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This Week at the Latah Recovery Center

by latahrecoverycenter, posted in Uncategorized

Summer is in full swing, and it is WONDERFUL!  As long as you are stuck inside looking at your computer screen, you might as well find out what is going on at The Center!

Our latest Write for You blog post is available:  https://wordpress.com/post/latahrecoverycenter.org/705

Our latest Recovery Radio podcast is also up!  Download direct, or sign up for the podcast on ITunes and Googleplay!  https://latahrecoverycenter.wordpress.com/2017/07/17/write-for-you-the-organization-of-your-home/

Here’s what’s happening at The Center:

July at the Latah Recovery Center

Alcoholics Anonymous                                                                                      Every day, noon

Positive Affirmations                                                                                          Mondays and Weds 1:10-2

Make Your Hobby Pay                                                                                      1st Monday of month, 6-7pm

Yoga (Hosted by Moscow Yoga Ctr)                                                              Tuesdays 12:30-1:30

Life Skills                                                                                                              Tuesdays 5-6

Chess w/Steve                                                                                                      Tues and Thurs 5-6

Narcotics Anonymous                                                                                        Tuesdays and Fridays 6-7

Domestic Abuse Support Group                                                                       Tuesdays 6-7

Resumes and MSWord                                                                                      Tuesday, July 11 AND 25, 7-8

Art w/Alex                                                                                                             Tuesdays 7-8

Prescription Addiction Support Group                                                             Tuesdays 7-8

Mental Health First Aid pt. 1 at UI-register with UI online.  $25                Wednesday July 12, 3-7

Families and Caregivers of Addicts Support Group                                      Wednesdays 6-7

Parenting Support Group                                                                                   Wednesday 6:30-7:30

Get It Written (Writing Group)                                                                          Thursdays 11-12 AND 6-7

Write For You                                                                                                       Thursdays 3-4

New Volunteer Orientation                                                                                Thursdays 4-5

Mental Health First Aid pt. 2 at UI-register with UI online. $25 Thursday July 13, 3-7

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

Potluck Picnic at East City Park                                                                       Sat., July 8, 1-5

Bingo                                                                                                                     Sat. July 29, 4-8

AA Speakers Meeting                                                                                         3rd Sat 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=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: The Organization of Your Home

by latahrecoverycenter, posted in Uncategorized

by Nancy Casey

Every day takes a toll on you.   You use up calories that have to be replaced in the form of food.  Sleep and leisure time are required in order to refresh both your mind and body.  If you wear the same clothes day after day, the results aren’t pretty. You must also bathe.  You have to keep all your stuff somewhere.  You need a place where you feel safe.  These are types of things that constitute “home.”  It’s the source of your daily rejuvenation.

In an imaginary perfect world, people live in houses that somehow magically provide all these things.  But that’s not the way the real world works.  You have to provide these things for yourself.  Or team up with other people so that you can have them in your life.  And you don’t always organize these things inside your living space.

For instance, there are many ways a person is assured of having clean clothes.  Perhaps you do laundry in a washer and dryer located next to your bathtub.  Maybe you wash your clothes in a creek.  Or perhaps someone takes care of all your laundry for you and the way you get clean clothes each day is to open a drawer. 

Clothes are only one part of the system you have organized to present yourself to the world. Think of your hair, your teeth, and your fingernails.  What else have you organized around yourself so that you appear and feel like a functional human in the world?

What organization does it take to keep yourself properly fed?  What parts of the system operate inside your living space?  Do parts of staying well-fed take place for you out in public?

What about your stuff?  Where do you keep it? How do you find things?  When you go somewhere, how do you make sure that you take everything you’ll need with you?

How have you organized your home so that you feel comfortable and safe there?  Does that involve certain pieces of furniture?  Locks on doors and windows?  How do you make your surroundings pleasant to you?

If you share a living space with someone, that involves even more organization.  How have you worked out who does what?  How do you keep from interfering with each other’s needs and requirements?

Today when you write, describe the pieces of that big system that is “home” for you.  Focus on the way it is and the way it works, not on the way you think it ought to be.  If there are aspects of your home that are unconventional, this is an opportunity to celebrate your ingenuity and originality.

Criticizing yourself as you describe “home” is absolutely forbidden.  If something is lacking, tell what it is and explain how and why you wish it was different.  Do not describe it in terms of some failure or another on your part.  Instead describe how you are doing your best without it.

When you have finished writing, be sure to put a date a title on the page.  Here is an example of what someone could write.

Where does your writing practice figure into your home?

 

Nancy Casey teaches writing classes at the Recovery Center on Thursdays.  Check the calendar for classes and times, or just drop in.  All are welcome.  She coordinates Recovery Radio, which airs on KRFP 90.3 FM in Moscow, Thursdays at 1:05 PM. Recovery Radio needs on-air and off-air volunteers.  Call the Recovery Center  208-883-1045 or email latahrecoverycenter@gmail.com for more information.

