Tuesday, July 8, 2008
The Year After Getting Out Of Treatment
When I walked out of the treatment centre with my wife, the last night of my month long stay, I was cold sober, nervous, shaking and scared of what lay ahead. For the first time in 20 years I was facing and coping with life without the crutch of alcohol. As I looked back at the place where I had spent my stay, I longed to run back, it was so comfortable, warm, loving, and not critical of me.
Ahead was my job at the bank, and reality, could I make it? I would soon find out. Once over the initial shock, my life became more stable than it had ever been before. I awoke each morning, clear eyed, eager to face the world. There would be a dark side however.
I became edgy, nervous, and strung up. I had been warned that the first year sober would be most traumatic, and how right they were! My emotions went up and down like a roller coaster.It helped to have a sleep when I got home from work each day, but after a while I got so antsy that I had to get into the car and drive aimlessly, sometimes a hundred miles after dinner.
It seemed to help, but it took a better part of a year to get over this obsession. My wife and I spent Wednesday evenings for several months of the following year to attend meetings at the treatment centre, where we congregated with our fellow patients who had made it, saw films, heard lectures, and raised my problems in the outside world. Wonderfully some of my fellow patients were still sober, but a few had gone back to drinking and we didn't hear from them again. Roughly, those patients that had left, fell into three categories: One third quit drinking absolutely, one third returned to drinking on a much reduced basis (notably this third would eventually return to their old pattern, probably drinking much heavier. The rest returned to drinking as if there had been no treatment.
Unfortunately the drinkers that returned to heavy drinking would either have to start the treatment over again, or were faced with a gloomy future, including the ultimate finale, Death.
I felt sorry for them, however it was their choice. They were provided with the best health care in the world for the treatment of alcoholism, and spurned all efforts to help them.In the old days, to overcome the stress of job and life I would turn to alcohol. It was a great tranquilizer, but like most drugs, the effect wears off over time and one must ingest more and more alcohol to derive the same effects.
There comes a time when there is not enough alcohol in the world to help, other than providing oblivion for small periods of time. Remember, dear reader, a whole year passed before my life went back to normal. Many nights I would dream of drinking. Not so bad the dreaming of alcohol, but I would wake up in the morning with a hangover, and a sickening feeling in my gut that I had given in. Realizing I hadn't, I was vastly relieved. It was only a dream! How real can dreams be?
At this point I would like to bring up the matter of Antabuse. Now Antabuse is a drug prescribed by a Doctor to help cope with the need for a drink. NEVER TAKE ANY DRUG WITHOUT A DOCTORS ADVICE. This drug really worked for me. It literally saved my life. The regimen I followed was to take one pill each morning. If the drinker on antabuse takes a drink there is an immediate and drastic reaction - the face goes red, the heart pounds like a jackhammer, you feel weak and very ill. It is such an uncomfortable reaction that the alcoholic will either continue abstinence or go off the pills entirely. This makes for a critical judgement by he or she.
I used the pill as a barometer of my daily mood, and how badly I wanted a drink I knew that if I took a drink, I would be faced with a terrible reaction. This fear would give me time to think, and always, after a few hours my compulsion to drink had left me and I was ready to face another day. I took the pill for five years, and only then did I feel it was safe to do so.The pills are still in my medicine chest, and I wouldn't hesitate to take one if I felt I needed it but I haven't felt this need for the past 39 years. Of course, every alcoholic is different, some will have a better time, some will be worse. IT IS UP TO YOU.
YESTERDAY, TODAY, AND TOMORROW
There are two days in every week about which we should not worry, two days which should be kept from fear and apprehension.
One of these days is yesterday, with its mistakes and cares, its faults and blunders, its aches and pains. Yesterday has passed forever beyond our control. All the money in the world can not bring back yesterday. We cannot undo a single act we performed. We cannot erase a single word we said. Yesterday is gone beyond recall.
The other day we should not worry about is tomorrow, with its possible adversities, its burdens, its large promise and perhaps its poor performance.
Tomorrow is also beyond our immediate control. Tomorrow's sun will rise, either in splendor or behind a mask of cloud, but it will rise. Until it does, we have no stake in tomorrow, for it is as yet unborn.
This leaves only one day - today. Any man can fight the battles of just one day. It is only when you and I add theburden of those two awful eternities, yesterday and tomorrow, that we break down. It is not the experience of today that drives men mad. It is the remorse or bitterness for something which happened yesterday or the dread of what tomorrow may bring. Let us therefore do our best to live but one day at a time.
