BadCompany

Once a month I am a volunteer speaker at an inpatient treatment center. I am introduced as a long time member of AA. I tell my drinking story just enough to let people know why I qualify and then I start in on the steps, telling how I went through them, mistakes and all.

I am right in the middle of rewriting my talk and thought I would ask a question here. If you were in treatment, what topic would you like to hear about from an outside speaker?

Try18

When I was in treatment, the best received stories were simple. Where you were, what you did and where you are now. Also how the family suffer, and family recovery. I think it's important to look at that when you're in treatment, as you can become very focused on yourself. Just my experience.

Taproot

Thanks for asking this open-ended question! The question haunting me is: what are the odds of achieving long-term sobriety? Of every 100 who attempt to kick alcohol, how many succeed the first time? How many ever succeed? Maybe that's not the kind of "personal testimony" question you are looking for here, and I don't intend to misdirect you...but this difficult aspect of sobriety has definaitely been on my mind.

Try18

The only statistic you need to focus on is yourself, Taproot.

jaynie04

I spent a month inpatient this summer and we had local speakers come, it was by far one of the best parts of rehab. Just my opinion, in 30 day rehab we only dealt with the first step. The 12 steps were posted in a lot of common spaces but I don't think most of the patients (200 or so) at the facility I was at would have sat still to listen to a speaker talk about going through the steps. I did find that a brief qualifying followed by a solution and how the speaker's life had progressed since he got sober was well received.

There were not many patients at the facility I was at that were already committed to AA, I think patients are still looking at the broad strokes of recovery and are much more interested in where you are now but not necessarily the intricacies of the program. You said you've been doing this a while so you probably know there are a lot of wise guys in treatment..it was pretty interesting to see the peanut gallery calm down and be respectful when a good speaker took the floor. I have enjoyed your posts in the past and you sound like you have an interesting life, I think people in treatment love to here that a sober life can interesting, adventurous and fun!

Adnamaeel

I would be most interested in hearing about what your life has been like since getting sober.

LBrain

Who cares how many made it or failed when you are in rehab. imo
Giving a positive message is of utmost importance. I hate it when 'they' tell you in rehab that only 2 of you are going to make it. Then they dump you on AA for follow up 'treatment'. That gave me a lot of inspiration. It's like going to Vietnam during the "conflict" and they say, "Most you won't make it past the first week." What an uplifting feeling to hear something like that. Same goes for rehab. "I might as well throw in the towel before I even try, what's the use?"

People in rehab don't need to hear the odds are against them. They need to hear hope. If you can give at least one person hope and a positive attitude, you've done your job well.

Coffeecake

I haven't been in rehab, but I can tell you what I look for in stories on this site. I am looking for honesty. I want the down and dirty raw honesty of what it is, what it takes, and what it is going to mean. It is a difficult message to convey, honesty. Sometimes honesty is too harsh for someone, but knowing honestly that you are worth it, that it is hard, but it is possible and that living an honest life is one of the most difficult and yet most rewarding ways to live make those hard lessons something to embrace. If you are getting up there and telling your story with honesty, you are doing it right. I think people want the connection, the root of the root, but they also want to know that they are worth it.

EJ43

Anything hopeful

BadCompany

Great responses! Lets bump this up for the morning crew.

Eibon

Hey BC... am not sure if its a question but literally 7 days ago I was in the depths of despair. Opened a bottle of wine in the morning and could barely drink it through the tears streaming down my face. I knew I didn't want to drink anymore but I was on autopilot just in the depths of self pity and was almost possessed in the fact I carried on drinking. Today I am happy to say (well mere happiness is a total understatement!!) is day 7 of complete sobriety (largely due to the overwhelming warmth and support of the SR site).

I guess my point for any talk or to any new members or folk new to recovery is to convey a sympathetic attitude toward the "depression due to lack of control" element. I guess the message I would want to hear is one of REASSURANCE that even in a relatively short period of sobriety the alco fog can (in my case anyway) lift incredibly quickly and even the very short term benefits of sobriety can be used as a sturdy platform for the future. This message of acceptance and reassurance that I gained from this site last Wednesday (my day 1) filled me with such strength and determination I can easily say it changed my life. Obviously I believe this will be for the long term but today I am and will remain sober.
I take my hat of to you for investing such time and energy into helping others. Strength and power to you and anyone reading this

GreenEggsAndHam

How you managed to stick with it one day at a time in early recovery. It's so easy to give up, and most of us (I assume) are afraid we won't stick with our commitment to quit like we had so many times in the past.

SpringWater

How to stay sober once you leave treatment. That would be a big help to me.

GreenEggsAndHam

This is great as well. I was so fearful of the day I would eventually have to leave treatment, I even cried and asked if I could stay longer. :~p

BadCompany

Thanks everyone. Everything here is helpful.

OpioPhobe

BadCompany - I think the number one question I would have in that situation is whether you ever feel "normal" again. It helped me tremendously to hear from others in long-term sobriety that all of the ****** withdrawal / PAWS / etc. eventually goes away. Sometimes I would think that they were BSing me and just saying it to make me feel better. It wasn't until I was genuinely convinced by someone with years of clean time, that I actually had faith that life was worth living sober/clean.

Thepatman

You have awesome coverage on the topic here.

I'm having difficulties and subscribed in an outpatient program.it's free so I am not getting much results.

Anyway for me, I believe I am not condemned to be stigmatized for the rest of my life with this. I can be normal like everyone. So I would say that telling this is not a hopeless life sentence might be good.