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I am a client in Phase III. It has given me hope and the
opportunity for independent living. It has given me the time
that I needed to save money so that I can put a down payment
on a car and the first month’s rent on an apartment.
Most important, it is a safe place to stay until I am ready
and able to go out into the real world. I thank Harbor House’s
staff for giving me this opportunity and I thank my Higher
Power whom I choose to call God. It is a blessing, not only
to be here, but to have the chance to write this letter and
share with others what being here has done for me. Learning
that in doing the right things, the blessings come. It’s
only by God’s grace that this is happening.
Sharing with other guys that are just coming into Phase
II helps me to remember where I was when I first came. Working
with my sponsor and participating in group helps me grow
spiritually and to see my actions for what they really are.
Being honest and responsible for myself and others makes
me grateful for my life today.
In closing, I’ll just say that in the past nine months
the experience I have had at Harbor House is the best thing
that could have happened to me. I will say to others: give
yourself every opportunity that is made available to you – you
can’t go wrong in my opinion.
Don C.
I am 38 years old and it is a blessing to be in extended
treatment sober. I have been using alcohol and drugs since
I was 19 years old. Little did I know that it would turn
on me later on in life. Crack cocaine is my drug of choice,
along with alcohol. The disease of addiction progressed
so fast in my life that I found myself doing anything and
everything to support my habit. Even if it meant hurting
the people closest to me. It didn’t matter that I
had to steal and lie to people to get what I wanted, that’s
what I did to get high. I asked God to help me and He led
me to Harbor House. That was on April 26, 2002.
I spent the next six weeks in primary treatment and then
transferred into the sixty-day secondary program. Phase III,
the new extended treatment program, was just opening up and
I was able to enroll as one of the first clients for the
one-year plan. I am closer to my Higher Power today than
I have ever been. I’ve set goals for myself and have
already begun to meet some of them. I now have a job and
am saving money for the day that I complete treatment. Also,
I have been able to recognize and take responsibility for
some of my obligations to my family and others that I’ve
hurt over the years.
Thanks to God and the Harbor House, my counselors and my
peers (that I’ve grown to call my brothers), I am sober
today. I have a choice today and it’s good to be clean
and sober. I thank God for leading me to Harbor House.
Don C.
The Women’s Transitional Program at Harbor House has
given me a new life! Secondary treatment has helped me develop
a basic foundation for living in a supportive, spiritual
environment. I am learning to value financial independence
and my return to the work force.
As part of this phase of treatment, I have begun to establish
personal goals and work on the skills required to reach them.
Reuniting with my family means practicing cooperation, problem
solving, and conflict resolution. Managing my home means
developing organizational, budgeting and parenting skills.
Here, in the transitional program, we also learn to share
responsibilities and to make good use of our time.
My most important goal, however, is preventing another relapse.
Much of what we do in secondary treatment is directed toward
that goal. In addition to individual and group therapy, we
attend in-house and outside AA meetings as well as weekly
Aftercare sessions. We learn to look at ourselves honestly
and take responsibility for our actions. Self discipline,
boundaries, awareness, and acceptance become part of our
daily life.
Spiritual growth is the ultimate goal for all of us. We “made
a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care
of God ...” and we now seek to develop a concrete spiritual
foundation. By learning to recognize and share our feelings,
to love ourselves and others as children of God, we are able
to find hope, comfort, and courage as we let go of drugs,
alcohol and all the insanity of our addiction.
Carlina C.
The time comes in every person’s life when he or she
sees things in a moment of clarity; not as you want them
to be but as they really are at that moment in time. Since
I grew up drinking-starting before school age-and in a drinking
family, one might say my perceptions were tainted from the
outset. When I entered treatment, my feelings were so masked
and my perceptions so skewed by a lifetime of alcohol that
I found it literally impossible to imagine a life without
drinking. I certainly couldn’t imagine trusting anyone
enough to open up and share information about what was inside
me. Quite frankly, I doubt I wanted to see it myself.
Only through my patient counselors, their repetitive reinforcement,
and the introduction of the “Twelve Steps” did
the concrete shell that was my protection begin to fall away.
It took hours of encouragement for me to trust another person
enough to reach out for support. It took longer for me to
open up just a little to share some of the deep, dark, inner
self.
Today, as I do my Fifth Step, it’s a big step in faith
for me; trusting the program one more time. I believe I’ve
come a long way from the scared little girl who drank to
cover the “hole in her soul.” I share a common
bond and faith with my “recovery family” now.
The old masks are becoming easier to remove since Alcoholics
Anonymous takes me at face value expecting nothing more than
a look at the sober me, the real me.
Pam D-S.
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