Prayer. The Spring Slogans FROM ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS & NARCOTICS ANONYMOUS POCONO MOUNTAIN. Maureen Goucher, Case Manager First things first.

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1 The Spring 2014 POCONO MOUNTAIN Prayer A NEWSLETTER TO HELP GUIDE YOU Slogans FROM ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS & NARCOTICS ANONYMOUS Abby Feight, Primary Counselor H.A.L.T. Don t get too Hungry.too Angry.too Lonely. or too Tired. If you take care of these things first, everything else is a lot easier to accomplish. Kerry Andrek, Primary Counselor First things first. This slogan helps me to prioritize; reminds me to do the first thing in front of me and not be attached to outcomes. Matthew Taylor, Case Manager Willingness is key. You have to be willing to change your life regardless of your situation. That s one of, if not the biggest thing to remember in order to be successful. You have to be willing to work through the fear. Maureen Goucher, Case Manager First things first. This is a motivational slogan for me. It also helps me get started on a task. This slows me down, calms me, and helps me gather and collect my thoughts. I can take a breath, listen, and put first things first, then second things second, etc. Step by step by step. David Enslin, Case Manager Easy does it.but do it! Hold on long enough to finish. You may have to walk through the fire but do it. Mitch G. Meeting Makers Make It At meetings I am constantly reminded of the steos, what I need to do AND that God is in charge

2 FROM THE DESK OF THE Executive Director GREGORY VARLEY, M ED., LCADC, CCS Executive Director I consider myself privileged and fortunate to be the Executive Director of Pocono Mountain Recovery Center. The privilege is that I get to have a ringside seat for miracles, I get to witness people work for their spot in recovery. Another aspect of my privilege is that the ownership of PMRC, Mitch, is all about having PMRC become one of the finest treatment programs in the country. His Executive Officer, Craig, makes sure that whatever is needed is provided to that goal. I am privileged to have a wonderful giving staff that supports the mission of good treatment where the patient s opportunity for recovery is first priority. Each of these dedicated people seeks to make the best contribution they can to the process. Many of the exceptional people are behind the scenes, such as housekeeping, maintenance, technical, administrative support, and kitchen staff. Others, more visible, such as nursing, treatment techs, counselors, and volunteers, are extremely dedicated. Pastor David, a volunteer, is here each week for groups and opens his church to us each Sunday. The AA and NA communities also welcome us with open arms and bring meetings in as well, in spite of our severe winter weather that has finally passed. Since PMRC opened on March 14, 2013, we have served 465 people, and counting, who have come to us for help with their addiction. We have also sought to help their loved ones through education, counseling and referrals. Our hope is that each person, patient and loved one has been helped as a result of their contact with PMRC. It is always wonderful when someone stays in recovery, avoids relapsing and prospers. Unfortunately with this illness that is not always the case. My fortunate side is the wonderful people who have helped me on my recovery and becoming a counselor. A truly great lady who helped me, a pioneer in the field of addiction treatment, once told me, It s great when that one piece of the puzzle goes in and a person gets sober, but whatever piece you get to help put in, be sure to put it in well so it stays. Only then will it be there for the next piece, eventually getting to that one solving piece for that person so the suffering will stop. No one knows what that key piece of the puzzle has to be, but those of us who have helped with this puzzle process are well aware of the suffering that goes on until it is solved. We are well aware that each piece is important and that no one individual nor facility has all the pieces. Each of us know that once the puzzle of continuing abstinence is solved, the next part of the puzzle of personal growth to maintain the spiritual condition required to stay clean and sober has to be actively under construction. Our team here at PMRC makes every effort to recommend resources that will continue the process. Use the recommended resources, pray, seek to grow, but eventually it comes down to Don t drink, don t drug no matter what, even if your butt falls off pick it up and take it to a meeting. If nothing changes nothing changes!

