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A collaborative effort geared toward successful recovery from addiction encourages participants to learn or rediscover their passion.
Donna Jenereski, director of the county Drug and Alcohol Program, said Slippery Rock University reached out to her about six months ago to help distribute a survey asking those in recovery, addiction recovery professionals and others in the field which services are needed and which types of services they felt would be helpful to those in recovery.
When the survey results were observed, Jenereski had a conversation with those at SRU's Institute for Nonprofit Leadership, where a “recovery life initiatives” program is ongoing.
The survey revealed that those in early recovery had no venue in which they could learn or rediscover the interests or activities they're passionate about.
That led to “Rediscovering Your Story,” a five-week program in which those in early recovery come to SRU's Butler SUCCEED Center on Main Street each Wednesday evening to tell their stories through creative writing.
Jenereski said jewelry making, art, dance and other sessions are being considered, and a drum circle class at the Butler SUCCEED Center called “Rediscovering Your Rhythm” begins Nov. 9 for those in recovery.
An SRU music professor will lead that class.
“We want to keep the momentum and be able to offer multiple classes,” Jenereski said.
She said the county commissioners, the county human services department and many others are supportive of and excited about the new program at the Butler SUCCEED Center.
“It's helping individuals to discover or rediscover what they like to do,” O'Connor said of the new program. “It's being able to learn or relearn how to enjoy yourself, enjoy life and have fun in a completely different way than they had been.”
Mark O'Connor, a creative writing professor at SRU, and five of his university students volunteered at the Rediscovering Your Story sessions. The final session was on Oct. 27.
O'Connor explained that the five student volunteers are from his Writing Community Stories class, which is a brand new class at SRU.
The students helped teach at the Rediscovering Your Story sessions, and did taped interviews with each of the five participants, who talk about their lives, addiction and recovery.
Families who have struggled with a loved one suffering from addiction, including those who have lost a family member, are also interviewed on tape by the students.
O'Connor said Jenereski provided him with the families to be interviewed.
All of the interviews were transcribed and will be included, along with the participants' writings, in a bound book that will be available at a public event Dec. 1 at the Butler SUCCEED Center, where the new program's first class and its participants will be celebrated.
O'Connor said each class began with a fun warm-up exercise, then the class moved into a longer writing assignment.
The professor said he was surprised at the skill and willingness to share experiences among the five participants.
He said when teaching creative writing at SRU, first-year students are unsure and hesitant, and it takes some time for them to become comfortable sharing their work.
“These guys are very comfortable sharing their work and doing the hard work of making good writing,” O'Connor said of the participants. “I pushed them like I push my advanced writing students at Slippery Rock.”
He said the five participants encourage one another in their writing assignments.
One man struggled with a topic assigned by O'Connor, so one of his students gave the man an idea on how to tear into it.
“He went to town,” O'Connor said.
O'Connor said he has deep gratitude for the families who agreed to a taped interview on their experiences with a loved one's addiction, especially those who lost that loved one to the disease.
“It's deeply moving,” he said. “These are personal, intense stories about loss, recovery and success.”
He said the families, in return, appreciated the opportunity to share their stories. “Before the project, they didn't exist on paper and now they do,” O'Connor said.
He said the group will meet again Wednesday, when a photographer will come to the Butler SUCCEED Center to take pictures of the five participants for inclusion in the book.
O'Connor looks forward to the celebration Dec. 1, when county officials, representatives from SRU, the participants, and he and his students will celebrate Rediscovering Your Story.
The book created from the Rediscovering Your Story sessions will be available at the celebration Dec. 1 and will be available for review online and at the Butler SUCCEED Center.
