Join the Voices for Recovery
“True love is a love of giving, not receiving”
Each year, the month of September is designated as National Recovery Month and this year the theme is “Join the Voices for Recovery: Strengthen Families and Communities.” The 2017 theme highlights the value of family and community support throughout recovery and invites individuals in recovery and their family members to share their personal stories and successes to encourage others, as well as educate the public about treatment, how it works, for whom, and why. Because these successes often go unnoticed by the general public, these personal stories become the Voices for Recovery.
Those of us in recovery all know that recovery doesn’t happen alone in a vacuum. Our disease wants us to shut others out and suffer in silence, only taking from and using others when it serves our selfish purposes. But we learn rather quickly to welcome, appreciate and value family members and others in our community that were initially and still are supportive of our recovery. Without our families, churches, judges, therapists, first responders, nurses, doctors and all those who gave us a chance and still lend us a hand, we would still be selfishly silent and not a voice of recovery.
Ultimately, we can only keep what we have by giving it away. If we keep selfishly this precious gift of recovery to ourselves, we are certain to lose it. Recovery is not meant to be inconsiderately kept in a vault, never to be shared; instead, we need to share it freely with others and allow others to share theirs with us. Ultimately, we need each other – all those who have gone before us and showed us the way, and those who are still struggling and want what we have. We even need those who don’t share our disease of addiction, but love us and want to help make our lives worth living.
As part of National Recovery Month, the City of Pittsburgh will be holding its second annual Pittsburgh Recovery Walk on September 16. The Pittsburgh Recovery Walk celebrates the many roads to recovery from addiction and all those who have traveled them. It aims to dispel negative stigma and recognize recovery as a positive force in our community.
Likewise, the Gateway Rehab Recovery Community allows all those who have been affected by addiction in one form or another to associate with others to gain support and encouragement, celebrate recovery, and give something back. This Gateway Recovery Community is open to those in recovery, family members and loved ones, friends, treatment professionals, and anyone else who is concerned with or has been affected by addiction.
During the Pittsburgh Recovery Walk on September 16, we will have a Gateway Rehab Recovery Community team and would love for you to join us. Registration is free and not only will you receive a Pittsburgh Recovery Walk t-shirt, but you will also get a Gateway Rehab giveaway for joining our team.
The Pittsburgh Recovery Walk will be a day to set aside the pain associated with addiction and simply celebrate recovery in all of its forms. Please consider joining us and walking with the Gateway Rehab Recovery Community. All of us, then, can become Voices for Recovery, bringing addiction out of the shadows, celebrating life and strengthening our community.
