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Journeys To Recovery

Hi, my name is Yakov and I’m a recovered addict.                                                                 ...

Hi, my name is Yakov and I’m a recovered addict.                                                                                                                                                                                             

Today I am clean and sober, have a great life with my family and a vibrant career in health care, but life wasn’t always that way. There were times of deep pain and suffering.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

When I first walked into outpatient rehab, I was swallowed in darkness and shaking with fear. I can still remember the intense feelings of depression and hopelessness. I wasn’t even craving a drink or drug. I was craving help, and although my mind was clouded with plumes from the smoke of despair, I recall a sparkle of serenity from my surrender.

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                              

Yet my story started earlier than that. I was raised in the Five Towns with a loving mother and father. I was raised Modern Orthodox and attended local yeshivas. My parents gave me everything they didn’t have. I can still remember the guilt I had when I wanted something but knew my parents couldn’t afford it. Strangely, this anxiety didn’t stop me from asking, but it left me with a constant ache from a lack of acceptance.

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

 

To read more go to: http://www.5tjt.com/journeys-to-recovery/

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Journeys To Recovery (The Final Installment)

The following is the final installment of the four-part “Journeys in Recovery” series to honor the memory of and in the z’chus of the neshamah of HaRav Avraham Yehoshua Heshel ben HaRav Yaakov Yisroel, zt’l—Rabbi Dr. Abraham J. Twerski. This story is...

The following is the final installment of the four-part “Journeys in Recovery” series to honor the memory of and in the z’chus of the neshamah of HaRav Avraham Yehoshua Heshel ben HaRav Yaakov Yisroel, zt’l—Rabbi Dr. Abraham J. Twerski. This story is presented anonymously. It is published in the hope that it serves to expand awareness around the issues of addiction in our community, as well as the hope of recovery. The stories in this series were collected and edited by Menachem Poznanski, LCSW, director of The Living Room, a division of Our Place in NY, Inc. Participants filled out surveys about their lives, and their responses were adapted to create this narrative. Keep in mind that to protect anonymity, ancillary facts were changed, but all the details of stories are true events in the lives of our community members. Menachem wrote the section titled “Lessons from Recovery” to help illuminate what we all might learn from these spiritual messages.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

Hi, my name is Zev and I am an addict. Today I am clean and sober for three years. Over that time I have addressed issues related to substance abuse, drinking, and gambling, but I have also experienced a complete transformation of my life. I am simply not the person I was back then. Misery has transformed to happiness, purposelessness to the meaning of serving others, and hopelessness to a faithful joy for life. The end of my road in active addiction was really scary and sad. When I showed up to my first recovery meeting I was skeptical that I could find help there, but, at the same time, desperate for help. As skeptical as I was, I was equally wishing that this might be it. While sitting in that first meeting, I felt a tremendous identification with those random strangers around me. I felt like the people there understood what I was feeling. They understood in a way my therapist did not. It was clear that they had been where I was and had found a way out.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

 

To read more go to: http://www.5tjt.com/journeys-in-recovery/

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Hanukkah and the Miracle of Addiction Recovery

As the Jewish people commemorate the miraculous victory of the poorly armed Maccabee army, we as therapists are acutely aware of a different uphill battle being fought daily – recovery from addiction – and the modern-day miracles being uncovered throughout the process. ...

As the Jewish people commemorate the miraculous victory of the poorly armed Maccabee army, we as therapists are acutely aware of a different uphill battle being fought daily – recovery from addiction – and the modern-day miracles being uncovered throughout the process.                                                                                                                                                                                                     

Here are three lessons we have gleaned from work with those in recovery from addiction that have helped inspire a deeper Hanukkah experience:

 

                 

           

1. We are not alone in our battles

Those in recovery, like the Maccabees, often feel they are up against a fearsome battle: “The progression of recovery is a continuous uphill journey” (Narcotics Anonymous).

                                                                                                                                                   

                                                                                                     

As the staggeringly high relapse rate attests to, the odds are stacked against these soldiers who are up against an “army” that is large, fierce, and heavily armed. Unprocessed traumas and/or mental health challenges, difficult life circumstances, deep sense of loneliness and utter hopelessness, the brutal physical cycle of addiction and craving, and the list goes on.

 

                                                                                                                                                              

According to natural law, the small band of Maccabees should not have defeated the enemy army. Yet their fierce will and dedication, coupled with Divine assistance, carried them into victory against enormous opposition. As expressed in the central Hanukkah prayer of Al Hanisim: “[God], in Your abounding mercies, stood by them in the time of their distress. You waged their battles, defended their rights, and avenged the wrong done to them. You delivered the mighty into the hands of the weak, the many into the hands of the few.”                                                                                                                                                                          

   To read more go to: https://www.aish.com/sp/pg/Hanukkah-and-the-Miracle-of-Addiction-Recovery.html?s=authorart

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New Book Explains 12-Step Program For Jewish Community

A new book offering insight into the famed 12-step program is the first volume to focus on providing an in-depth Jewish perspective on this method of recovery, which, since 1939, has become a lifeline to those suffering from all kinds of addiction. ...

A new book offering insight into the famed 12-step program is the first volume to focus on providing an in-depth Jewish perspective on this method of recovery, which, since 1939, has become a lifeline to those suffering from all kinds of addiction.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

The idea for the book first came after the authors attended a community meeting addressing the suitability of referring Jewish people who struggled with addiction to 12-step programs. Despite its record of success, many in attendance expressed concern about the spiritual content of the 12-step method, fearing it posed a religious risk to Jews.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

 

 

“There were therapists, rabbis, and community leaders at that meeting, and it was clear that a lot of their opinions and concerns were primarily based on misconceptions,” recalled Menachem Poznanski, a licensed clinical social worker and clinical director of The Living Room. “I stood up and asked how many people in the room had actually read The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, the original text that presented the 12 steps. Not one of the people who opposed the idea of sending Jewish young people to 12-step meetings had ever read the book. This made it clear we had a duty to provide comprehensive education.”

                                                                                                                                                               

To read more go to: http://www.5tjt.com/new-book-explains-12-step-program-for-jewish-community/