3 Future Newsletters Now that we have our first year behind us we will be sending all of the PMRC families a quarterly newsletter which will tell you what is going on at the facility and more importantly give everyone who is reading it some valuable information to help them stay clean and sober and/or how to help yourself deal with someone in recovery. With the start of each of the 4 seasons we will be sending this out to you. This is just one way for us to stay in touch with you. Of course, our alumni coordinators will continue to stay in touch with you and please, please, please call us if you have any questions or need any help. PMRC Detox Pocono Mountain Recovery Center operates fourteen beds designated for detoxification from sedative, stimulant drugs and/or opiate drugs. The Medical Director, Robert Morrow, M.D., is board certified in Psychiatry and Neurology and has worked as a Psychiatrist in Addiction Medicine for twentyseven years. He has designed detoxification protocols to help our clients ease their transition from active addiction to abstinence. Working under Dr. Morrow s direction is a team of skilled nurses, a Physician Assistant, and two Registered Nurse Practitioners who will attend to the medical needs of clients at this level of care. We are staffed with Pennsylvania Certified Drug and Alcohol Counselors who have years of experience in the field of addiction treatment. They are complimented by a very dedicated group of Treatment Technicians who also work directly with the clients. This country setting, coupled with an atmosphere of compassion and firmness, surrounded by people who understand, since they have been there themselves, is a very comfortable place to begin a road to recovery. RECOVERY-RELATED Book Recommendations JIM CROSSAN, M.S.W., C.A.D.C, I.C.A.D.C, Assistant Clinical Dir, recommends A New Pair of Glasses by Chuck Chamberlain. A New Pair of Glasses is the printed transcripts from a collection of talks provided by Chuck C. at an AA retreat and because it is the transcript of someone talking, it s an easy read. You feel as if Chuck might be somewhere in the room while you re reading it. Chuck talks about the disease of alcoholism, his career working with others and what sobriety looks like translated in a family. Above all, Chuck believed this was a spiritual solution, and that a person had to have a spiritual (not religious) path in order to be at ease. MAUREEN GOUCHER, Case Manager recommends The 12-Step Prayer Book by Bill P. and Lisa D. The 12 Step Prayer Book contains words of wisdom and inspiration gleaned from Twelve Step meetings and adapted from common prayers and devotional readings. Anyone who has had difficulty finding the right words to speak with his or her Higher Power will find abundant resources in this collection. Maureen recommends this book to individuals to help them put into words their thoughts, emotions, and how they are feeling inside Second Annual PMRC Alumni & Staff Picnic Sunday, July 13, :30 am 2:30 pm Food, Fellowship & Fun! We do not shoot our wounded.

4 FROM Head to Heart KERRY ANDREK Primary Counselor I have always struggled with feelings of inadequacy - I always had an idea of who and what I was suppose to be and the sad fact was that I never came close to reconciling my inner and outer worlds. So I gave up trying and settled deeper into the bottle. As my disease took a greater hold, I reached out for some form of relief, namely AA and the Twelve Steps. The fog began to clear. I began to see the light at the end of a very long tunnel. A fierce determination to be somebody, to be something, returned. My inner critic that I had locked up had sprung loose and began to wreak havoc. By then I had done a 4th and 5th Step and I saw how I fell short in all areas in my life. I understood that it wasn t everyone else s fault; there was a part I played. I knew I didn t want to live like that anymore; I didn t want the consequences! I didn t want to drink so I said the Seventh Step prayer and moved on to my amends. Life went on and I was wondering why I wasn t enjoying as much relief as the Big Book promised - I tried to live what I thought was a good life. Something was missing. I still thought the same, I had this parallel thought process; on one hand I had the selfish, the fearful, resentful, and judgmental fighting with the patient, loving, tolerant thoughts, but that was as far as it went. I was still in so much pain. Torn between what I wanted and what I thought God wanted. I had so many rules, standards, judgments and fears. I didn t outgrow fear. I converted it into a prison of politeness, superiority and judgment. Deep down inside, I still felt inadequate, afraid and lonely. The question is, how did all of this change? The fact that I am writing this proves that although I was closer to drinking that I had ever been, I didn t. By the grace and love of infinite God I sit here sober, happy and free. After four years of inner torture in recovery I am enjoying all of the promises of our book. It started with one sentence in the Big Book; it changed my whole perception of the Steps. That fateful sentence can be found in WE AGNOSTICS: Pp53:2 - When we became alcoholics, crushed by a self-imposed crisis we could not postpone or evade, we had to fearlessly face the proposition that either God is everything or else He is nothing. God either is, or He isn t. What was our choice to be? While reading How It Works, I saw a paragraph in a way I had never seen it before: Pp62:2 - So our troubles, we think, are basically of our own making. They arise out Hungry Angry Lonely Tired