Alcoholics Anonymous
Don says: This is a beautiful statement. Look carefully to it, it shows the way.
There are two days in every week about which we should not worry, two days which should be kept from fear and apprehension.
One of these days is yesterday, with its mistakes and cares, its faults and blunders, its aches and pains. Yesterday has passed forever beyond our control. All the money in the world can not bring back yesterday. We cannot undo a single act we performed. We cannot erase a single word we said. Yesterday is gone beyond recall.
The other day we should not worry about is tomorrow, with its possible adversities, its burdens, its large promise and perhaps its poor performance.
Tomorrow is also beyond our immediate control. Tomorrow's sun will rise, either in splendor or behind a mask of cloud, but it will rise. Until it does, we have no stake in tomorrow, for it is as yet unborn.
This leaves only one day - today. Any man can fight the battles of just one day. It is only when you and I add theburden of those two awful eternities, yesterday and tomorrow, that we break down. It is not the experience of today that drives men mad. It is the remorse or bitterness for something which happened yesterday or the dread of what tomorrow may bring. Let us therefore do our best to live but one day at a time.
Alcoholics Anonymous
Don says: This is a beautiful statement. Look carefully to it, it shows the way.
GOD AND THE TIME AFTER THE FIRST DAY
Before I go into the completion of my first week at the Treatment Centre where I would spend the next 4 weeks , I want to talk about God - My own personal God who I have believed in since I was a little boy.
Now don't get me wrong, I am not here to talk anyone into believing in my God, he is personal to me and mine alone! I have talked to Him for over 75 years. I have asked Him for forgiveness, for financial success, for the health of my family and friends, and especially to help me to shake off booze. He is always by my side, and I believe He was responsible for any success I may have had.
In Alcoholics Anonymous we learned the following what is called a prayer - "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference".
This prayer is valuable in all circumstances, not only in coping with alcohol addiction, but with life's problems in all their diversity. It calmed me down in what I called alcohol emergencies, ie "I need a drink badly", or when the pressures of life close in on me, at work, at home with the family, or any other uncomfortable problem. I sincerely recommend everyone adopt this prayer, it can be very helpful.So much for religion.
Another factor really helped me with my healing. It was Antabuse. It is a pill that a recovering alcohol can take daily. When on this drug, should I have taken a drink, I would have had an alergic reaction which would be increased heart rate and an overall uncomfortable feeling. Now I don't recommend that anyone rush out and get this drug, until it has been cleared by your Doctor. The feelings are very uncomfortable only if you drink!I took antibuse for over 10 years, and I feel it helped me greatly. The reason that it works so well is, that to be able to get back to drinking, the alcoholic must wait a few days for the drug to clear the system. By that time the alcoholic's mood will have changed and no drinking will happen. I felt it was a wonderful tool for me, but I stress, YOU MUST consult a Doctor before using any such drug.
Getting back to the rest of the first week at the Treatment Centre, we spent the days watching lectures on the t.v., listening to learned members of the Medical scene emoting on various aspects of Alcoholism. We were not allowed to wander off the property for the first week, which was the defining factor for many of us. If we stayed, it was the first step in the gradual process of sobering up. An interesting footnote to this period was the reaction of one the patients to the withdrawal of the alcohol. Alcohol, I have personally found, alters the brain and the eyesight. This was brought home to me by a fellow inmate, a roofer by occupation, came into the Treatment Centre with a new set of eyeglasses that he had purchased just prior to coming. After a few days, his eyesight had so altered that he had to get a new set! That scared the hell out of me because it brought home the extreme effect the alcohol had on our bodies, starting with the brain and the eyesight.My motivation for going into Treatment Centre to beat booze was so strong, and it had taken me so long to get there that I was damned if I was going back to my old days!
I had been seriously drinking for 20 years and was at this point 40 years of age, and I was scared! Was I going to throw everything away, my family, my job, my whole way of life? Well, I got mad! I hated anyone or anything controlling my life. I had been a slave to booze and it had to change.
