Families in Recovery | Supporting Long-Term Recovery

Addiction is a disease that affects the entire family system. It's important for families to be educated on how to distinguish the difference between supporting their loved one's recovery and enabling their loved one in their addiction. It is vital to the recovery process to incorporate the entire family system in fighting the disease of addiction; support of the recovery process can help "raise the bottom" so the addict gets the help they need sooner. This video is a great resource for families struggling with helping an addicted person in their family. Just remember, when the family supports recovery, and doesn't enable, everyones life gets better!

Volunteering in the Community with Ken Seeley Recovery Community

In our efforts to help de-stigmatize addiction, and also promote recovery, Ken Seeley Recovery Community volunteers at the Palm Springs Street fair every Thursday. Volunteering visibly in the community helps the general public understand the difference between an active addict, and an addict in recovery. The guests at KSRC have built a relationship with some of the vendors at the fair who need extra help because of their age or physical ailments. Every week the vendors booths get setup on time by addicts in recovery; this helps the community understand that in recovery we can be reliable and responsible. A key piece of KSRC's volunteer regiment is wearing our "Recovery at Work" shirts. By wearing our shirts, we make ourselves easily accessible for requests from vendors and also for questions from the public regarding addiction or recovery. Just last week a young lady approached one of the guests because of their shirt. Through talking with one of the KSRC guests, the young lady ended up discovering that there is a solution to her struggle with addiction, and also made plans to attend her first AA convention with the house. Reaching addicts who are still struggling, and helping our community, that is truly "Recovery at Work".

Rich Dow, i911 Director of Services supervising the KSRC guests.

Guests unloading a root beer wagon for a vendor!

Recovery at work!

Recovery at Work shirt!

Heroes In Recovery 6k Run

The guests at Ken Seeley Recovery Community recently had the opportunity to volunteer at the Heroes in Recovery 6k run in Palm Springs. The guests woke up bright and early to help set up and direct the race through the Las Palmas neighborhood. Everyone from KSRC really enjoyed getting involved in some amazing service work at the event. Heroes in Recovery and Ken Seeley Recovery Community happen to share the same beliefs about recovery; it needs to be fun! That being said, the staff at KSRC loves the message Heroes in Recovery conveys in regards to becoming open and honest in a public manner about what recovery looks like. Movements like Heroes in Recovery are a fantastic way to educate the public and begin to de-stigmatize addiction. It was amazing to see so many interesting people from all walks of life at the run that were all brought together based on one common bond. The staff and guests are all looking forward to the next Heroes in Recovery event!

 Volunteers setting up for the race!

 Runners getting ready for the event.

Volunteer at the halfway mark.

Don't Negotiate with the Disease

This article is fantastic! Families of those in active addiction or recovery can benefit greatly from taking advice from this authors article. I love the portion where the author states, "How do you negotiate with an addict that has no sense of justice or fair play?". This is one of the hardest struggles for parents and family members to navigate when dealing with an addicted family member. Attending Al-Anon, CoDA, and working with professionals who can provide case management and recovery monitoring services can help families avoid "negotiating with the disease" and improve their loved one's quality of life as well as their own. 


Ron Grover on Negotiating Recovery 

We’ve all done it. Seldom, if ever does it work. We make deals; we are willing to sell our soul, our dignity and our future to an addict in an effort to stop the madness.
My efforts to negotiate recovery involved buying things, providing gifts, paying for medical treatment, rehab and rents. All this effort is a fruitless attempt to bargain away the addiction from my son. This all happens while we enable our addicts and deny the reality.
Then we begin to get smarter about enabling and stop wasting our treasures. But all that does is lead us to a new phase of negotiating. We begin negotiating with our self. We whisper inside that if I see this and this and that then I can do this and this and that.
How do you negotiate with an addict that has no sense of justice or fair play? How can you negotiate with an addict that suffers from a disease that results in behaviors a sane person would deem insane? An addict will not and cannot negotiate away their addiction. As long as you indulge in negotiating with addiction you have everything to lose and there is nothing to gain.
So what’s the answer? You must live in the world of a reality that involves seeing the picture as it is — not how you want it to be. Stepping back and taking in the holistic nature of this disease and how it not only affects the addict but all those that they touch is the first step. From that place I was able to see that negotiating was hopeless. Then it came down to figuring out where I actually stood in relationship to the disease and my relationship with my addict.


