Sunday, October 25, 2015


Best of the week from Choose Help

How Addiction Affects Sibling Relationships

How Addiction Affects Sibling Relationships
The needs of siblings of active addicts and alcoholics are often overlooked. This is especially true when siblings are adolescents and young adults. Supporting the needs of all family members individually is the key to maintaining a healthy family unit.
Long before I understood what a dysfunctional family was (much less that I was growing up in one); I learned the story of Cain and Able. Sunday school was a mandatory part of my upbringing and the only thing I found even slightly interesting were the stories. I knew that “raising cane/Cain” was a bad thing and my childhood impression was simply that Able was a good son and Cain was not. I wanted to be a good son and could not understand why my best efforts to do so went unnoticed.

Sibling Love or Competition?

It’s natural for children to think in black and white terms. Prior to early adolescence, the child’s brain cannot work with abstract concepts like faith and belief systems. They will simply absorb what you teach them. In adolescence and early adulthood we develop the capacity for choosing our own beliefs and values. This developmental process moved me away from organized religion but it also made me aware that my siblings and I had a lot in common with Cain and Able.
It’s a myth that siblings naturally love each other. They don’t. What siblings do naturally is compete with one another. They have to be taught to be loving and accepting of each other.
In families that experience ongoing abuse, neglect, and/or addiction, these lessons are often not instilled. Competition leads to increased dysfunction and unhealthy relationships between kids who are surviving the same family.

Everyone Has a Role to Play

Why are we so different?
In families like mine, children are unofficially assigned roles. My sister was the smart one, my brother was the funny/talented one, and as the eldest, I was the responsible one. For all that went unspoken, we knew what was expected of us and we provided it. We did this in pursuit of approval and acceptance. We did this to compensate for the craziness of our parents. Even as kids, we understood that maintaining appearances was vitally important.

Watership Down

As a family therapist; I consistently find that whatever affects one member of a family impacts all members of a family whether directly or indirectly. Nowhere is this more apparent than with addiction. Regardless of who the addict is, the rest of the family compensates and conflicts rage, internally and externally, overtly and silently.
Watership Down is a great children’s book that I recommend to families. It describes the behavior of unhealthy families through a story about rabbits. In the midst of highly stressful situations and fear, the rabbits have a simple choice – pull together against a common enemy or turn on one another. Just as the rabbits in this story, families of addiction often “circle the wagons and shoot inward.”

Compensating & Homeostasis

When the addict is an adolescent or young adult, their brothers and sisters often learn to live under a microscope of attention. The addict is Cain and the siblings are expected (by their parents and/or themselves) to be Able. Perfectionism and over-achievement follow. This is compensation in action. Families seek equilibrium, even if it means going to equal and opposite extremes.
Alternatively, the siblings of addicts become invisible. Parents put their lives on hold looking for the addicted child to become a prodigal son/daughter. The siblings grow up in a vacuum of emotional unavailability. The addicted child becomes resented for their ongoing impact on the family unit.

Changing Dysfunctional Dynamics

Living with powerlessness, unhealthy demands, and an ongoing example of what not to be inhibits growth and self expression. Balance is key to healthy change. The family comes to see that its collective whole has been overshadowed by the sickness of one member.
Meeting the needs of each family member to the greatest degree possible promotes healing and supports the well being of the family unit. This starts with the parents/caregivers getting on the same page to accomplish two important tasks:
  1. Ensuring that enabling does not occur 
  2. Renewing their commitment to meeting the needs of each family member
This is usually messy, awkward, and uncomfortable. It’s also the only way to return from being a group of individuals to being a functioning family unit. There’s a lot that’s gone unsaid and there’s a lot to work through.

