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Seth spent 30 days at Fairbanks before moving into La Verna Lodge Family Program, a 12-step, long-term treatment setting for men created to unite residents and their families in recovery.

“I had to get away from my daily habits and also focus on my recovery,” he says. “But I also needed a safe place to manage my anxiety about life, and a place where I could be held accountable to behave in the appropriate way.”

“After coming to Fairbanks, I realized everything kept on happening without me, that I wasn’t the cause for every effect. For somebody who was terminally self-important, that was the biggest lesson I could ever get.”
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“For me rock bottom isn’t a place, it’s a feeling,” added Frank.

Frank chose recovery on September 13, 1996 when he came to Fairbanks. Although he had attempted sobriety many other times, this time he wanted it for good.

“Fairbanks had my best interest,” said Frank. “Everyone at Fairbanks helped me get honest and cut through the denial to see who I really was.” According to Frank one of the ways he stays sober is through volunteering at Fairbanks with the adolescents. For him, it is how he gives back.

“Life today is 180 degrees different from what it was when I was using,” said Frank. “It’s not what I have, it’s how I feel.”
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Debra, a former patient who now volunteers at Fairbanks, says that the best thing she received from her time in recovery here, was when she left.

“I had to face life on my own, and I learned I wasn’t afraid anymore – I could feel the peace.”

Being at Fairbanks, Debra says, helped her find the woman she’s been hiding all these years. “When I look in the mirror, I can say I actually like this person,” she says. “I had to deal with all my emotions and stuff. Before recovery, my emotions were in a bottle.”

“My biggest thrill is talking with the other women at Fairbanks,” she says. “They think I’m helping them…they’re helping me.”
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