I knew this every time I woke in the morning with furry mouth, headache, blurred vision, and a self-loathing so complete that it was easier to go back to the bottle than to face life. Booze is a crutch to the alcoholic, it suppresses the hurt that life sometimes comes to us, but only for a little while. It provides a shield against reality. It is so powerful that that when an alcoholic wakens to another morning of the blues and hangover, he needs only to go to the bottle to get that instant relief, even at six in the morning! I recall the time when I lived in Sudbury at the age of 21 I lived in an old hotel owned by a rather tough gentleman, who told me that if I wanted to stay there, I was to keep my mouth shut and ignore anything going on. I soon found out what he meant when I heard the fights going on in the corridors, and the screaming of his wife as he pulled her by the hair down the same hall. There was no way I was going to get into that! Each morning when I woke up I automatically leaned out of the bed and got a prefilled tumbler of cheap whiskey off the floor, polished it off, had a cigarette, another drink, at which time I was ready to face the day.
With alcoholism comes the casualty of good personal habits, and good health. Many things get ignored. For some reason my system got upset, maybe from the alcohol or the lack of good food, and I got boils, lots of them! Up to 25 at a time. It was very painful and messy when they broke. I went to a Doctor, and he gave me a shot of something to help heal the boils. He told me not to drink, but I went straight to the hotel for beers, so much for real good thinking! I digress from my stay in the Treatment Centre. The first week spent there was mainly getting back to normal with some sedatives, which helped the 10 persons in our group, all in for that week. We congregated in a common room which we called Happy Valley. We were feeling somewhat better and life was looking good.Then we graduated to the second and third floors where we had private rooms. We continued with the films, lectures, and life learning exercises. We were introduced to group therapy. This group was made up of 7 to 10 patients, with a trained professional to oversee. It was very traumatic to me since I had to face reality, and the effects that my drinking was having on my family, friends, and occupation, which was with a large Canadian Bank.
These sessions became very serious, and I landed up having nosebleeds from the pressures I was putting on myself. It was quite intense as we faced reality. Alcoholics are great con artists and manipulators, in order to successfuly feed our addiction. But, In a group of master manipulators, one could not get away with anything phony, and many truths came out, exposing us to unpleasantness that we had alway hidden away.
It was good for us but it did really hurt. At the end of the three weeks we were ready to leave the Treatment Centre, and it was an uneasy feeling leaving the security of this place, whose inhabitants did not critique us but gave us support and a feeling that they really cared.There is a gate fever one feels when they leave the warm and caring atmosphere of the hospital. Back to the real world, and everything back to that scary normal.
Before I go into the completion of my first week at the Treatment Centre where I would spend the next 4 weeks , I want to talk about God - My own personal God who I have believed in since I was a little boy.
Now don't get me wrong, I am not here to talk anyone into believing in my God, he is personal to me and mine alone! I have talked to Him for over 75 years. I have asked Him for forgiveness, for financial success, for the health of my family and friends, and especially to help me to shake off booze. He is always by my side, and I believe He was responsible for any success I may have had.
In Alcoholics Anonymous we learned the following what is called a prayer - "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference".
This prayer is valuable in all circumstances, not only in coping with alcohol addiction, but with life's problems in all their diversity. It calmed me down in what I called alcohol emergencies, ie "I need a drink badly", or when the pressures of life close in on me, at work, at home with the family, or any other uncomfortable problem. I sincerely recommend everyone adopt this prayer, it can be very helpful.So much for religion.
Another factor really helped me with my healing. It was Antabuse. It is a pill that a recovering alcohol can take daily. When on this drug, should I have taken a drink, I would have had an alergic reaction which would be increased heart rate and an overall uncomfortable feeling. Now I don't recommend that anyone rush out and get this drug, until it has been cleared by your Doctor. The feelings are very uncomfortable only if you drink!I took antibuse for over 10 years, and I feel it helped me greatly. The reason that it works so well is, that to be able to get back to drinking, the alcoholic must wait a few days for the drug to clear the system. By that time the alcoholic's mood will have changed and no drinking will happen. I felt it was a wonderful tool for me, but I stress, YOU MUST consult a Doctor before using any such drug.
Getting back to the rest of the first week at the Treatment Centre, we spent the days watching lectures on the t.v., listening to learned members of the Medical scene emoting on various aspects of Alcoholism. We were not allowed to wander off the property for the first week, which was the defining factor for many of us. If we stayed, it was the first step in the gradual process of sobering up. An interesting footnote to this period was the reaction of one the patients to the withdrawal of the alcohol. Alcohol, I have personally found, alters the brain and the eyesight. This was brought home to me by a fellow inmate, a roofer by occupation, came into the Treatment Centre with a new set of eyeglasses that he had purchased just prior to coming. After a few days, his eyesight had so altered that he had to get a new set! That scared the hell out of me because it brought home the extreme effect the alcohol had on our bodies, starting with the brain and the eyesight.My motivation for going into Treatment Centre to beat booze was so strong, and it had taken me so long to get there that I was damned if I was going back to my old days!