Expressing Feelings and Needs

In the course of any healing process, expectations and feelings need to become overt and clearly expressed. Siblings of addicts often feel pressured to be supportive and to make sacrifices to shore up their parents/caregivers. They often feel unable to express their negative emotions regarding the impact the addict/alcoholic has had individually and on the family as a whole.
It’s vitally important that each member be able to express what they feel, want, and need. This requires turning focus toward self and making ourselves vulnerable enough to share. Family therapy provided by those trained in addictions and Structural Family Therapy can make these waters far easier to navigate.
Siblings of addicts will almost assuredly have very strong feelings about drugs and alcohol. Some will be straight edged and others will resent the idea that they cannot use or drink in moderation. Respecting these views is important – siblings never enjoy being compared to one another.
Learning to live with unknowns is a challenge for any family. We hope and pray our loved ones enter recovery. Independent of their choices, we need to be as healthy as we can be.
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Recent featured articles:

Suboxone Treatment - How to Improve Your Odds of Success
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The 12 Steps without God or Alcohol: Key Concepts to Improve Any Life
And, as always, thank you for reading!
All the best to you and yours,


Martin Schoel,
founder of Choose Help
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News-Impact-Advocacy

October 23, 2015
Quick Links






Save the Date!

Tree of Hope
December 16, 2015

40th Anniversary Gala5/5/2016
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Volunteer for The Council/PRO-ACT !!

Central Bucks:     
Email or call Steve at 215-345-6644 x3006

Southern Bucks:  
Email or call Karen at 215-788-3738 x100

Philadelphia, Chester County, Delaware County, Montgomery County:        
Email John or call 215-923-1661 
  
What is 
PRO-ACT?

Pennsylvania Recovery Organization - Achieving Community Together (PRO-ACT) is a grassroots advocacy and recovery support initiative of The Council covering Southeastern

PRO-ACT works to reduce the stigma of addiction, ensure the availability of adequate treatment and recovery support services, and to influence public opinion and policy regarding the value of recovery.
 Pennsylvania. 

For more information about PRO-ACT visit ourwebsite.

PRO-ACT
I hope you enjoy the blog entry below, from William White, released just before the UNITE rally.  I am sending it out to you because it accomplishes that most important of tasks, it places the current issues of the day within the broader historical context. It is my experience and belief that nothing can change without first seeing it clearly, no disease can be treated without an accurate diagnosis.
~Beverly Haberle
 











A DAY IS COMING: VISIONS OF A 
NEW RECOVERY ADVOCACY MOVEMENT 
by William L. White

A day is coming when we will gather at state capitals and in our nation's capital and you will see recovering people in every direction as far as the eyes can see-all offering themselves as LIVING PROOF that recovery is not just a possibility but a living reality.-October 6, 2001

In October 2001, addiction recovery advocates from around the country assembled in St. Paul, Minnesota to launch a new recovery advocacy movement.  Those of us present had no way of envisioning the remarkable events that could and would unfold in the coming years. This weekend, now fourteen years later, recovery advocates from around the country will again assemble in the Unite to Face Addiction rally in Washington, D.C.  It seemed appropriate on this historic occasion to revisit the vision that drew many of us to St. Paul in 2001. In my closing keynote at the 2001 Recovery Summit, I challenged those present to personally refine and deliver the address below in communities across the country.  Perhaps that day we envisioned in 2001 has arrived.    

St. Paul, 2001:  It is an honor to be able to share some thoughts with you about the recovery advocacy movement in America.  I have had the privilege of working with many of the grassroots organizations that are the backbone and heart of this movement.  Recovering people and their families, friends, and professional allies are once again organizing to change the way this country views addiction and the potential for recovery.  It is indeed an exciting time within communities of recovery in America.

There Was a Day
I want to begin my remarks by talking about our past.  There is much we can learn by sitting at history's feet.  Comedian Lilly Tomlin once observed that, if we listened, maybe history wouldn't have to keep repeating itself.  I have come to recognize the profound wisdom in her words.

There was a day in the late 19th century when an elaborate network of recovery support groups and addiction treatment institutions dotted the American landscape.  There were Native American recovery circles, the Washingtonians, the fraternal temperance societies, and the reform clubs.  There were recovery-oriented inebriate homes, medically-oriented inebriate asylums, for-profit addiction cure institutes, and religiously-oriented inebriate colonies.  In that time, physicians in the American Association for the Cure of Inebriety proclaimed to all the world that addiction was a disease that could be either inherited or acquired and that this disease was one from which people could fully recovery.  On that day, recovery activists, alone and in organized groups, offered themselves as living proof that recovery from addiction was possible. 

