"Knowing is not enough, we must apply.

Willing is not enough, we must do."

-Goethe

Dear Friends and Family,

Recovery is about doing. It is not enough to say that you're doing something without the action behind it.

At Next Step Recovery, we understand that changing destructive patterns requires doing new things that we might be afraid to do. It takes a lot of love, guidance, and support to help someone move beyond their "perceived" limitations.

Living life in recovery takes a lot of work and steadfast dedication to oneself and a personal recovery program. This is no small task!

In the spirit of this graduation season, I would like to honor the hard work being done at Next Step Recovery. By committing to their recovery each day, our men and our women are forging new roads that will help them create meaningful lives.

Watching loved ones graduate this month reminds me to appreciate my own perseverance-first in overcoming addiction and then, as an adult, in rising above my fears to obtain a college degree and then a master's degree.

In 1993, I moved with my husband and our baby daughter to Asheville from Italy so that I could realize my dream of becoming a counselor. As a 28-year-old new mother, I was afraid I wouldn't succeed. Thankfully my husband and some dear friends encouraged me to go beyond my fears and enroll in school anyway.

It took courage and determination to continue with my studies, the same skills I had developed in my 3 years in rehab and 6 years of living clean and sober.

My own recovery process taught me that to succeed in life, I had to push past my fears and put those voices from the past to sleep. Just like in recovery, I had to start at the bottom and climb each stair to realize my dreams-class after class, semester after semester, year after year.

Ten years (and a lot of hard work) later, I was able to celebrate with close friends and family and dance around my living room, Master's degree in hand, shouting "I did it!" at the top of my lungs.

From that moment on, I knew I could do whatever I set out to do. Today, I am so grateful to be able to provide a safe, warm place for recovering addicts who need someone to believe in them the way my mentors believed in me and to help guide them past their own perceived limitations.

Warmly,

Susan 

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Helping Individuals Create Meaningful Lives

Getting sober and staying sober is a critical first step on the road to recovery. However, there are many "next steps" that also need to be addressed to support long-term recovery and to help create lives that are meaningful and rewarding. 

Next Step Recovery's transitional living programs for men and women are carefully structured to support residents' long-term recovery after discharge from primary treatment. In addition to weekly intensive relapse-prevention classes, residents are supported through daily 12-step meetings, group processing, individual case management, one-on-one recovery support, and a supportive community of peers.  

These comprehensive gender-specific programs encourage residents to move beyond addiction to address the underlying issues that addiction kept hidden and made worse. 

In addition to 12-step and relapse-prevention work, Next Step Recovery residents learn how to create meaningful lives through

· Life skills classes

· Mandatory work/school requirement

· Employment guidance and support

· Healthy meals program

· Guided recreation program

· Yoga and meditation (women's program)

· Reintegration assistance

For more information about any of Next Step Recovery's programs or services, please contact Susan Stader at 828-350-9960 or susan@nextsteprecovery.com

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LB entered Next Step Recovery for Women two and a half months ago after completing a 42-day addictions treatment program. Her treatment facility strongly recommended she transfer directly to a transitional living program, specifically Next Step Recovery, to support her ongoing recovery. After looking at the program's website, she decided it would be a good fit.  

"The beautiful home and Japanese gardens definitely peaked my interest," she shares.

LB struggled with alcohol and drug abuse for 10 years. She tried attending a few 12-step meetings in the past, but with little success. Next Step Recovery is her first experience living and working with peers in recovery.

"Being in a recovery community and having a safe place to work on my recovery are the most important things for me," she says without hesitating.

She loves the small, supportive community of women at Next Step and especially loves sitting down together for a healthy meal and mutual support. Perhaps this is not surprising, since she left a career as a professional chef to focus on her recovery.

"Drugs and alcohol are so prevalent in the restaurant industry, I thought I'd never be able to go back," she confesses.

The personal growth work she has been doing at Next Step Recovery has helped her to realize she may not have to give up what she loves, but look at doing it in a different way.

LB is already taking steps to redefine her dream by helping to develop the healthy meals program at the Next Step Recovery House for Men. "I'm happy to be back in the kitchen again-this time, a sober one!"

LB is also grateful for the dual diagnosis support she receives at Next Step Recovery, which is helping her work through her grief over the recent loss of her sister. Numbed out while she was using, "I didn't feel anything for the first 8 months," she shares.

Recovery has allowed her to acknowledge her feelings, which are sometimes overwhelming. "The help and professional support I have received are invaluable," she acknowledges. "I am able to recognize that the tears are different now. These are healthy tears."

LB also loves the inner reflection practices at Next Step Recovery. "Kathy, our program director, led a guided group meditation that took me to a place I needed to go," she shares. "I am looking forward to working with her and the community during this time of exploration."

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"People talk a lot about how you have to hit rock bottom before you get serious about recovery," RN shares. "I think there isn't enough talk about raising 'the bottom,' which my parents did for me when they said they wouldn't help me any more."

When RN fell into addiction, his parents "helped him out" many times which, ironically, enabled him to continue using and dodging responsibility for the choices he made.

After he lost his parents' support, he finally realized that addiction had destroyed everything of value in his life. He had lost his job, his house, his ability to drive, and his relationship with his family. This was the motivation he needed to do something different. 

RN went back to treatment, but this time he chose to transition to a local halfway house, which proved to be more humbling than he anticipated.

"I remember being so thirsty when I was filling out admissions paperwork," RN recalls.

"When I asked for a drink of water, the manager asked if I had a cup. I didn't have anything at that point," he shares. "You can't believe how humiliating it was to have to drink out of my hands until I could afford my own cup."

With very little support, RN quickly dropped out and began using again. A few months later he found himself back in treatment. He also found Next Step Recovery's website. Even though the program was out of state, it looked much more supportive, so he decided to give it a try.

"I remember being so happy I had a cup," he remembers. "From growing up in country club to being grateful for a cup, that's where I was." He also remembers being grateful that there was food in the house and a comfortable bed.

In stark contrast to his prior experience with transitional living, he was given a tremendous amount of support and encouragement. The team at Next Step Recovery helped him find a job that fit his skills, the director met with him weekly to make sure he was getting the recovery support he needed, and everyone held him accountable when he wasn't doing his part.

"They really cared about me. That was the most important thing," he shares. "They also saw what I was capable of, and they made me live up to it. Every thing I am able to do now is because of the support and care I received here at Next Step Recovery."

Two years later, RN now gives back to the program as an active alumni.

"Someone was here to support me. Now it's my turn to give back to the next guy," RN explains. "I feel so blessed to have a good job, a great place to live, supportive relationships, and the opportunity to rebuild my family's trust."

" And I know that if I don't work on my recovery each day, I can lose it all," he adds.

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Help Someone Take the Next Step

Many of our residents come to us having lost everything to addiction - their families, their jobs, their life's savings. Addiction is a devastating disease, but with the right support, it is a treatable disease.

Your tax-deductible donation not only helps rebuild individual lives, it also helps rebuild famiiies and communities. Your gift touches many lives.