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This essay is a brief narrative and contains excerpts of several interviews the writer conducted three years ago at Venturetech in Houston, Texas. Venturetech's owner, Larry Keast, is sympathetic to recovery issues in the workplace. Keast has create a website, www.americainrecovery.org, dedicated to spreading the word that recovering individuals can make quality contributions in the workplace. He encourages businesses and individuals to self-organize in the effort to work together to build healthy communities.
Legal Action Center's National Hire Network resources
FOR EMPLOYERS
PUBLICATIONS
The Reentry Resource Council
has a guide of reentry resources that includes an excellent section on employment: Reentry Resource Guide
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5 Reasons Why You Should Be a FOR-VT Member!
1 We Speak Up!
FOR-VT advocates for people in recovery from alcohol and drug addiction in your community and statewide. Joining a recovery community organization is an important step in strengthening the voice of the recovery community for all of us who have been affected by addiction in our homes, workplace, schools, places of worship and neighborhoods.
FOR-VT provides a clearinghouse of information about prevention, intervention, treatment and recovery programs as well as many other resources. Mostly people call us when they want to find help for their own, or their family members', addiction. Others call to connect with ongoing advocacy initiatives and sign up for new learning opportunities. Volunteer in our office or as a peer facilitator! Get involved!
3 We Celebrate!
Our events, such as the SoberFest and our annual Recovery Day at the Statehouse, provide opportunities for Vermonters to celebrate long-term recovery from alcohol and drug addiction.
4 We Educate!
Educating the public and our legislature about long-term recovery helps reduce stigma and gain understanding of addiction as a chronic, yet treatable, condition. We offer numerous trainings throughout the year, such as Know Your Rights in Recovery and Advocacy 101.
5 You Save Money!
By joining FOR-VT, you receive substantial discounts on all events which require registration fees. For example, FOR-VT will again be sponsoring the Addiction Recovery Training Series (ARTS). The charge for each full-day session will be $70 (includes 6 CEU's). FOR-VT members pay only $40 per training (a $30 savings!)
New members are added to the FOR-VT list serve and will receive regular email updates about advocacy issues, recovery support services, new programs and resources, and much more!.
All members also receive invitations to our Annual Meeting luncheon at the Capital Plaza planned for March 2011 (free for members).
2010 Memberships Rates
Individual $25 year
Family $50 year
Organization $100 year
Corporation $1000 year
To Join, send your name, address, email and phone number along with your payment to:
FOR-VT Membership
PO Box 1202
Montpelier, VT 05601
We thank you for your tax-deductible contribution!
JOIN ONLINE |
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| Save the Date
SOBERFEST 2010!
Saturday September 18th 5-11PM
Friends of Recovery-Vermont is hosting the 1st annual Vermont SoberFest 2010 at the "Aud" in Barre, Vermont
Come join in the fun as we celebrate long term recovery with a substance free night of music, dancing and socializing.
Musical performances by local and national performers with a "Jam Session" immediately following the last act
Guest Speakers
Informational Booths
Food Vendors
Childrens activities
Bring your talents, dancing shoes, children, friends, and leave the substances behind. |
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Faces & Voices of Recovery and Hazelden's Center for Public Advocacy invite you to an evening reception recognizing 2010's most influential recovery community leaders and organizations.
The Association for Persons Affected by Addiction (APAA) will receive the Joel Hernandez award and Earl Hightower (Hightower Intervention Services, Studio City, CA), Joe Powell (APAA, Dallas, TX) and Art Zwerling (Anesthetists in Recovery, Elkins Park, PA) will receive the Vernon Johnson award. Faces and Voices of Recovery is pleased to recognize the outstanding contributions of Congressman Patrick Kennedy (D-RI), who will receive the America Honors Recovery Legacy award.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010, 6-8 pm
101 Constitution Ave., NW
600 West
Washington, DC 20001
To become a sponsor, please click here
Faces & Voices of Recovery and Hazelden's Center for Public Advocacy have joined together to host America Honors Recovery honoring the legacies of Joel Hernandez and Vernon Johnson. All contributions to the America Honors Recovery awards event will go to Faces & Voices of Recovery. |
July 9th on NPR:
Sobriety, Science, and AA's Legacy
Alcoholics Anonymous at 75. We look at its legacy and its 12 steps through the lens of the latest science.