That day vanished in the opening years of the twentieth century, drowned in a wave of cultural pessimism that closed addiction treatment institutions and sent recovery groups into hiding.  The demise of America's first era of institutional treatment and recovery support groups is a stark reminder that we can take nothing that exists today for granted.

As America's 19th century institutions and support groups collapsed, a new sunless day emerged.  That day, less than a hundred years ago, witnessed addicted people locked away for years in rural penal colonies.  Americans, believing that alcoholics and addicts were a "bad seed" that threatened the future of the society and the human race, passed laws providing for their mandatory sterilization.  That was a time when people who had yet to achieve recovery filled the "cells" of "foul wards" in large city hospitals, and they were the lucky ones, as most hospitals refused their admission.  That was a day when alcoholics and addicts spent their most despairing hours in city drunk tanks.  That was a day when those not yet in recovery died in the streets and were swept up like discarded refuse.  That was a day when alcoholics and addicts languished in the snake pits of aging state psychiatric hospitals.  That was a day when alcoholics and addicts were subjected to brain surgery and shock therapies and every manner of drug insult-all thrust upon them in the name of help.  That was a day when family members died a thousand emotional deaths in their desperate, unrelenting search for help for an addicted spouse, parent, sibling, or child.  Those days of professional condescension and public contempt were not so long ago.  

The remnants of those dark days were present in the earliest years of my own entrance into the worlds of addiction treatment and recovery.  In the 1960s, I witnessed alcoholics and addicts languishing in the most cold and callous of institutions.  I have no words to convey the feel or smell of such places, places that conveyed in a thousand ways that you were not human, places that sucked the hope out of all condemned to live in them.  I have vivid recollections of local community hospitals refusing to admit alcoholics and addicts for treatment of acute trauma: such people were perceived as not morally worthy to fill beds reserved for those who were "really sick."  Working as an outreach and crisis worker, I have nightmarish recollections of the bodies of the addicted hanging from torn sheets in jail cells, and my own desperate attempts to find the words to communicate with families who had long feared a visit such as mine. 

The invasive treatments-the shock therapies, the drug insults, the prolonged sequestration-are not ancient tales.  I recently interviewed a woman who was hospitalized for acute alcohol poisoning in 1971.  She and her family were given two treatment choices: a one-year commitment in a state psychiatric hospital or brain surgery-a lobotomy-that they were told would remove her craving for alcohol.  The woman herself thought the surgery a better alternative than being locked up for a year.  But a chance encounter between her father and a man in recovery brought a woman from Alcoholics Anonymous to her bedside and the beginning of what has now been more than three decades of sanity, sobriety and service.  Her story tells us that we are little more than a generation away from these infamous days.  Her story also hints at what happened to open the doors of recovery. 

In White, W. (2006).  Let's Go Make Some History:  Chronicles of the New Addiction Recovery Advocacy Movement.  Washington, D.C. 
Representative Todd Stephens, Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman, and Danielle Curry.

Kid's Fest 2015

On Saturday, October 10th, State Representative Todd Stephens from the 151st District, held the 3rd Annual Kid's Fest celebration, at the Village Shopping Center on Blair Mill Rd in Horsham, PA.  Hundreds gathered to see the local fire and police departments, as well as vendors and organizations from around Montgomery County. 

The Council was represented by Danielle Curry, a CRS serving both Montgomery and Bucks Counties. The Council's table was directly next to the Montgomery County District Attorney, Risa Vetri Ferman, and Police Department.  Kids of all ages walked around the shopping center's parking lot, got their faces painted, collected free toys, including bike helmets from the police department and firefighter hats from the fire department. The police department brought along their K-9 unit, as well as a large Septa Bus. The officers and their 4-legged friends showed the crowd how they train the dogs, and how the dogs are taught to track bombs and drugs. The fire department showed children and their parents how they respond to an emergency, and even how they use their large cranes to rescue people from tall buildings in the event of a fire.  The event was a huge success, and hundreds of kids had a fun-filled Fall Saturday with their parents!
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Saturday, October 24, 2015

Partnership for Drug-free Kids
 
 The Partnership Responds to White House Plan to Address Rx Drug Abuse and Heroin

This week, the White House announced steps to address the country’s prescription drug abuse and heroin crisis. President Obama spoke at a community forum in West Virginia, sharing news that many of the Partnership’s media partners will donate more than $20 million in time and space to drive awareness of teen prescription drug abuse.

