Latah Recovery Community Center, Inc.

This Week at the Latah Recovery Center

January 2, 2018 by latahrecoverycenter, posted in Uncategorized

Happy New Year everyone! May it be a time of positive change and renewal for all.

As we enter the New Year I am pleased to announce an important change at The Center. We have partnered with PEER Wellness Center, Inc. to help us as we continue to grow. PEER is a cooperative group of five Idaho Recovery Community Centers all working toward expanding the recovery movement in Idaho. Working with this larger group will help us as we develop new trainings, social programs and funding resources. We are excited about the possibilities this group has as we all work together to help the citizens of Idaho.

Here is the latest from our writing group: https://latahrecoverycenter.org/2018/01/02/setting-goals-part-i/

Mark your calendar for this months special offerings!
Resume Writing on 1/15 at 6:30
Recovery Peer Volunteer Training Pts 1 and 2 1/18 and 25. 6-9pm. This is the class for people wanting to learn how to help coach others as they are dealing with mental health and/or addiction issues. Anyone wishing to help coach at The Center is required to take this class. We need 10 people to make this happen, so RSVPs are required by 1/17 to this email address.
Bingo! 1/27, 4-8pm
Trust Based Relational Intervention Parents Group starts on 1/21 2:30-5:30.
January at the Latah Recovery Center
Alcoholics Anonymous Every day, noon
Positive Affirmations Mondays, 12-1
Life Skills Mondays, 5-6
Make Your Hobby Pay 1st Monday of month, 6-7
Refuge Recovery 420 E. 2nd St Mondays, 6
Resume Writing Monday, 1/15, 6:30
Yoga (Hosted by Moscow Yoga Ctr) Tuesdays 12:30-1:30
Chess w/Steve Tues and Thurs 5-6
Narcotics Anonymous Tuesdays and Fridays 6-7
Domestic Abuse Support Group Tuesdays 6-7
Art w/Alex Tuesdays 7-8
Prescription Addiction Support Group Tuesdays 7-8
Positive Affirmations Wednesdays 5-6
Families and Caregivers of Addicts Support Group Wednesdays 6-7
Recovery International: Mental Health Self-Help Wednesdays, 6:30-8
New Volunteer Orientation Thursdays 4-5
LAMI: Family Support Program 2nd Thurs of month 7-8:30
Recovery Peer Volunteer Training pts 1 and 2 (RSVPs Required) Thursdays 1/18 AND 1/25, 6-9
All Recovery Meeting Fridays 5-6
Movie/Games: Check website for listing Fridays 6:30-9
Bingo Saturday, 1/27 4-8
AA Speakers Meeting 3rd Saturday of month, 11-2:30
Learn How to Crochet & Calm Your Mind 4th Sat of month, 10-12
Trust Based Relational Intervention Parents Group Sunday 1/21, 2:30-5:30
Adult Children of Alcoholics, Women’s Meeting Sundays 6-7:30
Classes and Groups are ALWAYS FREE OR AT COST AND OPEN TO ALL.
RSVP LatahRecoveryCenter@gmail.com Bolded Date=Regular offering. Plain text=Special offering for month.
Need an understanding person to talk to? We have Recovery Peer Volunteers here to help you in recovery from mental health and addiction issues all hours of operation. We are here to help!

Setting Goals, Part I

January 2, 2018 by latahrecoverycenter, posted in Uncategorized

by Nancy Casey

Even though any day of the year is a suitable day for goal-setting, tradition has it that we mark the change in the calendar year by making resolutions, which is to say, setting goals. Your writing practice can help you with this.

Most of the writing exercises in this blog series can be done in a single sitting. They ask you to think things up on the spur of the moment and write them down. Setting goals, on the other hand, is a process. It takes time and careful thought to identify goals that will be useful and meaningful in your life. You probably can’t do it all in one quick sitting.

The first part of the process involves research. Research into who you are, what you want, and what it’s going to take to get there. Today’s blog will show you how to do that research. Next week we will cover how to write statements of goals that are clear and useful.

In the first part of your research, you must name all your wishes and desires. All of them. Everything. Don’t focus on being “realistic.” Even our supposedly frivolous wishes and desires help us understand who we are and what we truly want. Of course we don’t get to have everything we wish for, but looking at all of our wishes at once helps us know which ones are the most important to us.

Some of the writing exercises posted in this blog over the past year can help you research your wishes and desires. Try to work on this research over the course of several days, because you probably can’t think up everything all at once.

Whatever You Want will help you make a huge list of things you want. Especially if you do it a few days in a row.
A is for Admire can help you understand what you like and who you want to become
Another Thing is an exercise where you think about things that are important to you.
Soon, Also, Then will get you thinking about the future.
If your thoughts seem too jumbled to write anything down, use the suggestions in Webs and Connections or An Alphabet of Today to help sort them out.

