Together @ 621 A Newsletter Featuring www.solutionsrecoveryclub.org Volume 1, Issue 3 October, 2014 From Our Perspective More About Addiction For most people it is difficult to understand how someone can have trouble controlling the amount that they drink; or they believe that addiction to heroin comes solely through a series of bad choices. There is a stigma that comes with being an addict or an alcoholic that is spared for compulsive behaviors such as smoking, gambling, overeating, and codependence. The fact is that no one wakes up one day and says, I want to be a junkie, or Let s blow our life s savings. The scientific and medical communities have come to agree that addiction is a disease, much like cancer or organ disease. It is also sometimes referred to as an allergy, because it is essentially an adverse reaction to an external stimulus. One thing we can all agree on though, is that it is nearly impossible to understand, unless you have it. What makes addiction such a cunning foe is that, like any other disease, it does not just go away with treatment like a broken arm or an infection does. Addiction must be brought into remission, often with professional help; and then there is the need for lifestyle changes in order to ensure long-term success. There are many excellent addiction counseling and treatment facilities here in the Fox Valley area. Once an individual becomes sick and tired of being sick and tired, they often reach out for help to such organizations. Inpatient and outpatient treatment services are often required in order to get the addict through their physical detachment from their substance of choice; and they provide an excellent foundation on which to build long-term recovery. But for many, the real work begins when they have completed treatment. They now find themselves faced with having to take ownership of their recovery and make their own choices. Most have been exposed to 12-step support programs during treatment; and will need to continue down that path. Without 12-step meetings, sponsorship, and considerable contact with other addicts and alcoholics, their recovery becomes more and more fragile as time goes on. The programs operated by Solutions Recovery Incorporated focus on promoting long-term recovery through 12-step meetings, activities, and events that keep individuals engaged in recovery. If you, or someone you love, is struggling with a drug, alcohol, or any other addiction, we can help. If you are interested in knowing more about Solutions Recovery, Inc, please call (920) 233-0888 or email: info@solutionsrecoveryclub.org.
Volume 1, Issue 2 June, 2014 Page 2 ReTh!nk Addiction On September 13, the First Annual Re:Think Addiction 5K Run/Walk took place; and over 475 walkers, runners, and volunteers turned out to raise awareness of addiction in our community. The event was a collaborative effort between the Winnebago County Heroin Task Force, the Winnebago County ReThink Healthy Living Coalition, Nova Counseling Services, and Solutions Recovery Club. It was a cool, crisp, and sunny Saturday morning; and the local recovery community was out in full swing. The event was also attended by people and organizations throughout the state of Wisconsin that wanted to show their support for the families, friends, and communities where the effects of drugs and alcohol have become all too common. Many came out in memory of friends and loved ones who have lost their lives because of overdoses. In many ways, the ReThink Addiction 5K Run/Walk has given a new voice to all who are standing up against drug and alcohol addiction. It was an opportunity to reflect on things past while joining together to bring gratitude for today and hope for the future. Planning is already underway for next year s event. Proceeds from the ReThink Addiction 5K Run/Walk benefit Nova Counseling Services, D.A.R.E., and Solutions Recovery Incorporated. If you would like to volunteer to be a part of this great event, please contact Don Coopman at donc@solutionsrecoveryclub.org. 2014 ReThink Addiction 5K Run/Walk Solutions Recovery, Inc. is a registered 501(c)3 non-profit organization. All donations made to Solutions are tax deductible
Page 3 Creativity in Recovery News A Quarterly Newsletter from Solutions Recovery, Inc. The second annual Creativity in Recovery art show, "The Promises", will be held at Solutions Recovery Center on Saturday, October 18th, from 9am to 9pm. Come see, hear and enjoy original works of art, unique crafts, stunning photography, live music, and more by individuals who have found freedom expression through different forms of recovery and their loved ones. Solutions Recovery Center is located at 621 Evans Street in Oshkosh. For more information about Creativity in Recovery, please contact Kathleen Crowley at kathyc@solutionsrecoveryclub.org. Solutions House Opening November 1st Solutions Recovery Incorporated will open the doors of our newest program - Solutions House - on November 1st. Solutions House is a sober living residence that offers safe and affordable housing to individuals while they focus on their recoveries and rebuild their lives. Solutions House was created in response to demands for more local sober living residences to offer an alternative to returning to what is often an unhealthy situation after completing some form of alcohol and/or drug treatment program. Residents of Solutions House will be required to work on personal goals and perform community service work, while holding one another accountable for working a 12-step-based recovery program. Solutions Recovery Club Reaches Out At Lifest Oshkosh is home to many large summer events, and this year, the members of Solutions Recovery Club participated in Lifest Music Festival. SRC