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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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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After years of drinking and casual drug use, Tyrone found his own path to recovery by witnessing the hope Fairbanks had given his own brother.
“I watched my brother change and realized I was addicted to drugs and alcohol also and I wanted to change. He really helped me see that there was hope.” said Tyrone.
Although Tyrone struggled with the concept of sobriety and honesty for several years he has now been sober for three years and has a new outlook on life.
“I changed my attitude and actions and realized that I have to be honest with myself,” said Tyrone. “It begins with me and it ends with me and I have to be responsible for my decisions.
My life today is better than it’s ever been.”
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