A Drug Addiction and Alcoholism Recovery Organization
The Recovery Movement is expanding throughout America – emerging in many different regions and fostered by numerous, national organizations. Our common mission is to create a society in which recovery from addiction is supported and honored. Our common experience is that individuals who embrace a lifestyle of recovery from alcoholism and drug addiction become respected neighbors, responsible employees, and loyal family members and friends.“It may seem incredible that these [people] are to become happy, respected, and useful once more. How can they rise out of such misery, bad repute and hopelessness? The practical answer is that since these things have happened among us, they can happen with you. Should you wish them above all else, and be willing to make use of our experience, we are sure they will come. The age of miracles is still with us. Our own recovery proves that!”Alcoholics Anonymous, p.153
Mission
Faces & Voices of Recovery is committed to organizing and mobilizing the millions of Americans in long-term recovery from alcohol and other drug addiction, our families, friends, and allies to speak with one voice. Our organization is dedicated to changing public perceptions of recovery, promoting effective public policy in Washington and in all 50 states, and demonstrating that recovery is working for millions of Americans. It is our collective strength that will ensure our success, and it is our mission to bring the power and proof of recovery to everyone in America.
Goals
Faces & Voices of Recovery is a national organization of individuals and organizations joining together to support local, state, regional and national recovery advocacy by increasing access to research, policy, organizing and technical support; facilitating relationships among local and regional groups; improving access to policymakers and the media; and providing a national rallying point for recovery advocates.
Executive Director
Patty McCarthy Metcalf, M.S., comes to Faces and Voices of Recovery from the Center for Social Innovation where she served as a Deputy Director of SAMHSA’s Bringing Recovery Supports to Scale Technical Assistance Center Strategy (BRSS TACS) initiative. As Deputy Director, she has provided project direction and managed the quality and flow of work for numerous tasks under BRSS TACS. Previously, Ms. McCarthy-Metcalf served for a decade as the Director of Friends of Recovery-Vermont (FOR-VT), a statewide recovery community organization promoting the power of long-term recovery to improve the health and quality of life of Vermonters. In addition to public policy and education, her work has focused on community mobilizing, peer-based recovery support services and peer workforce development. She has been instrumental in the development of a national accreditation for recovery community organizations and in the development of peer support standards. Patty has designed and facilitated training on topics such as ethics and boundaries, recovery-oriented systems of care, peer volunteer management and peer recovery coaching. Ms. McCarthy-Metcalf has frequently participated as a subject matter expert and thought leader with SAMHSA sponsored policy discussions.
Ms. McCarthy Metcalf’s professional experience covers the spectrum of prevention, treatment and recovery. She has worked as a substance abuse prevention specialist with the Vermont Department of Health and as a Child and Family Clinician within a community-based mental health center. She holds a Master’s Degree in Community Counseling and a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration.
Patty is a woman in long-term recovery from alcohol and drug addiction, since 1989.
CCAR Vision
The Connecticut Community for Addiction Recovery (CCAR) envisions a world where the power, hope and healing of recovery from alcohol and other drug addiction is thoroughly understood and embraced.
CCAR Mission
By promoting recovery from alcohol and other drug addiction through advocacy, education and service, CCAR strives to end discrimination surrounding addiction and recovery, open new doors and remove barriers to recovery, maintain and sustain recovery regardless of the pathway, all the while ensuring that all people in recovery, and people seeking recovery, are treated with dignity and respect.
White Bison, Inc., is an American Indian non-profit charitable organization… based in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Through White Bison, it’s Founder and President Don Coyhis, Mohican Nation, has offered healing resources to Native America since 1988. White Bison offers sobriety, recovery, addictions prevention, and wellness/Wellbriety learning resources to the Native American community nationwide.
Story of the Wellbriety Movement
...by the mid to late 1990’s White Bison began to realize that most people wanted to find sobriety and recovery from alcohol and drugs, and then go on to live lives of wellness and wholeness rooted both in their own tribal cultures and in the mainstream world.
Wellbriety means to be both sober and well. The Well part of Wellbriety means to live the healthy parts of the principles, laws and values of traditional culture. It means to heal from dysfunctional behaviors other than chemical dependency, as well as chemical dependency itself. This includes co dependency, ACOA behavior, domestic or family violence, gambling, and other shortcomings of character.
We are an independent, non-profit organization whose mission is to provide resources and opportunities to reduce the impact of addiction and to improve related health issues for the communities of Southeast Pennsylvania (Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties). We accomplish this through prevention, consultation, education, advocacy, assessment, intervention and treatment services. We will make available our services to all, regardless of ability to pay, ethnicity, race, gender, age or sexual/gender orientation.
The disease of addiction to substances and associated behaviors threatens to cause irreparable physical, psychological, emotional and social problems for the affected individual. Addiction has the potential to frustrate, discourage and destroy the lives of the family, friends, employers and the community closest to the individual suffering from the disease. Effective treatment of addiction requires a comprehensive approach towards recovery and the development of a healthy lifestyle. We work to develop other services to continue to achieve a positive impact on the lives in our community.
Our services for prevention, education, advocacy, assessment and intervention help to reduce or eliminate the stigma of addiction, which prevents people from seeking treatment.
Our staff and volunteers are our number one asset. It is through their integrity, professionalism, and dedication that the message of overcoming and/or avoiding addiction and our services are communicated to those who need them most.
