Oct 3, 2017 / By BRC Recovery / In Alcoholism, Blog, Family, God, womens program

Delight

Recently, BRC was asked by our good friend Ken Seeley of Intervention 911, and the producers of The Doctors TV Show to accept a patient struggling with heroin addiction for treatment. I flew to LA to meet with Ken, the family of the patient, and for the taping of the episode. What an exhilarating, whirlwind experience! Returning home, pretty tired, I stood impatiently at the airport baggage carousel waiting for my luggage to appear. All the while, texting my husband and slightly irritated about the delay – I was tired and past ready to be home! At the end of […]

Jul 25, 2017 / By BRC Recovery / In Alcoholism, Alumni Personal Stories, Blog, womens program

Fear and Acceptance

fear-and-acceptance

Fear of accepting Many fears kept me on the fence with sobriety for a long time. Fear of accepting I had a problem, fear of the label of alcoholic and the fear of a new way of life I heard about in recovery. When I drank, I felt free of my overwhelming emotions and problems. Drinking was my solution to dealing with fear and how could I handle life without it? What would life look like without alcohol? How would I manage to handle things? I was afraid. Today I know exactly what life looks like without alcohol. The fear […]

Jun 20, 2017 / By BRC Recovery / In Alcoholism, Blog, Family, God

What Good Are Those Slogans, Anyway? (Part 4)

what-good-are-those-slogans-anyway

If you’ve spent any time around Al-Anon, Alcoholics Anonymous, or other recovery-oriented groups, you’ve heard at least a few slogans and acronyms. Most of them seem to fall into one of three categories, and they include our relationship with: Our addicted loved one. Ourselves. Our Higher Power. This month, we’ll look at a few of my favorites that can help us stop living in fear and resentment and change our lives for the better.  FEAR: Forgetting Everything is All Right. The first time I heard this spoken was by Al-Anon speaker, Ellen Cassidy, she said she talked to her sponsor […]

Feb 14, 2017 / By BRC Recovery / In Alcohol rehab, Alcoholism, Blog

What Good Are Those Slogans, Anyway? Part 1

If you’ve spent any time around Al-Anon, Alcoholics Anonymous, or other recovery-oriented groups, you’ve heard at least a few slogans and acronyms. Most of them seem to fall into one of three categories, and they include our relationship with: Our addicted loved one. Ourselves. Our Higher Power. This month, we’ll look at a few of my favorites that deal with our relationship with our addicted loved one. You didn’t cause it, you can’t control it, and you can’t cure it. This was the first slogan I heard at the first Al-Anon meeting I attended. Hearing that began to chip away […]

Jan 10, 2017 / By BRC Recovery / In Alcoholism, Blog, Family

It’s Kindergarten Every Day

A couple of years ago A couple of years ago I was approached about joining a Steel on Steel group, and exchanging Evening Reviews with two women in my recovery group. I knew these women casually, and liked them, but we weren’t super close. I was a tad hesitant; however, something in me felt drawn to them and intuitively I trusted them immediately so I agreed. My oh my, would that decision have impact on my life! And, so we began. We would meet every other Sunday night at a local church and go through the process of self-examination through […]

Nov 22, 2016 / By BRC Recovery / In Addiction, Alcoholism, Blog, drug addiction, Drugs, Family, Guest Posts

Finding Hope and Help in the Midst of Addiction: Healing Your Family

Deathiversary of my son’s death Yesterday was the fifth anniversary (deathiversary?) of my son’s death of a drug overdose. Brandon was one of those people who are larger than life. He was the life of the party. He had a loud voice, a lot of friends, an infectious smile, and he enveloped people with his bear hugs. He befriended the underdog and defended the helpless. He was intense; he loved and hated with his whole heart. He was the glue that held our family relationships together. He constantly reached out to each person in our family to spend time with […]

Aug 16, 2016 / By BRC Recovery / In 12 Steps 2, Addiction, Alcoholism, Blog

Fixing Myself, Part 2: The Paradox of Focusing on Myself

You’ve discovered your loved one or friend is an alcoholic or addict—now what? For many people in that situation, their first reaction is, “What can I do to fix my alcoholic/addict?” It took a while for me to figure out that I couldn’t “fix” my son. Instead, I needed to focus on fixing myself, because my son wasn’t the only one who had issues; our whole family system was broken. As I began going to therapy sessions and reading books about broken families, l discovered many resources are available to people who are on the journey toward recovery. Because people […]

Aug 2, 2016 / By BRC Recovery / In Addiction, Alcoholism, Alumni Personal Stories, Alumni Stories, Blog, drug addiction, drug rehab Austin, Drugs, God, long-term sobriety Austin, mens program

Create the Fellowship You Crave

My struggle with alcoholism and drug addiction My struggle with alcoholism and drug addiction began at the age of twelve years old. I have experienced darkness that neither I nor my family were prepared to encounter.  From multiple hospital and psychiatric unit stays, to jails and twenty-five residential treatment centers it continued for what felt like an eternity.  I was the garden variety drunk who chronically relapsed.  Nothing could keep me sober and I tried everything that I thought possibly would, except the 12 Steps of course.  I reconciled that I would likely spend the rest of my life in […]