To Whom it May Concern:
As a parent of a child who participated in the Sanctuary program, I can’t begin to convey how relieved I was during our child’s stay, knowing that besides being in a safe environment, that the culture that exists there gives the participant every opportunity to try to turn their lives around. As a parent I also learned not to be that hard on myself as a failure, that our child needed to step up and bear considerable responsibility for their actions. I am not quite certain, but very hopeful that our child will continue on the present path he is on.
I couldn’t ask for a better environment than that which was exhibited through love, care and culture at the Sanctuary.
Signed, ~ A Loving Parent
Nancy Steiner, founder and Executive Officer of The Sanctuary and Board Member of the National Association of Recovery Residences (NARR) receives the Gratitude Recognition award from Sierra Tucson.
This award is given out once a year to honor a medical or clinical professional for his or her lifetime achievement.
Nancy, thank you for touching so many life’s. Your work and dedication has made a world of difference in the recovery community.
“When my brother enrolled into an addiction treatment program, I felt huge sense of relief. As long as he stayed in the “program,” I felt like I no longer needed to worry about where he was and what he was doing. It was a safe place for him – at least for a while. Thankfully, he truly took advantage of every avenue offered to him as a healing process when he was in addition treatment. From morning until evening, he was healing and developing back into the brother I once knew.
However, once he completed his addiction completion program, he had to re-enter the “real world.” For me, this was a time of increased anxiety. I worried about how easy it would be for him to continue using and to fall back into his old ways. Thankfully, he took the advice of a counselor at the addiction treatment program and moved into a half-way house. I learned that the 30, 60 or 90 day treatment that individuals suffering from addiction go through, no matter how engaged they are, just is not enough. It takes an individual a long time to get to the point that they finally enter treatment. Clearly, a stint in rehab helps that individual move forward in the healing process. But it does not completely fix the problem. Individuals must learn to re-enter the regular society. Unfortunately, this means a society that contains drugs and alcohol – the same temptations that brough them to addiction treatment in the first place.
For my brother and I am certain for others, a half-way house provides a necessary avenue to re-enter society. Though rules, schedule, and responsibilities may seem elementary to someone who does not have an addiction, it is those rules, schedule and responsibilities that were lost when a loved one travels deep into the road of addiction. I learned this was tool for him to use to re-learn how to live a normal life. Addiction takes away your loved ones most basic persona – and a half way house helps to bring back the individual as a whole. While addiction treatment programs “cleaned” my brother, he needed to start the rebuilding process in a half-way house in order to truly stay “clean.” It is another tool, I am thankful to say, that my brother took full advantage of (even when he thought things they were telling him to do were stupid). Five years later, I love my brother for the person he has returned to – the sober individual I knew growing up.”
~Family Member
I met some wild guys at the sanctuary. some of them are still sober; at least one is dead. like it says in the big book, it’s our choice, right? and that’s the difference between a treatment center and a halfway house–we get that choice back. the good thing about the sanctuary was that they went out of their way to help me make the right choices. every day.
~An Anonymous, Grateful, Sober Alumni
Sobriety is not my entire life rather it has given me a life that is worth living. I am free of the obsession, which has brought me a new found lease on life and an everlasting drive to accomplish all of my hopes and dreams, one day at a time. Sobriety means everything to me, it encompasses my relationships with both family and friends, and the natural human ability to work, love, and play. By utilizing the tools of the program and the steps as my foundation I no longer regret the past, nor do I fear the future. Today I have faith in myself and know that as long as I keep doing the work, putting one foot in front of the other, the sky is the limit.
When I sought out help for my alcohol addiction one year ago, I was ready to do anything to achieve immediate relief from the desperate, helpless and demoralizing state my life had spiraled into. It felt like a matter of life or death and at 30 years old, I chose life. And for the past year, I have lived – one day at a time. Recovery has not only given me the chance to live, it has provided me with the inspiration to live a fulfilling, meaningful, growth-oriented life. It has provided me with a 12-Step program that fundamentally has changed the way I know myself and my relation to the world. Achieving and maintaining sobriety has meant far more than abstaining from drugs and alcohol, it has meant learning how to live to the best of my ability with the blessings I have been and continue to be given. Among these blessings has been my three-month residency at The Sanctuary of Delray Beach which is nothing short of a “sanctuary” where people who are committed to achieving sobriety can heal, grow and prepare to transition back into day-to-day life. There is no greater blessing than to see and experience the world through the grateful eyes of recovery. I will celebrate and honor this National Sobriety Month by continuing to gratefully live one day at a time.
A Grateful Female Alumni
It is with great honor that I am writing this short testimonial in honor of my son’s recovery. As many people know, recovery the first time after drug rehab is often times short lived. However, my son went to addiction treatment one time five and one half years ago and has been sober ever since. He was at a treatment center for one month and then went to The Sanctuary for several months. At the treatment center he became clean. However it was at the Sanctuary, he learned how to live a good, honest, clean and productive life. It is there that the old values he once had returned. The Sanctuary helped him learn how to cope with problems as he had people to identify with. The staff was there for him 24/7 and truly cared about him and his recovery. I see the growth in him in so many ways. He is an outstanding man, honest, hard working, trustworthy, and has the highest values. He continues to climb the ladder of success and I know he will continue to do so. He is not only the man he once was but is a better individual because of his addiction and recovery process. My son is determined and driven and is using all of the skills he has learned at the Sanctuary to live each day of his life.
I am so fortunate to have my son and treasure him always.
Best Wishes to all,
A proud parent of a Sanctuary Alumni
Nancy Steiner, founder and Executive Officer of The Sanctuary and Board Member of the National Association of Recovery Residences (NARR) was nominated by her peers and won the prestigious Gratitude Recognition award from Sierra Tucson!
This award is given out once a year to honor a medical or clinical professional for his or her lifetime achievement.
Nancy, thank you for everything you do for the Sanctuary, all of its residents and the recovery community.
You are truly deserving of this award.
September is National Recovery Month. To acknowledge it the Sanctuary will be posting blogs throughout the month from its alumni, current residents and family and friends of past and current Sanctuary residents explaining what recovery from addiction has meant to them. Some of the blogs will not have names attached to them in order to keep the writers anonymity.
“Sobriety has provided me a life that I never thought was possible. Prior to
my recovery, however, I would have never been able to utter these words. An
incapacitating addiction ruled my life and colored my world with desperation and
sadness.
I spent much of my life believing that the problem was the solution. I had everything
backwards. My solution was robbing me of my life. Until my recovery, my life solely
consisted of consuming substances; it was simply a way of living. My days consisted
of chasing the perfect recipe of substances—always searching for an escape from
the reality of life. Fueled by an insatiable addiction, I slowly became a victim of my
own creation and found myself without any recourse. I knew that I need help but
could not find the strength to do anything about it.
With a twinge of willingness, I sought help for my addiction. The road to recovery
has not been an easy one, but has provided me with a second chance at life—a life
that I never new possible. Over the course of my recovery, I have graduated from
college, assumed a leadership position in my family, and witnessed many miracles.
Instead of being a drag on the family, I am now—through the grace of God—able
to be available for my friends and family. My life is full of opportunity and, most
importantly, a sense of well being. Ironically enough, I found that the solution was
with me all along. It is in us all, we simply need to look every once and a while.”
Sanctuary Alumni