I had been seriously drinking for 20 years and was at this point 40 years of age, and I was scared! Was I going to throw everything away, my family, my job, my whole way of life? Well, I got mad! I hated anyone or anything controlling my life. I had been a slave to booze and it had to change.
I knew this every time I woke in the morning with furry mouth, headache, blurred vision, and a self-loathing so complete that it was easier to go back to the bottle than to face life. Booze is a crutch to the alcoholic, it suppresses the hurt that life sometimes comes to us, but only for a little while. It provides a shield against reality. It is so powerful that that when an alcoholic wakens to another morning of the blues and hangover, he needs only to go to the bottle to get that instant relief, even at six in the morning! I recall the time when I lived in Sudbury at the age of 21 I lived in an old hotel owned by a rather tough gentleman, who told me that if I wanted to stay there, I was to keep my mouth shut and ignore anything going on. I soon found out what he meant when I heard the fights going on in the corridors, and the screaming of his wife as he pulled her by the hair down the same hall. There was no way I was going to get into that! Each morning when I woke up I automatically leaned out of the bed and got a prefilled tumbler of cheap whiskey off the floor, polished it off, had a cigarette, another drink, at which time I was ready to face the day.
With alcoholism comes the casualty of good personal habits, and good health. Many things get ignored. For some reason my system got upset, maybe from the alcohol or the lack of good food, and I got boils, lots of them! Up to 25 at a time. It was very painful and messy when they broke. I went to a Doctor, and he gave me a shot of something to help heal the boils. He told me not to drink, but I went straight to the hotel for beers, so much for real good thinking! I digress from my stay in the Treatment Centre. The first week spent there was mainly getting back to normal with some sedatives, which helped the 10 persons in our group, all in for that week. We congregated in a common room which we called Happy Valley. We were feeling somewhat better and life was looking good.Then we graduated to the second and third floors where we had private rooms. We continued with the films, lectures, and life learning exercises. We were introduced to group therapy. This group was made up of 7 to 10 patients, with a trained professional to oversee. It was very traumatic to me since I had to face reality, and the effects that my drinking was having on my family, friends, and occupation, which was with a large Canadian Bank.
These sessions became very serious, and I landed up having nosebleeds from the pressures I was putting on myself. It was quite intense as we faced reality. Alcoholics are great con artists and manipulators, in order to successfuly feed our addiction. But, In a group of master manipulators, one could not get away with anything phony, and many truths came out, exposing us to unpleasantness that we had alway hidden away.
It was good for us but it did really hurt. At the end of the three weeks we were ready to leave the Treatment Centre, and it was an uneasy feeling leaving the security of this place, whose inhabitants did not critique us but gave us support and a feeling that they really cared.There is a gate fever one feels when they leave the warm and caring atmosphere of the hospital. Back to the real world, and everything back to that scary normal.
NEED SOME ENCOURAGEMENT?
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
ALL THINGS
All things have their season and in their times all things pass under Heaven,
A time to be born and a time to die,
A time to plant and a time to pluck up which is planted.
A time to kill, and a time to heal,
A time to destroy and a time to build,
A time to weep and a time to laugh,
A time to mourn and a time to dance,
A time to scatter stones and a time to gather,
A time to embrace and a time to be far from embraces,
A time to get and a time to lose,
A time to keep and a time to cast away,
A time to rend and a time to sew,
A time to keep silence and a time to speak......For every man that eateth and drinketh, and seeth good of his neighbour, this is the gift of God.
Nothing is better than a man to rejoice in his work, and that this is his portion.
For who shall bring him to know the things that shall be after him?
King James Bible Ecclesiastes 3
ALL THINGS
All things have their season and in their times all things pass under Heaven,
A time to be born and a time to die,
A time to plant and a time to pluck up which is planted.
A time to kill, and a time to heal,
A time to destroy and a time to build,
A time to weep and a time to laugh,
A time to mourn and a time to dance,
A time to scatter stones and a time to gather,
A time to embrace and a time to be far from embraces,
A time to get and a time to lose,
A time to keep and a time to cast away,
A time to rend and a time to sew,
A time to keep silence and a time to speak......For every man that eateth and drinketh, and seeth good of his neighbour, this is the gift of God.