For the second part of your research, you must name all of the challenges that your wishes represent. Anything that stands between you and the fulfillment of your wishes is a challenge that you must meet in order for you wish to come true.

When we decide to meet a challenge, it is always a risk. We might succeed and we might fail. Some challenges are bigger and scarier than others. Understanding the challenges helps us understand what we will have to invest in order for our desires to become real.

Work on this research throughout the week. You will probably find that you want more things that will fit into one life and getting them all will require superhuman challenges. If you keep working with your wishes and challenges over the course of a week, however, you will find yourself returning to the ones that mean the most to you.

Next week, we will consider how to write goals that will allow you to meet the most important challenges and get what you want. Stay tuned!

Nancy Casey has lived in Latah County for many years. She has taught writing classes at the Recovery Center and will return again in the spring of 2018. You can find more of her work here. If you would like Nancy’s help with a writing project, large or small, email latahrecoverycenter@gmail.com for more information.

Recovery Radio 12/14/2017 The show returns! Interview with Jonny.

December 27, 2017 by latahrecoverycenter, posted in Podcasts

This Week at the Latah Recovery Center

December 18, 2017 by latahrecoverycenter, posted in Uncategorized

DON’T MISS TONIGHTS CHRISTMAS PARTY!!! 5-8pm.

Our latest write for you blog. https://latahrecoverycenter.org/2017/12/18/write-for-you-finish-the-year/

December at the Latah Recovery Center
Alcoholics Anonymous Every day, noon
Positive Affirmations Mondays, 12-1
Life Skills Mondays, 5-6
Christmas Party!!! Monday, 12/18, 5-8
Make Your Hobby Pay 1st Monday of month, 6-7
What is Trust Based Relational Intervention? 12/11, 6-8
Refuge Recovery 420 E. 2nd St Mondays, 6
Yoga (Hosted by Moscow Yoga Ctr) Tuesdays 12:30-1:30
Chess w/Steve Tues and Thurs 5-6
Narcotics Anonymous Tuesdays and Fridays 6-7
Volunteer Appreciation Potluck and Party Tuesday, 12/12 5:30-7
Domestic Abuse Support Group Tuesdays 6-7
Art w/Alex Tuesdays 7-8
Prescription Addiction Support Group Tuesdays 7-8
FREE Health Vitals Check by Gritman Medical Center Wednesday, 12/13 1:30-4
Positive Affirmations Wednesdays 5-6
Families and Caregivers of Addicts Support Group Wednesdays 6-7
Recovery International: Mental Health Self-Help Wednesdays, 6:30-8
Alternative Giving Market of the Palouse (1912 Ctr) Thursday, 12/7, 4-8
New Volunteer Orientation Thursdays 4-5
LAMI: Family Support Program 2nd Thurs of month 7-8:30
All Recovery Meeting Fridays 5-6
Movie/Games: Check website for listing Fridays 6:30-9
Bingo Saturday, 12/30 4-8
AA Speakers Meeting 3rd Saturday of month, 11-2:30
Learn How to Crochet & Calm Your Mind 4th Sat of month, 10-12
Adult Children of Alcoholics, Women’s Meeting Sundays 6-7:30
Classes and Groups are ALWAYS FREE OR AT COST AND OPEN TO ALL.
RSVP LatahRecoveryCenter@gmail.com Bolded Date=Regular offering. Plain text=Special offering for month.
Need an understanding person to talk to? We have Recovery Peer Volunteers here to help you in recovery from mental health and addiction issues all hours of operation. We are here to help!

Write for You: Finish the Year

December 18, 2017 by latahrecoverycenter, posted in Write for You Blog

by Nancy Casey

This is the season when you can’t help but take note of the end of the calendar year.

Every day we are reminded about some new superlative: the word of the year, the person of the year, the best music, the best poems, the best pet videos…

Today’s writing is an invitation to simply remember the past year.

Begin with a blank sheet of paper. Draw a line down the middle to divide it into two equal halves, left and right. Then draw lines across the page to divide each half into six more-or-less equal parts. The idea is to end up with 12 roughly equal sized rectangles, and a little bit of room for a title at the top.

Label the rectangles with the names of the months of the year, January through December. In each rectangle, write down notes that remind you of what happened in your life during that month.

Fill in as much as you can remember, and then plan to come back to the page later. It is hard to remember so much all at once, but recollections will likely trickle back to you as you go about your day and find yourself wondering things like, “How was January different from February?” or “When did I get those shoes?”

Keep adding things to the page until all the boxes are full. The things you write down don’t have to be “important.”

Certainly you will have months that are easier to fill in than others. When our lives have crises, drama, or excitement, things happen that we don’t forget. We tend to remember the dates of milestones, such as changes in jobs or living situation. With a little bit of nudging, we start remembering other things as well.