 

 

This Week at the Latah Recovery Center

by latahrecoverycenter, posted in Uncategorized

Here is our latest Write for You writing activity blog post https://latahrecoverycenter.org/2017/07/10/write-for-you-remember-winter/

We have a great mental health and addiction related conference coming to Moscow!  See the attached “Peer Connections Conference” flyer.  If you are a Recovery Coach, Peer Specialist, or work in the field this is the conference for you.  CEUs available!!!

Don’t miss our Resumes and MSWord class TOMORROW NIGHT!  Details below.

July at the Latah Recovery Center

Alcoholics Anonymous                                                                                      Every day, noon

Positive Affirmations                                                                                          Mondays and Weds 1:10-2

Make Your Hobby Pay                                                                                      1st Monday of month, 6-7pm

Yoga (Hosted by Moscow Yoga Ctr)                                                              Tuesdays 12:30-1:30

Life Skills                                                                                                              Tuesdays 5-6

Chess w/Steve                                                                                                      Tues and Thurs 5-6

Narcotics Anonymous                                                                                        Tuesdays and Fridays 6-7

Domestic Abuse Support Group                                                                       Tuesdays 6-7

Resumes and MSWord                                                                                      Tuesday, July 11 AND 25, 7-8

Art w/Alex                                                                                                             Tuesdays 7-8

Prescription Addiction Support Group                                                             Tuesdays 7-8

Mental Health First Aid pt. 1 at UI-register with UI online.  $25                Wednesday July 12, 3-7

Families and Caregivers of Addicts Support Group                                      Wednesdays 6-7

Parenting Support Group                                                                                   Wednesday 6:30-7:30

Get It Written (Writing Group)                                                                          Thursdays 11-12 AND 6-7

Write For You                                                                                                       Thursdays 3-4

New Volunteer Orientation                                                                                Thursdays 4-5

Mental Health First Aid pt. 2 at UI-register with UI online. $25 Thursday July 13, 3-7

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

Potluck Picnic at East City Park                                                                       Sat., July 8, 1-5

Bingo                                                                                                                     Sat. July 29, 4-8

AA Speakers Meeting                                                                                         3rd Sat 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=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!NorthernPeerSupportConnectionConference2017[176]

Write for You: Remember Winter?

by latahrecoverycenter, posted in Write for You Blog

by Nancy Casey

Time flies.  Or does it?

We’re settling in to the heart of summer here in Latah County.  The world was vibrant green all around us a week ago.  Now that greenery is beginning to look brown and crusty at the edges.  It’s probably not going to rain much between now and September. 

These days, people who love hot weather are joyous.  People who wilt in the heat are, well,  wilting.  The last of the dusk fades from the sky just a few hours before the dawn twilight starts to creep in.  This week, with the moon big and bright, it will hardly seem to get dark at all.

When was the last time you flashed on a memory of the past winter, and what was that memory?

Did you recall the unrelenting cold and all the routines you had to perform to stay warm?  The snow buried us repeatedly, remember?  How did you navigate through it?  Did you play in it?

What clothes and shoes did you wear the most last winter?  How is the pile of stuff that’s by the door now different from the pile you had there six months ago? 

What did you worry about last winter?

What was your social life like during the winter?  Where did you see your friends?  What kinds of things did you do?  What did you talk about?

What did you do last winter that was fun?  What made you laugh?

Winter.  It was dark a lot of the time.

Was it a long time ago? Or was it just yesterday?

Begin daydreaming about your recollections of winter as you gather up your writing materials and limber up your hands and arms.  Before you begin to write, do a few slow neck rolls in either direction and invite the memories to flow in. Does your body feel the same as it did then?

If you write down the answers to all of these questions, what you will have is a whole bunch of information.  Information can be interesting, but stories are better.

Write down a story from last winter.  Something you did, maybe.  Or something you saw happen.  Something that happened to you.  It can be any kind of story. No doubt you have lots of them.  Just tell one.

Write your story using only one side of the page and leave a lot of empty space on the other.

When you have finished the story, go back to all those questions I asked at the beginning.  Think up bits and chunks of information that you could add to your story.  Write the new words or sentences in the extra space alongside the story and draw lines to the places in the story they should go.  Squeeze in as much as you can.  It might get kind of messy.  Use circles and arrows, or even different colors, so that you can follow your thinking when you look at it again.

Recopy it.  Tell the whole big story with all the information.  Change it around however you want.  Be sure to give it a title and put the date on it when you are finished.  There are a zillion different things a person could write.  Here is an example.

