My Experience at Austin Recovery

  I have been volunteering at Austin Recovery, a local rehabilitation center, for the past few weeks. This was my first time seeing a recovery meeting. The only familiarity I had with a rehabilitation class was through a family friend, Steven. He was a client at a facility in Utah. Walking in, my classmate and I were greeted by the director. He gave us a tour of the small South Congress facility, introduced us to the staff, and gave a presentation for volunteers, although we weren't volunteers. The director told us to act like we were part of the program which we thought was very strange. Our first class was a little awkward, we were two of four females in the meeting. The meeting was an hour and the topic involved how a family is affected by the decisions of the clients. This meeting was the most impactful because I was able to see the honest perspectives adults suffering from addiction have. Steven, my family friend, passed away from alcoholism on February 10, 2016. For the longest time before and after he passed, I was so mad that he kept relapsing, refusing to go get help, and skipping class. With the perspectives of the clients, I was able to see the kind of mindset they had. They all knew they had a problem, that’s why they were getting help at the facility. But one man, in particular, explained his story to a point that brought tears to my eyes. He explained how he had been drinking since high school, and never thought it was a problem till he met his wife.When they met he got sober, they got married, and they had two kids. His work started to get stressful and so after 11 years of being sober he relapsed. His wife divorced him, he lost the right to see his kids and was fired from his job. He has been to rehab eight times and continues to go to prevent himself from turning to alcohol for his issues. This story is like many others I heard through the classes I went to at Austin Recovery. This experience has opened me up to realize that individuals that have an addiction, truly have a disease. I am aware of how hard it is to stop and the pain that comes along with the recovery process. But, I’m also able to see that there is a way to prevent and stop an addiction.