A little over two years ago I came to SMART Recovery Australia a broken and shamed man. My life had spiralled out of control on both drug and alcohol addictions. I had lost the ability to maintain steady employment and was quickly loosing the remaining handful of friends that would still see me. To add to this, having already lost one son, I had put my parents on tender hooks, leaving them unsure if each time I would finally go ‘too far’.
My health was very poor, as was my self esteem, having been diagnosed with ‘Brugada Syndrome’ (a form of arrhythmia). After realising the gravity of the diagnosis and gaining a glimpse at how much carnage I was creating around me. It gave me a lot of energy to get sorted out, but I did not know where to put that energy, how to get started.
I visited the Langton Centre at Surry Hills who on-referred me to SMART Recovery Australia’s website, where I was able to find a list of the meetings being held in my local area. I attended my first meeting rather timidly, not knowing what to expect or if I would gain anything. Upon arrival I was warmly welcomed and treated with respect and empathy. During my first couple of meetings, I quickly realised that there was a lot on offer from SMART Recovery and the material within the SMART Recovery handbook. I eagerly purchased a handbook and became engrossed in its pages, for the first time here were many suggestions to the questions about my addiction, some I was too embarrassed to voice at first. Here was a guide to where to place my energies.
Looking back, many things have been accomplished and many bridges mended, in the last two years. My physical and mental health has greatly improved, so much so that I have been a facilitator of a SMART Recovery meeting myself for just on a year, sharing the highs and lows of recovery with many others, continually learning, continually growing, continually loving life more and more. I have had surgery to correct the ‘Brugada Syndrome’, and my family and friends have complimented the ‘new and improved’ me unsolicited. My two proudest achievements since recovering from addiction are; becoming Godfather to my closest friend’s son and successfully completing the first year of a psychology degree at university (something until a year ago I was convinced I did not have the ability to do).
Through my first year of psychology studies, I have been exposed to much of the founding work carried out by Dr Albert Ellis (upon whose work much of SMART Recovery’s concepts are based). The regard Dr Ellis’ still holds in the scientific community is testimony to SMART Recovery’s commitment to remaining up to the minute with scientific endeavours in the field of addiction.
I am very proud to be a part of the SMART Recovery community, and would have absolutely no hesitation in recommending SMART Recovery to any who are recovering from addiction of any sort. No matter what the individual’s intellect or past experience is, here is a program truly for the masses. Thank you SMART Recovery Australia.
Ty.