Tuesday
September 7, 2014

Life on Life's Terms

Hurdles

The kitchen at our Wexford site had windows on two sides that took up half the walls.  The sun shone brightly through them, lighting up the table, chairs, coffee pots, and a refrigerator.  A couple of clients sat in chairs, facing the windows, absorbing the rays.  I felt drawn to the warmth and light.  Julie did not.

She hesitated a second before entering the kitchen. As she walked toward the coffee pots, she turned to look over her shoulder at the refrigerator.  I couldn't imagine what caught her eye.

"There, you see it?" she asked.  "The shadows are sharp on one side, but their edges are jagged on the other."

"It's an optical illusion," Tate, a young man who believed he couldn't be an alcoholic because he only drank top-shelf booze, said.

"No, the shadows have changed," Julie said.

I felt my stomach tighten.  'Probably nothing,' I said to myself.  A decade spent helping people overcome schizophrenia and other thought disorders told me otherwise.  "Will you stay in touch now that you're done with treatment?" I asked Julie.

"I'll come back on Tuesday's for the Alumni group.  If you want to reach me, call me at Darren's.  I signed a release for you guys to contact him."

"I will do that," I said, knowing I absolutely would.  And she was doing so well, I thought, but here comes another hurdle.

Today I will help someone over their next hurdle.

Life on Life's Terms (c) 2014 by Ken Montrose

Upcoming  Trainings

Suicide, Violence, Mental Illness, & Addiction
October 8, 2014 at Kerr Presbyterian Church in Verona
9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m
$50 payable in advance, at the door, or by invoice after the training

This five hour training is accredited for:

• Addiction Counselors by the Pa. Certification Board
• Nurses by the PSNA #101-1-O-14
• Counselors by NAADAC #477 and NBCC #6352
• EAPs by the Employee Assistance Certification Commission
• Social Workers by the University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work.

To register, please visit our website greenbriartraining.com or send an email to: kmontrose@greenbriar.net

Other Blogs

AArdvarks, a daily messages blog about a group of young people in recovery, can be found at: https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/7131675-rebuilding

RPG

Hopeless

The next day a man in his thirties wearing jeans and a button-down, long-sleeve shirt knocked on my door.

"I'm Tony.  I'm court-ordered to treatment.  Let me sit in the back of room.  You won't even know I'm there."

"Tony, I don't want you to just hang out here," I said. "I want you to get clean and sober."

"Appreciate your enthusiasm, but I'm hopeless.  I never met an addiction I didn't love.  Cocaine, gambling, sex, food, -- I love them all.  If I can't get something in real life, I'll get it online.  Been to all the big rehabs.  None of it took."

"Tony, there's no such thing as a hopeless addict."   

"We'll see," he said with a sad smile and a shrug.   It dawned on me that he'd set himself up for defeat via victory. By losing the war he'd win the battle.  By relapsing over and over, he'd prove his point, that he was hopeless.  To really win, he'd have to reject hopelessness.

Today I will reject hopelessness.

RPG: Relapse Prevention Group © 2014 by Ken Montrose