was there handing out information and gifts to thousands of festival-goers throughout the weekend. Through a tremendous amount of interaction with our visitors, we were able to help many to find answers to their questions about recovery - both within the Oshkosh / Fox Valley area and closer to their own homes, as well. We also had a lot of interaction with members of the recovery community that were there attending the event. The members of SRC that participated in volunteering had a great time talking with visitors from around the state and throughout the Midwest. Solutions is excited to participate in the event again next year. One way we hope to increase our involvement with the festival is by offering meetings on location during the event. For more information about how to get involved with Solutions outreach events, please contact Matt Johnson, Club Relations Director at mattj@solutionsrecoveryclub.org. Solutions Recovery, Inc. is a registered 501(c)3 non-profit organization. All donations made to Solutions are tax deductible
Page 4 Uniquely Qualified A Personal Story A Quarterly Newsletter from Solutions Recovery, Inc. Each of us in recovery knows that our experiences are intensely personal and what comes to us as our truth - comes in its own time and with its own education. So this is my experience in blessed recovery of 15 + 11 years end of this month. Take what YOU like and leave the rest. I find no clear explanation why I come into some situations or upon some people as I do, other than my belief as I have come to know it, as my Higher Power, directing me as It sees fit. A power for good that I can utilize in my life, but I don t always understand it or what my responsibility is to it. But in the course of events I do seem to be aware of an intuition thing that seems to do for me what I could never do before. I also notice that I view what is coming to me always looking for a positive to pull and reframe a negative. That is totally a gift from recovery. People are put in my life from time to time, I like to think always for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. It may be recovering people or what we refer to lovingly as normies, those not in recovery. Each one, clearly peculiar or, many times unusual, some without equal, as I believe each of us are as well. These are some of the definitions under the term unique (i.e., peculiar, unusual, without equal). Each event will require me to draw on what I know and believe or think I know and believe, but always with the result of moving me into life instead of away from reality. And to explore one more time just what IS MY TRUTH. WHAT DO I BELIEVE IN ANYWAY. I think that our collective experiences that we share at the tables whether it is fighting our way out of a body bag after being pronounced dead; drinking away 15 years into a mud puddle 1000 miles from home; wearing an orange jumpsuit and flip flops instead of the usual wingtips and three piece suit after only an hour or two out on the town; waking up in a cell to find that you have driven your car into the lake, but your child was strapped into the rear car seat and is on the bottom of the lake still. Having come to and survived these types of things Do they displace and rearrange our ideas, emotions and attitudes sufficiently enough to qualify us to speak out with any authority? Do these types of things speak to being uniquely qualified? Haven t each of us had to dig out the worms of our challenged belief systems? Share our toxic shame openly as we identify and heal to carry the message? Do we not try on a daily basis to improve our own conscious recognition and understanding of what is and what is not the Great Reality for us? Have we not admitted our faults to HP and our fellows and cleared away the wreckage of our pasts? Do we stand strong and share our own experience, strength and hope? Haven t we resurrected our bashed in psyches out of the ashes and hammered out a conception of a Higher Power that is personal to us? Haven t we pursued new knowledge that led to a new Power in order to make new choices and with those new choices we were able to enjoy a new freedom and a new happiness? Am I uniquely qualified? The Big Book has offered me a path of recovery. I am feeling that It is for each of us to decide in prayer how far we can extend ourselves on that journey, what has validity and is acceptable to us. We do have choices today. For myself, I have people, places and things that will be put into my life and each brings to me new knowledge and experiences I can use and benefit from. Valid new knowledge I m hoping will displace and rearrange erroneous old ideas and false beliefs. Any improvement in my own conscious contact with my Higher Power will allow for spiritual progress in cooperating with life on life s terms, which I don t do well. I know that recovery requires continued effort and an open mind to perfect and enlarge a spiritual life. Each of us has a hugely personal message of resurrection and transformation to carry. I am free to choose what is helpful as I Trudge the Road of Happy Destiny. We know only a little. God will constantly disclose more to you and to us. Thanks for letting me share. With Gratitude: Nancy J.
S o l u t i o n s R e c o v e r y, I n c. 621 Evans Street Oshkosh, Wisconsin 54901 Phone: (920) 233-0888 E-mail: info@solutionsrecoveryclub.org www.solutionsrecoveryclub.org Solutions Recovery Club SNL Oshkosh Creativity in Recovery Meeting Schedules/Hours of Operation Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 6:00pm 11:30pm 10:00am AA 10:00am AA 12:00pm AA, 9:30am 9:00am AA 6:30pm NA 7:00pm NA 10:00am OA 6:30pm 6:00pm NA 6:00pm NA 7:00pm AA, Alateen 7:00pm AA 7:00pm Open Speaker Mtg. (2nd and 4th weeks)