One of the recommendations for our continuing care plans is always that we commit to attending a minimum of 3-5 AA/NA meetings per week.  We have all come to recognize this as an integral part of ongoing recovery.  However, there is another part of that puzzle that ensures we will receive the most we possibly can out of the meetings.  There is more involved with attending meetings than simply being present.  It is also suggested that we join a home group and get involved with service. The third item, service, is the one often overlooked, and it need not be this way.  If you are struggling with meeting attendance, or perhaps hit the meeting wall (you know the one that tells you if I have to listen to that guy tell his 45 minute story of drinking again this week , I will explode) then service work may be your answer. It has been said that "the 12-steps help me to learn about me and the 12-traditions help me to learn about how I interact with the world."  Service work can be one of the great learning experiences of the program. 

We would be remise if we did not remember how this whole thing started.  After 6 months of trying to get alcoholics sober, Bill Wilson was about to give up.  He had not succeeded in helping anyone in getting sober.  The best recorded history states that he said to his wife Lois, "this is hopeless, it is not working".  She responded with "but Bill, you are sober and you have never been sober for 6 whole months."  The most often used excuse to not be engaged in service work is time or the lack thereof.  "I do not have time to help others", a chime we have all heard from our peers.  Service work is a time commitment, but it is a time commitment to help myself as well as others.  Service work puts into action my gratitude for recovery today, and Father Martin taught us that "gratitude for today's sobriety practically ensures tomorrows."

My own personal story is filled with service work.  I, like many others, have been blessed to have some really good men in my life point me in the right direction.  At 5 months clean the Narcotics Anonymous BC Convention was being hosted by my local area.  I was allowed to be present at all the preparatory meetings.  They did not let me near the cash, but who could blame them!  I saw a tremendous spiritual aspect of recovery, one we hope to duplicate with our alumni events here at Cedars.  Being a part of that and working to help so many people experience the joys of recovery, changed me and many others who are still clean today from that committee.

 So, if you are struggling today perhaps getting out of yourself would be a good idea.  Service work can take many forms, opening a meeting, putting on a pot of coffee, stacking chairs, washing mugs, formal position within your home group, Area representative and so-on and so-on.  The time commitments ranges from hours a week to 2 minutes a week. I will suggest that the spiritual reward is the same either way. 

Robert DeClark, MSW

Inpatient Treatment Director

Have you been trying to heal from Emotional Eating? Do you overeat, binge eat and generally soothe yourself with food because:

•  You feel stressed and struggle with problems in your daily life  
• You find yourself in challenging and changing times
• You feel exhausted and overwhelmed by your present life
• You feel empty inside and out of balance
• You feel anxious

Take a step towards more happiness and ease in your life. Join Ina Stockhausen, a therapist who has helped countless women stop Emotional Eating for 3 days of healing. Gather with other women like you at a residential retreat that promises to change the relationship you have with your body, with food and yourself.

Incorporating art, movement, ritual and the map of Integrative Body Psychotherapy we will explore:

• Changing negative beliefs that you have about yourself that may be holding you back and are impacting your relationship with food  
• Developing tools YOU need to cope with triggers without reverting back to disordered eating
• What you really long for when you reach for food  
• Updating coping strategies you learned during childhood which no longer serve you well
• Making peace with your body and rediscovering your inner Goddess
• Connecting to your birth right to feel good about yourself  
• Finding a new way to eat - connected to your body and your inner voice

Without the responsibilities and business of daily life you will be able to immerse yourself in healing self-exploration, integrating body, mind, emotions and spirit.

This residential Retreat isn't about dieting or weight loss. It is about addressing the underlying issues that drive emotional eating and re-evaluating your connection with food. It is also about connecting with other women.

Location: Cedars at Cobble Hill Residential Treatment Centre

September 23rd - 25th, 2011

 The Retreat will begin Friday September 23rd at 10 am and finish Sunday September 25th at 2 pm.

 Retreat Cost:

$ 495.00 - Registration Fee includes all the workshop material, 2 nights accommodations at Cedars and all meals.

click here for more details & to request a registration package, space is limited!