 

Nancy Casey teaches writing classes at the Recovery Center on Thursdays.  Check the calendar for classes and times, or just drop in.  All are welcome.  She coordinates Recovery Radio, which airs on KRFP 90.3 FM in Moscow, Thursdays at 1:05 PM. Recovery Radio needs on-air and off-air volunteers.  Call the Recovery Center  208-883-1045 or email latahrecoverycenter@gmail.com for more information.

 

 

Write for You: Another Thing

by latahrecoverycenter, posted in Write for You Blog

by Nancy Casey

Today you will be writing about something that is large in your life. It can be an idea, an event or a person. Maybe it’s a pet, a place, or a hobby.
How do you tell if something is large in your life?
Things that are large in your life often carry an emotional charge. Has something made you feel angry or upset lately? What gets you excited? What is deeply satisfying to you? What is making you feel the way you feel right now?
The large things in our lives take up our time. What do you spend your time doing, thinking about, watching or listening to? Who talks to you? Who needs you? Who ignores you? Who and what do you take the time to avoid?
Is there something that you wish other people understood? Is there something you wish you understood?
When you get to thinking about it, there are probably a zillion things that are large in your life. One thing that they will all have in common is that it’s hard to decide where to start when you are going to write about it.
After you have decided what to write about, don’t think about where to start, just write down some information. Start anywhere. Anywhere, that is, except the beginning. Plop yourself into the middle of this large thing in your life and write down one brief thing about it. If the first thing you write turns out not to be brief, that’s fine.
Once you’ve written something, start a new line and write the words, “And another thing…” Now write down some more information about this large thing in your life. When that’s done, skip to a new line, write “And another thing…” and describe a different detail from this whole big thing you are trying to write about.
Keep doing that. Don’t skip the actual writing of the words, “And another thing” because that’s the interval when your mind relaxes and lets an interesting idea bubble up. Don’t worry about the order in which things come out. If everything is all scrambled up, it doesn’t really matter. You can always put things in the right order later if you felt like it.
At the end of your writing, give the page a title and be sure to put the date on it. Here’s an example of the kind of thing you might write.
Repeat this exercise a few times throughout the week. You can choose to return to the same topic over and over again and probably surprise yourself by how much there is to say. That’s because the things that are large in our lives are complex and touch many aspects of our lives that are important to us.
When you repeat the exercise, you could also choose to write about a different topic each time. At any moment, each one of us has many different things that are large in our lives. If you write about several of them, you might begin to see how they are connected. Or maybe you’ll discover that they are at odds with each other.
Perhaps you will discover another thing altogether. Such a thing would probably turn out to be large.

Nancy Casey teaches writing classes at the Recovery Center on Thursdays. Check the calendar for classes and times. All are welcome. She coordinates Recovery Radio, which airs on KRFP 90.3 FM in Moscow Thursdays at 1:05 PM. Recovery Radio needs on-air and off-air volunteers. Call the Recovery Center 208-883-1045 or email latahrecoverycenter@gmail.com for more information.

 

This Week at the Latah Recovery Center

by latahrecoverycenter, posted in Uncategorized

Happy 4th of July to all!

The Latah Recovery Center is open regular hours this week.

DON’T MISS OUR POTLUCK ON JULY 8, 1-5pm AT EAST CITY PARK!

The latest edition of our Recovery Radio podcast is now available on I-tunes and Googleplay.

Here’s our data since opening Sept 1, 2015:

12003 client contacts

This includes:  990 recovery coach sessions, 8041 coming to self help groups, 2500 coming to various classes.

GOOD JOB LRC VOLUNTEERS!

Here’s what’s going on at The Center:

July at the Latah Recovery Center

Alcoholics Anonymous                                                                                      Every day, noon

Positive Affirmations                                                                                          Mondays and Weds 1:10-2

Make Your Hobby Pay                                                                                      1st Monday of month, 6-7pm

Yoga (Hosted by Moscow Yoga Ctr)                                                              Tuesdays 12:30-1:30

Life Skills                                                                                                              Tuesdays 5-6

Chess w/Steve                                                                                                      Tues and Thurs 5-6

Narcotics Anonymous                                                                                        Tuesdays and Fridays 6-7

Domestic Abuse Support Group                                                                       Tuesdays 6-7

Resumes and MSWord                                                                                      Tuesday, July 11 AND 25, 7-8

Art w/Alex                                                                                                             Tuesdays 7-8

Prescription Addiction Support Group                                                             Tuesdays 7-8

Mental Health First Aid pt. 1 at UI-register with UI online.  $25                Wednesday July 12, 3-7

Families and Caregivers of Addicts Support Group                                      Wednesdays 6-7

Parenting Support Group                                                                                   Wednesday 6:30-7:30

Get It Written (Writing Group)                                                                          Thursdays 11-12 AND 6-7

Write For You                                                                                                       Thursdays 3-4

New Volunteer Orientation                                                                                Thursdays 4-5

Mental Health First Aid pt. 2 at UI-register with UI online. $25 Thursday July 13, 3-7

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

Potluck Picnic at East City Park                                                                       Sat., July 8, 1-5

Bingo                                                                                                                     Sat. July 29, 4-8

AA Speakers Meeting                                                                                         3rd Sat 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=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: After Six Months

by latahrecoverycenter, posted in Write for You Blog

by Nancy Casey

If you have been following this blog since it began the first week in January, and if you have been making the pages that the blog suggests, you have amassed a sizeable pile of work. Now that a half a year has gone by, it’s a good time to take a look at all of it and think about what you have been doing.