Alcoholics Anonymous - AA - got its start 75 years ago this summer. Every AA member knows the story. Of how alcoholic Bill Wilson saw God in his detox room, and went on to lay out the twelve steps of the AA path. It's been a godsend for many. Doesn't work for all. And 75 years on, scientists are still trying to figure out exactly what it is that does work about AA. "Higher power" is not exactly a scientific term. This Hour, On Point: AA at 75, and what science - and alcoholics - understand about the twelve-step way. Tom Ashbrook
Guests:
Brendan Koerner, contributing editor at WIRED magazine. His latest article is "Secret of AA: After 75 Years, We Don't Know How It Works." He also writes Wired's "Mr. Know-it-All" column.
Bill N.,twenty-year member of Alcoholics Anonymous.
Lee Ann Kaskutas, senior scientist at the Public Health Institute's Alcohol Research Group.
Scott Tonigan, research professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of New Mexico.
Secret of AA: After 75 Years, We Don't Know How It Works Brenden I Koernor, Wired Magazine, June 23, 2010
The church will be closed tomorrow, and the drunks are freaking out. An elderly lady in a prim white blouse has just delivered the bad news, with deep apologies: A major blizzard is scheduled to wallop Manhattan tonight, and up to a foot of snow will cover the ground by dawn. The church, located on the Upper West Side, can't ask its staff to risk a dangerous commute. Unfortunately, that means it must cancel the Alcoholics Anonymous meeting held daily in the basement. Read Full Article
Bill Wilson's Gospel Op-Ed Columnist David Brooks, NY Times, June 28, 2010
On Dec. 14, 1934, a failed stockbroker named Bill Wilson was struggling with alcoholism at a New York City detox center. It was his fourth stay at the center and nothing had worked. This time, he tried a remedy called the belladonna cure - infusions of a hallucinogenic drug made from a poisonous plant - and he consulted a friend named Ebby Thacher, who told him to give up drinking and give his life over to the service of God. Read Full Article |
Broken by Addiction, Blessed by God
A woman's path to sustained recovery.
by Penny Mary Hauser
A recently published book, Broken by Addiction, Blessed by God-A woman's path to sustained recovery, was introduced to Vermont Friends of Recovery at a recent board meeting. This new book gives voice to women with substance use disorders who have often been overlooked, under-served and misdiagnosed.
In this book, the author addresses gender specific treatment issues and explores recovery in a three stage process. The issues identified are those which often trap women in addiction and often trip her up in recovery. The concept of "stigma"-the most frequently cited barrier to a woman acknowledging her disease of addiction-underpins the issues of recovery from a gender specific perspective. Addiction and recovery are different for women.
The acronym of S.T.I.G.M.A. identifies the issues which a woman must address to move from continual struggle and relapses to long term recovery and peace-from broken to blessed. The issues which S.T.I.G.M.A. addresses are:
S-self image
T-traditional roles
I-ineffective communication
G-grief and loss
M-medical aspects
A-abuse and anger
Each of these issues is discussed in a three part process-Name, Transform, Sustain. The Name discussion encourages the reader to identify if this S.T.I.G.M.A issue is part of her addiction or recovery. If it is a trap or trigger, where did it come from? In Transform the recovering woman is encouraged to explore the issue examining the choices and power she has to make changes in her thinking and behavior. We are powerless over our addiction but not over our recovery. And in Sustain the reader considers the spiritual aspects of the issue in her recovery. Is she open to consider her relationship with God as critical to moving her into the peace and joy of long term recovery---to sustain that recovery? As a reader stated, "This is an exploration of 'the God of my understanding' at a deeper level." The book is written to be accessible to women of all faiths and to those who aren't quite there yet.
The book's author, Penny Mary Hauser is a long time member of Friends of Recovery and served on the board from 2003-2007. She has worked in the field of mental health and addiction for over 30 years as a psychiatric nurse. As a recovering woman herself she provides an authentic voice to this material. The book is addressed to women in recovery and is also appropriate for family members, counselors, therapists, sponsors, pastors etc. The book is available from local book stores, amazon.com and Liguori Publisher. Penny resides in Vermont and is available to provide workshops and discussions of the book.
Feel free to contact Penny at 1 (802) 773-6404 or email her at pnnyhsr@comcast.net for more information or to order Broken by Addiction, Blessed by God. |
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