Learn more >
 

Uniting to Face Addiction in Washington, D.C.

We were part of the historic UNITE to Face Addiction rally and advocacy day this October in Washington, D.C., collecting signatures at our booth on the National Mall in support of the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA).

Read more from our President on how we are working to end the silence around addiction >
 

New Partnership Book Store

Looking for a good read? A portion of the proceeds from books on parenting, mindfulness and substance use will support the Partnership’s programs and services to help kids and families.

Shop your favorites today >
 

Want to go to the GRAMMY’s?

We’ve teamed up with the GRAMMY Foundation® and MusiCares® for the sixth annual Teens Make Music Contest. The contest, part of our Above the Influence campaign, asks young musicians, ages 14 – 18, to compose or create an original song and/or music video that celebrates life above the influence or brings attention to the real-life consequences of substance abuse.

Enter now >
 

The Winter Wish Gala is Fast Approaching

We are proud to announce that our annual Winter Wish Gala will be held in New York City onDecember 8th. The Gala is an important evening for our organization, as all proceeds go to ensuring we can support families in the coming years.

Learn how you can support the event >
 
 
 
Where Families
   
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Call our Parents Toll-Free Helpline
1-855-DRUGFREE (1-855-378-4373)
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http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Unite-To-Fight-Addiction---Become-a-Street-Team-or-Social-Media-Partner.html?soid=1102906894456&aid=n5-gubjdPpU

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Unite-To-Fight-Addiction---Become-a-Street-Team-or-Social-Media-Partner.html?soid=1102906894456&aid=n5-gubjdPpU

Adverse Events from Dietary Supplements Lead to 23,000 ER Visits Annually - Partnership for Drug-Free Kids

Adverse Events from Dietary Supplements Lead to 23,000 ER Visits Annually - Partnership for Drug-Free Kids

Targeting Dopamine System in Brain Could Treat Alcohol Dependence: Study - Partnership for Drug-Free Kids

Targeting Dopamine System in Brain Could Treat Alcohol Dependence: Study - Partnership for Drug-Free Kids

Substance Abuse Prevention Advocates Protest Syringe Pens Sold for Halloween - Partnership for Drug-Free Kids

Substance Abuse Prevention Advocates Protest Syringe Pens Sold for Halloween - Partnership for Drug-Free Kids

Friday, October 16, 2015

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Weekly-Newsletter---Addiction-is-a-chronic-brain-disorder-.html?soid=1102906894456&aid=vlJnmS3wOek

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Weekly-Newsletter---Addiction-is-a-chronic-brain-disorder-.html?soid=1102906894456&aid=vlJnmS3wOek
 Women for Sobriety, Inc.
How to Manage Emotions
Without the aid of Alcohol.

҉    

“Every day we have plenty of opportunities to get angry, stressed or offended.  But what you’re doing when you indulge in these negative emotions is giving something outside of yourself power over your happiness.  You can choose to not let little things upset you.”  -Joel Osteen

“Take advantage of every opportunity to practice your communication skills so that when important occasions arise, you will have the gift, the style, the sharpness, the clarity, and the emotions to affect other people.”  -Jim Rohn

“Imagine the peace symbol.  The peace symbol has three pieces in it.  One piece is emotion, that’s your body.  Another piece has spirit in it, that’s your fuel.  Another piece has intellect in it and that’s your steering wheel.  You can never overdo the fuel that goes into the body, which is the emotions and the steering wheel to drive it.”  -Gary Busey