If you feel like you aren’t remembering very much, try to zoom in for smaller details. The clothes you wore. What you saw when you went outside. A conversation you had. Doing your laundry. A dessert you ate. Your chores. A joke someone told you. Something you watched.

Give yourself time to get it all filled in. It could take a couple of days. Do as much from memory as you possibly can before you consult a calendar or old social media posts.

Working on this will help you remember the whole year and its many parts. Later on, if you feel the urge to name your personal superlatives, you will do so with lots of authority!

Be sure to give your work a title and to write the date on it somewhere.
Here is an example of what someone could write: http://planetnancy.net/writing-prompts/end-of-year-2017/

Nancy Casey has lived in Latah County for many years. She has taught writing classes at the Recovery Center and will return again in the spring of 2018. You can find more of her work at http://planetnancy.net/ If you would like her help with a writing project, large or small, email latahrecoverycenter@gmail.com for more information.

This Week at the Latah Recovery Center

December 11, 2017 by latahrecoverycenter, posted in Uncategorized

Write for You: Eat Something

December 11, 2017December 11, 2017 by latahrecoverycenter, posted in Write for You Blog

by Nancy Casey

One thing for certain about today’s writing exercise: you can’t do it on an empty stomach! Today you will write from direct experience exactly what it is like to eat something.

What must you eat? Anything. A meal. A snack. Something that you like. Something you don’t like. It really doesn’t matter as long as you eat it.

It can be a favorite food, maybe some kind of treat that you like to have on hand over to holidays. It can be a completely ordinary food, something that you eat every day. It can be something that you cooked, bought, or received from a friend. The important thing is that you take a moment to eat it thoughtfully, and then write down everything that happened.

Begin by explaining what the food is. Then take a bite, chew it up carefully write down your observations. Then take another bite, and another, each time recording what happens.

A lot goes on inside your mouth when you are eating. You don’t simply “chew” for example. Try to notice what your tongue, teeth and cheeks do to make sure that the food is lined up right so that it can be chewed properly. Which parts of your tongue are the most active? How does the lump of food move around?

Pay attention to which teeth are the busiest. Do the teeth on one side work harder than on the other? Do some teeth avoid working altogether? Are certain teeth more active at different times during the “take-a-bite” and the “chewing-up” processes?

Try to notice other sensations: wet, dry, hard, soft, rough, pointed, crisp, hot, cold. The sensations you have will depend on what you are eating. Try to notice as many as you can. What smells can you smell? Are there bursts of flavor or changes in texture? What do you hear?

How do you know when to swallow? What is it that you do, exactly, as you swallow? Does it have a special sound? What parts of your mouth are most involved? What are all the things that have to happen before your mouth is empty again.

How does the eating experience change as it continues? Is a bite from the middle of a sandwich different from a bite from around the edges? Is the first bite of a donut the same as the last one?

The beginning of the end of the eating experience takes place as you put the last morsel of food in your mouth. How does “eating” finally finish? What kinds of things happen to tidy up the inside of your mouth? How long does it take before every single sensation that has to do with eating is completely gone? What is the last sensation that you feel?

Try to surprise yourself with all the things that you can notice in the process of eating one small meal or snack.

Be sure to give your work a title and write the date on it. Here is an example of what a person could write: http://planetnancy.net/writing-prompts/eat-something/

Nancy Casey has lived in rural Latah County for many years. She has taught writing classes at the Recovery Center and will return again in the spring of 2018. You can find more of her work at http://planetnancy.net/ If you would like her help with a writing project, large or small, email latahrecoverycenter@gmail.com for more information.

This Week at the Latah Recovery Center

December 4, 2017December 4, 2017 by latahrecoverycenter, posted in Uncategorized

Help needed: We are still looking for some help to staff the Alternative Giving Market on Thursday. If you can help at any time during the hours of 3-8:30 let me (Darrell) know.

The latest exercise from our Write for You blog: https://latahrecoverycenter.org/2017/12/04/write-for-you-circles-in-the-sky/

Special this week:
12/4 (That’s today!) Make Your Hobby Pay, 6-7pm. Local entrepreneur Stu Scott is here to answer your questions about starting a business.
12/7 Alternative Giving Market, 4-8pm. Come see our display and support local nonprofits at the 1912 Center.

Write for You: Circles in the Sky

December 4, 2017 by latahrecoverycenter, posted in Write for You Blog

by Nancy Casey

The work that you will do in your writing practice today is in two parts. In the first part you will do something. In the second part you will write about what it was like to do it. The thing that you will do is an exercise that relaxes your neck and supposedly improves your concentration.

You have probably seen setups where bright spotlights shine up into the sky, making it look like light sabers are scribbling on the clouds and stars. You are going to pretend that you have one of those spotlights shining straight up out of the top of your head.