Nothing is better than a man to rejoice in his work, and that this is his portion.
For who shall bring him to know the things that shall be after him?
King James Bible Ecclesiastes 3
A LETTER TO DONWOOD GRADUATES
Saturday, May 17, 2008
THE DONWOOD
Starting in 1969 I created a monthly newsletter to be sent out to recovering addicts that had graduated from the Donwood Institute in Toronto. Over the next 12 years I included articles sent in by the patients, newspaper articles, and general information helpful to those needing information in overcoming their addiction. I am including some of these articles because they became very important in their reality. Coming from the horse's mouth! If you recognize something that you have written and want to acknowledge your authorship, please contact me and I will show your name. Otherwise no one will know. Since I will be quoting far and wide, please know that I will not be gaining monetarily from my work, I only hope that it will be of some help. I sure appreciate everything I received Don Felstead.
THE DONWOOD
Starting in 1969 I created a monthly newsletter to be sent out to recovering addicts that had graduated from the Donwood Institute in Toronto. Over the next 12 years I included articles sent in by the patients, newspaper articles, and general information helpful to those needing information in overcoming their addiction. I am including some of these articles because they became very important in their reality. Coming from the horse's mouth! If you recognize something that you have written and want to acknowledge your authorship, please contact me and I will show your name. Otherwise no one will know. Since I will be quoting far and wide, please know that I will not be gaining monetarily from my work, I only hope that it will be of some help. I sure appreciate everything I received Don Felstead.
TWO KINDS OF FREEDOM
Dr. Birtch was affiliated with the Donwood Institute in Toronto. He has since passed away, however we feel that what he wrote for the "DONWOOD" newsletter during the time he was with them is very relevant to the alcoholic of today.
Following are his articles:TWO KINDS OF FREEDOM.
At Donwood we are concerned about two kinds of freedom. The first and most obvious is this. We are working toward freedom from a sick dependency on a chemical. When a person comes to Donwood he is usually no stranger to a feeling of bondage. He is a slave to a chemical, the servant of an uncontrolled desire. Many of the satisfactions and rewards of living are denied him because he is not free to pursue them. He is under the domination of a most demanding master. When a person is in this condition he may feel, "If only I could get free from my slavery to this chemical I could enjoy life again." But this is not necessarily true.
A person may achieve total abstinence and still be miserable. That is why our program has two sides. We work not just for "freedom from" but also for "freedom for". Our goal at Donwood is for the achievement of quality of health that is rich and rewarding. Freedom from the bondage is not complete until it issues in freedom to adopt a new life style that has its own built-in satisfactions. This freedom costs something too. There is a price to be paid. The price takes the form of daily choices and daily discipline. Simple things like exercise, diet, rest, development of stimulating interests, pursuit of social health with family and friends - these involve choices and self-disipline.
Yet for a person who assumes that freedom in simply doing what he wants to do when he wants to do it, it may be too great a price. Daily discipline may seem to be a denial of freedom.That is why it is important to decide what kind of freedom we are looking for.
Following are his articles:TWO KINDS OF FREEDOM.
At Donwood we are concerned about two kinds of freedom. The first and most obvious is this. We are working toward freedom from a sick dependency on a chemical. When a person comes to Donwood he is usually no stranger to a feeling of bondage. He is a slave to a chemical, the servant of an uncontrolled desire. Many of the satisfactions and rewards of living are denied him because he is not free to pursue them. He is under the domination of a most demanding master. When a person is in this condition he may feel, "If only I could get free from my slavery to this chemical I could enjoy life again." But this is not necessarily true.
A person may achieve total abstinence and still be miserable. That is why our program has two sides. We work not just for "freedom from" but also for "freedom for". Our goal at Donwood is for the achievement of quality of health that is rich and rewarding. Freedom from the bondage is not complete until it issues in freedom to adopt a new life style that has its own built-in satisfactions. This freedom costs something too. There is a price to be paid. The price takes the form of daily choices and daily discipline. Simple things like exercise, diet, rest, development of stimulating interests, pursuit of social health with family and friends - these involve choices and self-disipline.
Yet for a person who assumes that freedom in simply doing what he wants to do when he wants to do it, it may be too great a price. Daily discipline may seem to be a denial of freedom.That is why it is important to decide what kind of freedom we are looking for.