***************************************************************************
Statement #8, “The fundamental object of life is emotional and spiritual growth.”
Daily I put my life into a proper order, knowing which are the priorities.
***************************************************************************
+++++++++++++++++++
Karen’s Perspective +
+++++++++++++++++++
     Underneath the excitement and achievement of experiencing life sober is the reality of learning how to manage emotions without the aid of alcohol.  This is not an overnight process; it is a gradual process that takes time, sometimes longer than what may feel appropriate.  Growth is what makes life evolve and flourish.
     Statement #8 means different things to me at different times.  In early sobriety, I was focused on the connection to the Universe/God/Nature.  I felt as if I was becoming more spiritual while releasing some old thought patterns.  I began to discover aspects of life that had been concealed and disguised under the influence of alcohol.
     Later on, Statement #8 took on a more intimate role in my life.  I began to understand how and why I reacted to events or situations.  Frequently I was reacting with a given response that I had learned years earlier.  I was simply repeating a pattern.  In order to effectively engage Statement #8, I began to alter my responses.  I was growing, learning and becoming.
     Today I respond to triggers with an open attitude.  I am able to look at myself honestly and consciously say that I need to change something or grow into an even better me.  On occasion I can feel stuck, but it is here where I need to continue moving, emotionally and/or spiritually.  Any way I look at it, I grow inside and out.
     In the past, alcohol ruled my responses and made everything more complicated.  Today I find simplicity with action behind Statement #8.  In heart, mind and soul, I am awakening to a wonderful life!  Hugzzz, Karen

+++++++++++++++
+  Dee’s Insights  +
+++++++++++++++
     Hi 4C Women, I was thinking that my feeling of inadequacy at one time ruled my responses. And when I dug a little deeper, it was my fear of having that inadequacy validated by others that fueled my responses.  If I could be a people pleaser, go along with the status quo, and then I could hide behind my fear of being found out who I really was - a stupid person.  It’s almost unimaginable that I had that opinion of myself for so long.  I finally decided to face my fear of inadequacy and said yes to things that I felt were beyond my capability.  I am not talking about people pleasing, taking my self-worth from the opinion of others, but taking risks to prove to myself that I could accomplish a lot more than I ever dreamed possible.  There were mistakes along the way; yet, slowly I began to experience success and personal growth was taking place.  I learned to respect myself and with that came a new definition, my own definition, of my self-worth.  Drinking only hid my fears.  Drinking never helped me face my fears.  I was no longer paralyzed by my fear of inadequacy or a false definition of me.
     It’s been many years for me of working on emotional and spiritual growth and sometimes I wonder if there is ever an end to facing challenges and problem solving.  The answer is no and that’s because we continue to change and life continues to provide ample opportunities for personal growth.  What’s different for me is that I no longer fear that I will fall apart or can’t handle it.  I have learned and use the wonderful coping tools from WFS and when I feel I need help, I now ask for it.  Before I would have had those inadequate feelings if I couldn’t handle my difficult challenges on my own.
     Today, I am confident enough to ask for help.  Now that’s what I would say is a healthy choice. –Dee
  • Do you know what you fear?
  • Do you ask for help?
  • Do you recognize when you need help?
  • How is your spiritual and emotional growth changing?
_________________________
Thank you, Karen and Dee, for your words of encouragement and inspiration to start off our week! ~Becky Fenner, WFS Director
Email:  contact@womenforsobriety.org   *   Tel215-536-8026   *   Fax:  215-538-9026
http://www.womenforsobriety.org   *   http://www.wfscatalog.org

Thursday, October 15, 2015

Heroin Use by Parents Leads to Growing Number of Children in Foster Care - Partnership for Drug-Free Kids

Heroin Use by Parents Leads to Growing Number of Children in Foster Care - Partnership for Drug-Free Kids

More Than Half of Americans Say Opioid Painkiller Abuse is Serious Health Issue - Partnership for Drug-Free Kids

More Than Half of Americans Say Opioid Painkiller Abuse is Serious Health Issue - Partnership for Drug-Free Kids
Partnership for Drug-free Kids
 
 Thanks to your support, the UNITE to Face Addiction rally in Washington, D.C. on October 4th was a huge success! By signing our petition to pass the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA), your voice was heard on Capitol Hill.