Ron Grover


Courtesy of The Partnership at Drugfree.org

Life Skills Program with Intervention 911

Intervention 911 is excited to announce a new program available to its clients; the Life Skills Program. After years providing case management and recovery monitoring services, Intervention 911's staff saw an opportunity to help expedite their client’s journey to living a happy life in recovery. Addicts generally stop emotionally maturing at the age they start using. That being said, once an addict gets treatment and starts to live without drugs, they often have very limited basic life skills. There is a distinct difference between an individual being abstinent from drugs and alcohol, and individual living a life in recovery. The life skills program intends to address this difference. The object is to asses and improve the clients Behaviors, Attitude, Attendance, and Achievement or (B.A.A.A). Intervention 911 life skills coaches work with the addict on core skills like scheduling their day, shopping, self-care, finances, and navigating daily struggles. Another key element of the program is fine tuning interpersonal communication skills and assisting the client in meeting their career or education goals. The life skills program is really a complete lifestyle overhaul that focuses on emotional growth with an emphasis on responsibility. Accountability to one of Intervention 911's life skills coaches can make all the difference for the client’s success with personal growth. The coaches are trained to compassionately address any non-compliance with the Life Skills program in a non-judgmental manner. Accountability to a third party outside the family dynamic reduces conflict and increases success all the while maintaining the clients dignity. If you or a loved one could benefit from the Life Skills program, please call Intervention 911 today!

866.888.4911

Hike at Tahquitz Canyon with Ken Seeley Recovery Community

At Ken Seeley Recovery community part of our goal in helping acclimate guests to their new life in recovery is learning how to have fun sober. If sobriety isn't fun, then whats the point?! Especially during early recovery when many addicts are still going through Post Acute Withdrawal Syndrome, a fun and physical activity can make all the difference in their day. 

Recently, the guests at KSRC went on a hike at Tahquitz Canyon. The hike was scenic and fairly mellow, but the 104 degree temperature made for quite the challenge. At the summit of the hike, the guests swam in the waterfall, and did a bit of exploring down the adjacent creek. All in all, everyone had blast swimming and hiking! Check out the photos below:

 The view on the accent to the waterfall.

 The view of the creek after the waterfall.

The view of the waterfall and swimming hole.

Freedom & Recovery 2012 Conference

Military personnel, law enforcement officers and first responders can be exposed to more stress and trauma in one day than most people will experience in a lifetime. Continuous exposure to acute stress makes them especially vulnerable to developing trauma-related mental illness, addiction and substance abuse disorders, often leaving them with memories and experiences that are difficult to handle in continued service and civilian life. A clear example of the need for treatment is with members of the military and their families. More than two million service members have deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan in the last ten years. With longer deployments and more frequent overseas tours of duty, our nation's service men and women are experiencing unprecedented rates of mental, emotional and substance use disorders, including historically high suicide rates. Among police officers, suicide rates were three times higher than in other municipal workers according to a 2008 study. In another 2008 national study, up to 37 percent of firefighters meet assessment criteria for PTSD. And because demand is so high, family outreach has created a growing need for services in the private sector. These facts and a growing number of studies support the need for treatment of trauma and addiction, while also providing suicide prevention strategies for service members, here and abroad, and for their families. In January 2011, the Department of Defense committed to a multi-year strategic initiative to increase behavioral health care services through prevention-based alternatives and integration of community-based services. Treatment providers must respond to this urgent need by developing effective interventions to meet the increasing demand for services among our military personnel and their families. This unique conference will gather the nation's foremost treatment experts to examine these demands, with a focus on education and training for professionals who provide care to this special population and their families. Participants will learn evidence-based practices for treating trauma and addiction, methods for integrating families into treatment, and suicide prevention strategies.


Video and Text explanation courtesy of Foundations Recovery Network

Intervention 911 and Ken Seeley Recovery Community at Freedom & Recovery Conference 

The majority of the Intervention 911 and Ken Seeley Recovery Community staff were lucky enough to attend Foundations Recovery Network's latest conference. The focus of the conference was working with those who serve our country in one form or another on their trauma as well as possible addiction issues. JR Martinez was the keynote speaker, and his talk was inspirational and rejuvenating. The staff and some friends in the industry also enjoyed a dinner out together and some relaxing time at the Hotel Del Coronado. Overall, the conference was a great experience and a fantastic reminder that we all need each other in this industry to help fight the disease.

 Intervention 911 and Ken Seeley Recovery Community Booth.

 JR Martinez speaking at the conference.

 The historic Hotel Del Coronado.

The beautiful view from lunch with friends!