But first you have to pick a number between 8 and 20. Do that now.

Then sit comfortably, in a position where you will still be comfortable in 10 or 20 minutes. You can sit at a table, in a bed, on the floor, in a chair. Your feet can be high or low, legs straight or crossed. Give your back some support so you don’t have to hold it up all by yourself. You might even want to support your head and neck a little bit as well.

Once you are settled, close your eyes, turn on the spotlight on the top of your head and try to draw a slow even circle of light in the sky. I say “try” because you must do this with the whole rest of your body completely relaxed. So the circle probably won’t be round. It will probably be small. Depending on how much tension you have in your neck and shoulders, the circle you draw might be so small that you only imagine drawing it without moving your head.

Remember that number between 8 and 20 that you picked out? That’s how many circles you will draw. Staying relaxed is the most important thing. Going very slowly is important, too. The shape of the circles isn’t so important. It’s kind of interesting to notice how lumpy they are and how they change.

Count slowly to yourself as you make each circle. If your mind drifts off or you lose count, start over. (That’s the “improves your concentration” part.) When you have drawn all the circles in one direction, reverse course and draw the same number of circles in the opposite direction.

What if you keep losing count and it seems like you’ll never get done? Just say “Oh well” every time you have to start over. If you keep at it for 10 or 20 minutes, that’s certainly enough to say that you gave it a good try and stop. If you only had time to make circles in one direction, draw a couple of circles in the opposite direction before you quit, just so your neck can unwind.

Then write about what that was like. How it felt. Whether it was easy or hard. If you kept forgetting about what you were doing and thinking about something else, write about what you were thinking. You could end up not writing about making circles at all. Whatever you write, give it a title and put the date on your page. Here is an example: http://planetnancy.net/writing-prompts/relax-your-neck/

You can draw these circles in the sky at any time. In the bathroom when you want a few moments of privacy to refresh your mind or calm down. In bed when you can’t sleep. In the morning when you wake up.

Change it up. Experiment with different numbers of circles. Imagine the spotlight is on your nose, or that you have one on each ear.

Anything goes, as long as you make circles, stay relaxed, and cheerfully start over each time you lose count.

Nancy Casey has lived in Latah County for many years. She has taught writing classes at the Recovery Center and will return again in the spring of 2018. You can find more of her work at http://www.PlanetNancy.net. If you would like her help with a writing project, email latahrecoverycenter@gmail.com for more information.

December at the Latah Recovery Center and a request or two…

November 30, 2017 by latahrecoverycenter, posted in Uncategorized

What?!?, you’re saying to yourself. Two notes from the LRC in one week? I know-I try to avoid email clutter. Sorry! But I have three important items:

1. We need some volunteers to help staff our station at the Alternative Giving Market next Thursday. We could use people starting at 3pm. Table open until about 8:30pm. Let me know if you can help!
2. Don’t forget our Computer 101 class tonight, 7pm!
3. December calendar. Please post in your work place if it is appropriate.
December at the Latah Recovery Center
Alcoholics Anonymous Every day, noon
Positive Affirmations Mondays, 12-1
Life Skills Mondays, 5-6
Christmas Party!!! Monday, 12/18, 5-8
Make Your Hobby Pay 1st Monday of month, 6-7
What is Trust Based Relational Intervention? 12/11, 6-8
Refuge Recovery 420 E. 2nd St Mondays, 6
Yoga (Hosted by Moscow Yoga Ctr) Tuesdays 12:30-1:30
Chess w/Steve Tues and Thurs 5-6
Narcotics Anonymous Tuesdays and Fridays 6-7
Volunteer Appreciation Potluck and Party Tuesday, 12/12 5:30-7
Domestic Abuse Support Group Tuesdays 6-7
Art w/Alex Tuesdays 7-8
Prescription Addiction Support Group Tuesdays 7-8
FREE Health Vitals Check by Gritman Medical Center Wednesday, 12/13 1:30-4
Positive Affirmations Wednesdays 5-6
Families and Caregivers of Addicts Support Group Wednesdays 6-7
Recovery International: Mental Health Self-Help Wednesdays, 6:30-8
Alternative Giving Market of the Palouse (1912 Ctr) Thursday, 12/7, 4-8
New Volunteer Orientation Thursdays 4-5
LAMI: Family Support Program 2nd Thurs of month 7-8:30
All Recovery Meeting Fridays 5-6
Movie/Games: Check website for listing Fridays 6:30-9
Bingo Saturday, 12/30 4-8
AA Speakers Meeting 3rd Saturday of month, 11-2:30
Learn How to Crochet & Calm Your Mind 4th Sat of month, 10-12
Adult Children of Alcoholics, Women’s Meeting Sundays 6-7:30
Classes and Groups are ALWAYS FREE OR AT COST AND OPEN TO ALL.