chris Herren

January 27, 2014

Unknown-2“To me it’s not about how society perceives me, it’s about how I see myself. It’s how I look at myself in the mirror. People still call me junkie. Not as many, but there are still those people out there. But it doesn’t matter, it’s what I call myself. And as long as I am good with myself, I couldn’t care what everyone else says.”

Check out this film on ManyFaces1Voice, the Story of father and ex-basketball star, Chris Herren.

‘Chris Herren is man in long-term recovery from alcohol and other drugs since August of 2008.

Chris was a high school basketball legend from Fall River, Massachusetts, who realized his lifelong dream of playing in the NBA when he was drafted by the Denver Nuggets in 1999 and then was traded to his hometown team, the Boston Celtics in 2000.

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ManyFaces1Voice: Carol McDaid

January 20, 2014

“You know, Americans love a good redemption story and recovery is a great one to tell.”

Check out the video of Carol McDaid on ManyFaces1Voice. She is a woman in long-term recovery since 1997 and is co-founder and Principal of Capitol Decisions Inc. Capitol Decisions focuses on federal policy, with a special emphasis on alcohol and other drug policy.

For over 15 years, Carol has worked with leading non-profit drug and alcohol treatment centers, addiction physicians, prevention and consumer organizations to refine public policy addressing alcohol and other drug addiction.

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ManyFaces1Voice: Stacia Murphy

January 8, 2014

Unknown“It’s this notion of hope. And when people are in the darkest parts of themselves… when they feel that there is hope, that they can pull something out of them that allows them to live again when they have been so much in the dark. Recovery provides a light that shines in an extraordinary way.”

‘Stacia Murphy is woman in long-term recovery since 1976. She served as the president of the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (NCADD) from 1999 to 2006 and has worked as an educator, administrator, community organizer and program developer.

She served on the the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse & Alcoholism (NIAAA) Advisory Committee and has lectured at Cornell and Columbia Universities. She is a proud citizen of New York City and a poet.’

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ManyFaces1Voice: BIll White

January 2, 2014

 Unknown-1Bill White has been a huge inspiration for Greg Williams of The Anonymous People. Here he is talking on ManyFaces1Voice.

‘William (Bill) White is Emeritus Senior Research Consultant, Chestnut Health Systems. He has served as a volunteer consultant to Faces & Voices of Recovery since its founding. He has a Master’s degree in Addiction Studies and has worked in the addictions field since 1969.

He has authored or coauthored more than 350 articles and monographs and fifteen books including Slaying the Dragon: The History of Addiction Treatment and Recovery in America and Let’s Go Make Some History: Chronicles of the New Addiction Recovery Advocacy Movement. Check out an online library of his writings at www.williamwhitepapers.com.

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My Recovery Highlight of 2013

December 31, 2013

images“Many of us have carried a message of hope on a one-to-one basis; this new recovery movement calls upon us to carry that message of hope to whole communities and the whole culture. We will shape the future of recovery with a detached silence or with a passionate voice. It is time we stepped forward to shape this history with our stories, our time and our talents.” William White

I have one major Recovery Highlight of 2013. A Recovery ‘event’ – or a huge series of events would be a better to describe it – that has moved, excited and inspired me. Yes, it is the Greg Williams’ film, The Anonymous People.

Now, I know that no one person is ever responsible for making a film. But Greg deserves a great congratulations and thanks for making this happen. My congrats and thanks also go out to all all those other people involved  in the making and distribution of The Anonymous People and ManyFaces1Voice.

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ManyFaces1Voice: William Cope Moyers

November 20, 2013

images‘I was invited to give a presentation at the Rotary club in downtown St Paul, where I got up there and started my talk and was telling them all about the statistics of alcoholism. I saw people like just dropping off, you know, checking their watches and people sneaking out the back door and I was losing them.

So I just decided if I was going to hold this audience and take advantage of this unique opportunity to speak at a Rotary club, I better grab them. So I literally threw the speech to the side of the podium there and said, “I am an alcoholic and an addict and I’m talking today about people like me.”

And I told them my Story, not my 12-step Story but my Story of addiction, my Story of recovery and the multiple treatments I’d had. And I had them! That was the day that I realised that the real power is in the Personal Story.’

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The Anchor Recovery Community Centres

October 2, 2013

rsz_kennedy-anchor-visit‘I think that stigma will most likely be changed when the community sees us acting differently, in the community as people in recovery. Contributing to the community, you know… blood drive or cleanup. Citizenship.

I say to folks all the time, “By our silence, we let other people define us.”‘

I just love this video clip from ManyFaces1Voice, so much energy in it. And I’m really impressed by the look and feel of The Anchor Recovery Community that is shown. 

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