5 of ourselves, and the alcoholic is an extreme example of self-will run riot, though he usually doesn t think so. Above everything, we alcoholics must be rid of this selfishness. We must, or it kills us! God makes that possible. And there often seems no way of entirely getting rid of self without His aid. Many of us had moral and philosophical convictions galore, but we could not live up to them even though we would have liked to. Neither could we reduce our selfcenteredness much by wishing or trying on our own power. We had to have God s help. It occurred to me that I had been trying to moralize or philosophize myself into unselfishness. I remembered that there were other places in the book that echoed such sentiments: Pp66:4 - We saw that these resentments must be mastered, but how? We could not wish them away any more than alcohol. Next I turned to: Pp44:4 and 45:0 - If a mere code of morals or a better philosophy of life were sufficient to overcome alcoholism, many of us would have recovered long ago. But we found that such codes and philosophies did not save us, no matter how much we tried. We could wish to be moral, we could wish to be philosophically comforted, in fact, we could will these things with all our might, but the needed power wasn t there. Our human resources, as marshaled by the will, were not sufficient; they failed utterly. Lack of power, that was our dilemma. We had to find a power by which we could live, and it had to be a Power greater than ourselves. Obviously. But where and how were we to find this Power? With all of these things running around my mind, I asked myself what they meant. My answer was rather profound to me. His loving hands and the invisible threads of His grace hold my life together. My life had been shot through with the evil and corroding thread of fear, which is now equally balanced with God s loving mesh. With that, I was able to go beyond human power, to grab a hold of something that truly allowed me to see myself as I am. I got the idea of applying all of this to Step Seven. Instead of just saying the prayer, I thought about what I was asking for. I asked God to have all of me, not just my character, my soul, my fate, but ALL that I am a mother, a wife, a daughter, a sister, a friend, an A.A., a human being, all of these things. To allow Him to guide and direct me, to truly be His agent, to offer all that I may be, along with everything that I once was, to a God who was with me every step of the way. So I made a list from my 4th Step of all the places that I had utterly failed under my own power and asked Him to have it ALL. I prayed with a deeper understanding of what I was doing. I was asking God to live in and through me, and for the first time I felt what I said. The results are apparent - I don t talk at meetings to sound good, I ask God to speak if I open my mouth, I don t try to manipulate to get what I think I need. I communicate with fellow children of our infinite God on a level that I couldn t have dreamed of. Today I truly see myself and everyone else as a child of God. God may give you the seeds, but you must plant them.

6 Alumni Program THOMAS CANNON Director of Alumni Affairs / Assistant Director of Treatment Technicians As Alumni Program Director, I would like to congratulate the many PMRC clients that have completed treatment with us over the past year. Each of you is a miracle, and the recipient of one of the greatest gifts that life has to offer - recovery. I m sure as you look back on the weeks you spent here with us at PMRC you now see things from a completely different perspective and can appreciate all that you courageously went through during your stay here. The many lectures, groups, counseling sessions, and let s not forget the great food, are all part of your foundation and memories that will serve you lifelong. The Alumni Program serves PMRC clients who have completed treatment, are 90+ days sober, and are available to come back Wednesday evenings to participate. Serving as a platform for early recovery we have solidified many of you with your Step 1 experience as well as embraced many pamphlets and chapters from the Big Book and the NA Basic Text. The Alumni Program continues its growth in year two; we meet every Wednesday from 6:00 pm to 7:30 pm. We now meet in the Serenity Center and former patients are directed to use the parking lot by the basketball courts. If you are an Alum and have not yet visited us please stop by or, better yet, make the Alumni meeting a part of your weekly meeting circuit. Again, congratulations! I look forward to seeing you at an Alumni meeting. Quoted I abused drugs and alcohol for years until my life was run by them. I realized I needed help and fortunately I was admitted to Pocono Mountain Recovery Center. The generosity of the caring staff gave me a serenity I had never experienced before. When I entered PMRC I began to learn so much about opiate and cocaine addiction. I learned that addiction is a disease. I learned about the progression of the disease and also about relapse prevention. Because of my treatment experience I now have greater self-worth. I have the coping skills necessary to manage my triggers such as anger and depression. I now strive for healthier relationships with family and friends. Most importantly, I now believe I deserve a good drug and alcohol free life. PMRC saved my life. D. O. KISS Keep it Simple Silly.

7 Thank you for all the help you have given us. You really helped me to be more confident in my decisions. You are simply the best! There are not enough words to tell you how much I appreciate you. A.C. WELCOME TO THE FAMILY PROGRAM S Lois Wilson Room We recently renovated our family therapy room, renaming it the Lois Wilson Room after the co-founder of Al-Anon. Lois was married to Bill W., the founder of Alcoholics Anonymous. After Bill went through rehabilitation and founded AA, Lois tried to support her husband s work with alcoholics. She became frustrated, unhappy, and full of self-pity, hurt pride, and resentment. Through her own emotional struggle and through witnessing other family members who were similarly impacted by alcoholism, Lois came to realize that alcoholism is a family disease and that the solution was a program for family recovery. PMRC s Family Program educates families on the disease of addiction and the process of recovery. This is accomplished through the Family Education Program and the Family Process Group conducted during Saturday visitation. The Family Program also provides private family therapy sessions facilitated by the patient s primary counselor and/or Family Program staff. The better every family member understands addiction, the better chance the alcoholic/ addict has of staying clean and sober. Family members please feel free to contact our family department at any time to discuss any problems you are experiencing. Your caring and guidance has been an inspiration to us on our journey. It has been our sincere pleasure. B. & K. B Because of you I have learned to make each day better. Thank you for helping our family. E. K. Never look down on anyone unless you are helping them up.