Settle in and read through your pages. Take a closer look at what you have done.  Note the different kinds of pages you have made.  Some are lists, some are paragraphs, some have illustrations.  Do you like the looks of some better than others? Do you remember writing them all?

If you began in January, it was wintertime.  Now it is summer.  Do you find your writing reflects the change of season?  Even if you haven’t written specifically about the weather, does reading what you wrote six months ago make you recall the different season?  What else does your writing make you remember?

Check to see that all of the pages have titles.  If any are missing, add them in.  What makes a good title? Consider making a Table of Contents that has the list of all the titles.  You can then read it like it is a poem.

Recall that the goal of a writing practice is to bring the act of writing regularly into your life and accept whatever improvements that brings to you.  You can’t know ahead of time what those improvements will be.  Maybe your spelling or grammar will get better.  Maybe writing will help you think more clearly.  The moments of focus that writing requires can be a benefit.  Perhaps your writing practice will make it easier to write other things.  Perhaps you will take great pleasure in the written record you have produced.  What do you think you have gotten out of your writing practice so far?

Have you been writing “about” something?  How is that going?  Sometimes we choose a topic and decide to write about that.  Other times, the topic pops up in the writing itself.  Most of the time, it’s probably a combination of both.  Occasionally you can notice that a piece of writing causes you to recall a whole host of details that weren’t written down.  What would be a good title for this sheaf of pages?

After you have studied your work for a while and noticed as many things as you can about it, write yourself a pep talk for the coming months of your writing practice.  It will be a pep talk in two parts.  Write it as though you are talking to yourself.

1.      Describe everything that you like about the work that you have done.  Don’t say a single negative thing about it.

2.      Based on what you wrote in the first part, make suggestions to yourself about what to do more of.  Don’t suggest anything because you think it will be “good for you.”  Only suggest things that you know that you will like and remind yourself why you will like them.

 

Here is an example of what you might write for a pep talk.  Make sure you have put the date on it.  Don’t forget to give it a title.

 

The season has shifted to summer, and in another six months it will be winter.  Each day is an opportunity to work a little bit on your writing practice.  If you do, you won’t be sorry.

 

 

 

 

Nancy Casey teaches writing classes at the Recovery Center on Thursdays.  Check the calendar for classes and times.  All are welcome.  She coordinates Recovery Radio, which airs on KRFP 90.3 FM in Moscow Thursdays at 1:05 PM. Recovery Radio needs on-air and off-air volunteers.  Call the Recovery Center  208-883-1045 or email latahrecoverycenter@gmail.com for more information.

 

 

July at the Latah Recovery Center

by latahrecoverycenter, posted in Uncategorized

July at the Latah Recovery Center

Alcoholics Anonymous                                                                                      Every day, noon

Positive Affirmations                                                                                          Mondays and Weds 1:10-2

Make Your Hobby Pay                                                                                      1st Monday of month, 6-7pm

Yoga (Hosted by Moscow Yoga Ctr)                                                              Tuesdays 12:30-1:30

Life Skills                                                                                                              Tuesdays 5-6

Chess w/Steve                                                                                                      Tues and Thurs 5-6

Narcotics Anonymous                                                                                        Tuesdays and Fridays 6-7

Domestic Abuse Support Group                                                                       Tuesdays 6-7

Resumes and MSWord                                                                                      Tuesday, July 11 AND 25, 7-8

Art w/Alex                                                                                                             Tuesdays 7-8

Prescription Addiction Support Group                                                             Tuesdays 7-8

Mental Health First Aid pt. 1 at UI-register with UI online.  $25                Wednesday July 12, 3-7

Families and Caregivers of Addicts Support Group                                      Wednesdays 6-7

Parenting Support Group                                                                                   Wednesday 6:30-7:30

Get It Written (Writing Group)                                                                          Thursdays 11-12 AND 6-7

Write For You                                                                                                       Thursdays 3-4

New Volunteer Orientation                                                                                Thursdays 4-5

Mental Health First Aid pt. 2 at UI-register with UI online. $25 Thursday July 13, 3-7

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

Potluck Picnic at East City Park                                                                       Sat., July 8, 1-5

Bingo                                                                                                                     Sat. July 29, 4-8

AA Speakers Meeting                                                                                         3rd Sat 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=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!