Getting Started

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 Over the past week and a half, I have had many encounters with recovering addicts.  It's easy for me to contact addicts in all stages of recovery. I belong to a fellowship that is based on recovery and I myself am a recovering addict. I chose to base my project on adolescents that suffer from addiction. And at the time I felt like I had plenty of resources to complete this project and hopefully reach at least one person with the message of we do recover. I am very passionate about recovery and I would like to give back to the communities in which I have taken from. My plan for my "Genious Hour" was to video interview addicts that have a desire to change their lives. I was wanting to get not only adult but also youth that could speak about their story and help others relate through their life story and combine the message that an addict can lose the desire to use and find a new way to live. I know that with my own personal recovery I can relate to life stories I have heard other recovering addicts speak about and I feel like I belong.  The first time in my life when I knew I belong was at my first speaker meeting. I heard the message and I would love to give that to those who still suffer. There are millions that suffer from the disease of addiction and feel hopeless. I want to target this message of recovery to youth because they are our future and the healthier they are the healthier generations after them will be. I can only imagine if I knew at a young age that their really was a different way to live how all the pain and hurt that I could have avoided and not put others through. So over my spring break, I traveled to other areas and attended meetings in my own area and spoke to addicts in all stages and ask for volunteers for my project. People were very hesitant to offer their story on camera and due to the spiritual principals that our fellowship goes by they did not want to promote our fellowship to the public. I completely understood where they were coming from. As a member, we can not promote or endorse the fellowship in any way. It is based on attraction, not promotion. So I spoke with people that not only practice these principals but live by them in their daily lives and explained to them that this project was to carry the message and out of some lengthy conversations I acquired some interest to assist in this. At this moment  I have one written letter from an addict with less than six months on clean time but is working a program and follow the suggestions. She was very eager to help spread the message. I've had several other offers to do the interview and I am currently trying to correlate my schedule with theirs to get these accomplished.

Comments

  1. SGTApril 6, 2018 at 7:48 AM

    This is really interesting information. I am encouraged by your compassion for others. I think, however, I may be a bit confused. You say " As a member, we can not promote or endorse the fellowship in any way. It is based on attraction, not promotion." but it sounds like your project is about promoting and endorsing the fellowship. What am I not understanding? What do you hope is the end product of your project?

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  2. Jackie BApril 10, 2018 at 7:12 AM

    I hope that my end product helps aleast one person realize that they are not alone and there is hope. I try and refrain from using my fellowships name as much as possible.The reason why the fellow ship states attraction not promotion because we hope that others who struggle will see the chIange it has made in our life and want the same thing as well. But most of the time that dosent happen without the gift of desperation I know as an adult you have many years to be blessed with the gift of desperation and the pain and suffering gives that gift to you but as adolescents most havent had the the encuragement to want something diffrent through pain because they have just started to hurt with their decisons.

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