The Bible clearly states “all have sinned.” It is my nature to sin, and it is yours too. None of us is untainted. Because of sin, we’ve all hurt ourselves, we’ve all hurt other people, and others have hurt us. This means each of us need repentance and recovery in order to live our lives the way God intended.
You’ve undoubtedly heard the expression that “time heals all wounds.” Unfortunately, it isn’t true. As a pastor I frequently talk with people who are still carrying hurts from 30 or 40 years ago. The truth is – time often makes things worse. Wounds that are left untended fester and spread infection throughout your entire body. Time only extends the pain if the problem isn’t dealt with.
What we need is a biblical and balanced program to help people overcome their hurts, habits and hang-ups. Celebrate Recovery is that program. Based on the actual words of Jesus rather than psychological theory, our recovery program is unique, and more effective in helping people change than anything else I’ve seen or heard of. Over the years I’ve witnessed how the Holy Spirit has used this program to transform literally thousands of lives at Saddleback Church and help people grow toward full Christlike maturity.
Most people are familiar with the classic 12 step program of A.A. and other groups. While undoubtedly many lives have been helped through the twelve steps, I’ve always been uncomfortable with that program’s vagueness about the nature of God, the saving power of Jesus Christ, and the ministry of the Holy Spirit. So I began an intense study of the Scriptures to discover what God had to say about “recovery.” To my amazement, I found the principles of recovery, and even their logical order, given by Christ in his most famous message, the Sermon on the Mount.
My study resulted in a ten-week series of messages called “The Road to Recovery.” During that series, my Associate Pastor John Baker developed the workbooks, which became the heart of our Celebrate Recovery program. I believe that this program is unlike any recovery program you may have seen. There are seven features that make it unique:
This recovery program is based on God’s Word, the Bible. When Jesus taught the Sermon on the Mount, he began by stating “Eight Ways to Be Happy.” Today we call them the Beatitudes. From a conventional viewpoint, most of these statements didn’t make sense. They sounded like contradictions. But when you fully understand what Jesus is saying, you’ll realize that these eight principles are God’s road to recovery, wholeness, growth, and spiritual maturity.
This recovery program is forward-looking. Rather than wallowing in the past, or dredging up and rehearsing painful memories over and over, Celebrate Recovery focuses on the future. Regardless of what has already happened, the solution is to start making wise choices now and depend on Christ’s power to help me make those changes.
This recovery program emphasizes personal responsibility. Instead of playing the “accuse and excuse” game of victimization, this program helps people face up to their own poor choices and deal with what they can do something about. We cannot control all that happens to us. But we can control how we respond to everything. That is a secret of happiness. When we stop wasting time fixing the blame, we have more energy to fix the problem. When you stop hiding your own faults and stop hurling accusations at others, then the healing power of Christ can begin working in your mind, will, and emotions.
This recovery program emphasized spiritual commitment to Jesus Christ. The 3rd principle calls for people to make a total surrender of their lives to Christ. Lasting recovery cannot happen without this step. Everybody needs Jesus. Celebrate Recovery is thoroughly evangelistic in nature. In fact, the first time I took our entire church through this program over 500 people prayed to receiver Christ on a single weekend. It was an amazing spiritual harvest. And during the ten week series that I preached to kick-off this program, our attendance grew by over 1,500 people! Don’t be surprised if this program becomes the most effective outreach ministry in your church. Today, nearly 73% of the people who’ve been through Celebrate Recovery have come from outside our church. Changed lives always attract others who want to be changed.
This recovery program utilizes the biblical truth that we need each other in order to grow spiritually and emotionally. It is built around small group interaction and the fellowship of a caring community. There are many therapies, growth programs, and counselors today that are built around one-on-one interaction. But Celebrate Recovery is built on the New Testament principle that we don’t get well by ourselves. We need each other. Fellowship and accountability are two important components of spiritual growth. If your church is interested in starting small groups, this is a great way to get started.
This recovery program addresses all types of habits, hurts and hang-ups. Some recovery programs deal only with alcohol or drugs or another single problem. But Celebrate Recovery is a “large umbrella” program under which a limitless number of issues can be dealt with. At Saddleback Church, only one out of three who attend Celebrate Recovery are dealing with alcohol or drugs. We have dozens of other specialized groups too.
Finally, this recovery program produces lay ministers! Because Celebrate Recovery is biblical and church-based, it produces a continuous stream of people moving into ministry after they’ve found recovery in Christ. Eighty-five percent of the people who’ve gone through the program are now active members of Saddleback Church, and an amazing 42% are now using their gifts and talents serving the Lord in some capacity in our church.
In closing, let me say that the size of your church is no barrier to beginning a Celebrate Recovery ministry. You can start it with just a small group of people and watch it grow by word-of-mouth. Your won’t be able to keep it a secret for long!
You are going to see lives changed in dramatic ways. You are going to see hopeless marriages restored and people set free from all kinds of sinful habits, hang-ups, and hurts as they allow Jesus to be Lord in every area of their lives. To God be the glory! We’ll be praying for you.
PAR Vision:
Society views addiction as a disease without shame, stigma, or discrimination.
PAR Mission:
People Advocating Recovery is a statewide group of concerned individuals working to eliminate barriers to recovery from addiction.
Our Committees:
If you wish to join one of the committees to lend your expertise please drop me a line. mike.barry@peopleadvocatingrecovery.org