More than 700 people walked the halls of Congress last Monday, October 5th, advocating for CARA and joining us to deliver your petition signatures to members of Congress. It was the largest advocacy day EVER for our field!

But our job is not done. We still need your support to help us reach our goal of 10,000 signatures! Our next step in advancing this piece of legislation will be sending your signatures to the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee to schedule a hearing on this bill.

We need your help!! Please send the petition link to 5 of your friends to sign.

Too many families and their loved ones face limited to no insurance coverage for treatment, minimal support from employers, and long waitlists for the few treatment facilities that exist. The time is now to properly treat and define addiction as a public health crisis by passing CARA.



Or share your support on social media with these sample posts:

Help Pass the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act- Sign the Petition Today! http://ow.ly/TeqsH #howmanyfamilies

#Howmanyfamilies will see their child wait to get the #treatment they need? Sign the #CARA petition now! http://ow.ly/TeqsH #parenting
 
 
 
Where Families
   
We're here to help.
Call our Parents Toll-Free Helpline
1-855-DRUGFREE (1-855-378-4373)
Donate NowTwitter  Twitter  Youtube  Instagram
 
 
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Daniel Francis Montalbano 10/91 - 3/15 - Honoring Your First Birthday In Heaven on October 24th....your life will not be in vain...forever in my heart ..Mom..
Press Release Announcing the “Lights of Hope” event on October 24, 2015
“The Addict’s Mom” is very pleased to announce our up-coming “Lights of Hope” event, to be held on October 24, at the 8th National Counseling Advances Conference, sponsored by U.S. Journal Training, Inc. and Counselor Magazine. Stephen Cooke, Direct...or of Editorial Communications & Marketing
for Health Communications, Inc., and his co-workers, have graciously given TAM the space and the time to hold our event.
The conference is being held at the Westin Fort Lauderdale Beach Resort
321 N. Fort Lauderdale Beach Blvd. (A1A)
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33304
(954) 467-1111(954) 467-1111 or (800) 937-8461(800) 937-8461 FREE
Conference Dates are Thursday, Oct. 22 through Saturday, October 24.
The “Lights of Hope” ceremony will be by conducted by “The Addict’s Mom” founder, Barbara Theodosiou, on Saturday, Oct. 24, at 8:30 a.m. at the Westin. October 24 is a very bittersweet date for Barbara; it is the birthday of her beloved boy Daniel, but tragically, he lost his battle with addiction in April of this year.
In 2015, “The Addict’s Mom” hosted over 62 “Lights of Hope” ceremonies. The ceremony is an annual tradition of lighting candles to commemorate our loved ones and their families who are trapped in the devastation of addiction. Barbara will light a white candle for those in recovery, a red candle for those in active addiction, and a black candle for those who have died.
Members of the “Addict’s Mom” are invited to attend conference sessions of interest to them, that will be held on Thursday and Friday the 22nd and 23rd, and conference sessions following the TAM ceremony on the 24th.
Follow the link www.usjt.org for more information and to download a registration form. TAM members receive a discounted fee. Contact the conference organizers for details.
We hope to see you in sunny South Florida!

Wednesday, October 14, 2015

October 15 CHP 119 v 50 TWELVE STEPPING WITH STRENGTH FROM THE PSALMS


THE INSTRUCTIONS 

This is my comfort in my affliction (addiction) , For your word has given me life. (GODS BIG BOOK)

THE KEY 

STEP 12 Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to others and to practice these principles in all our affairs.


THE PROMISE

2 Timothy 4:18 - The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
(GODS BIG BOOK) By Joseph Dickerson

Anti-Stigma Rally In D.C. Shares Stories Of Loss And Redemption | The Fix

Anti-Stigma Rally In D.C. Shares Stories Of Loss And Redemption | The Fix

Monday, October 12, 2015

Listen to advice and accept discipline, and at the end you will be counted among the wise. Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails. - Proverbs 19:20 - 21 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Proverbs19:20-21&version=NIV