Monday, July 7, 2008
Dr. Birtch and Christmas
Dr. Birtch writes
CELEBRATING CHRISTMAS
The story is told of a little girl whose parents left her in the care of a maiden aunt while they went on a holiday. This aunt, it seems, was very afraid of thunderstorms. Several occurred when her niece was with her, and each time she hurried the child down into the basement where they hid beneath the cellar stairs until the storm had passed.
When the parents came back and their child returned home they were distressed to discover how afraid she was of thunderstorms. They tried to assure her that there was nothing to fear. They got her counting the seconds between the lightning's flash and the thunder roar. They assured her that God looks after little girls in thunderstorms.
Gradually her fear seemed to subside. Then one night, after they had gone to bed, a terrific storm came up. The parents wondered how the child was taking it. Soon the patter of feet came along the hall and the little girl crawled into beside her mother. "What is it, dear?" the mother asked. I'm not frightend, mummy" the child replied. "I know God looks after little girls in thunderstorms. But mummy, it's awful nice to be near somebody with skin on!".
That is what Christmas is about. Love is a great idea. Poems have been written about it. Songs have been sung about it. Sermons have been preached about it. But, love, human or divine, remains just a great idea until somebody comes along and clothes the idea with skin.
Then love becomes a voice that is heard, a touch that is felt, a look that changes how you feel. Love "with skin on" is what Christmas is all about. Love is still a great idea. We prefer, perhaps to call it "caring".
Love suffers from too many definitions. At Donwood, we have a special feeling about caring. When a group of Donwood graduates sit down to try to define the essential ingredients of the Donwood program they wrote this: "We believe that even more important for recovery than education or therapy is the experience of being in a community where people care for each one as a person." They wrote that not just because the ideal appealed to them. They wrote it because, somewhere along the line, caring had had skin on, and that made all the difference. There are various ways of celebrating Christmas. None can be more true to the original idea than if we go a little further and dig a little deeper in making sure that in some special way caring has skin on.
Don says: Some of us have been exposed to pain and ridicule, and have fears that lurk deep in the depths of our minds, that come out from time to time and present a painful event that we must cope with. If we have problems coping then further help can come from the medical community. It is no sin to ask for help!
CELEBRATING CHRISTMAS
The story is told of a little girl whose parents left her in the care of a maiden aunt while they went on a holiday. This aunt, it seems, was very afraid of thunderstorms. Several occurred when her niece was with her, and each time she hurried the child down into the basement where they hid beneath the cellar stairs until the storm had passed.
When the parents came back and their child returned home they were distressed to discover how afraid she was of thunderstorms. They tried to assure her that there was nothing to fear. They got her counting the seconds between the lightning's flash and the thunder roar. They assured her that God looks after little girls in thunderstorms.
Gradually her fear seemed to subside. Then one night, after they had gone to bed, a terrific storm came up. The parents wondered how the child was taking it. Soon the patter of feet came along the hall and the little girl crawled into beside her mother. "What is it, dear?" the mother asked. I'm not frightend, mummy" the child replied. "I know God looks after little girls in thunderstorms. But mummy, it's awful nice to be near somebody with skin on!".
That is what Christmas is about. Love is a great idea. Poems have been written about it. Songs have been sung about it. Sermons have been preached about it. But, love, human or divine, remains just a great idea until somebody comes along and clothes the idea with skin.
Then love becomes a voice that is heard, a touch that is felt, a look that changes how you feel. Love "with skin on" is what Christmas is all about. Love is still a great idea. We prefer, perhaps to call it "caring".
Love suffers from too many definitions. At Donwood, we have a special feeling about caring. When a group of Donwood graduates sit down to try to define the essential ingredients of the Donwood program they wrote this: "We believe that even more important for recovery than education or therapy is the experience of being in a community where people care for each one as a person." They wrote that not just because the ideal appealed to them. They wrote it because, somewhere along the line, caring had had skin on, and that made all the difference. There are various ways of celebrating Christmas. None can be more true to the original idea than if we go a little further and dig a little deeper in making sure that in some special way caring has skin on.
Don says: Some of us have been exposed to pain and ridicule, and have fears that lurk deep in the depths of our minds, that come out from time to time and present a painful event that we must cope with. If we have problems coping then further help can come from the medical community. It is no sin to ask for help!
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