What would it be like to look in the mirror and not be able to trust your perception of yourself?  What if, no matter how thin you were, to you, your appearance was overweight?  What if you had to spend time purging food to stay thin when in fact you weren’t overweight in the first place and then compulsively over ate?  Couple this distortion with a growing need to hide the shame and ignore the sinking self esteem with alcohol and you have a snapshot of the inner turmoil of an eating disordered person.  Join us this week to hear Sue’s story of recovery from her addictions.

Truth really is sometime stranger than fiction and life happens in ways we would never aspire to or predict.  How can things that appear tragic be our path to awareness and enlightenment?  Starting with feelings of abandonment and insecurity Barb found her way through her family disease and out the other side with happiness and success.  Facing losses of relationships with family, potential death and financial disaster she found a way to grow and understand her own role in the drama and finally to recover.  We hope you tune in this week to learn more about an amazing life and an amazing recovering woman.

Addiction isn’t supposed to happen to educated people, right?  It’s not supposed to happen to people who come from a good family, who are nice people and it’s especially not supposed to happen to people who are supposed to help others like doctors, nurses, therapists and other health care pros; but it does.  Listen to “Jack’s” story to find out how addiction is not only a disease but an equal opportunity disease.

Most people wouldn’t consider an alcoholic or drug addict a good candidate for enlightenment.  How is it then that recovering alcoholics and addicts find a “spiritual program”, a “power greater than themselves and are able, with the guidance of that new found power to recover.  It seems nothing short of miraculous that people with this devastating disease are able to swim up from the depths of despair to a life not only alcohol and drug free but compassionate and meaningful.  Join us this week to hear Chuck O and Chris S as they share their personal stories of spiritual growth.

The line is sometimes blurry and sometimes crystal clear.  Does one cause the other?  How are the two illnesses related and how do they interact?  Where does medication come in?  Our guests this week have stories that may help to clarify some of these questions and give us a glimpse into the complexities of recovering from two things rather than one.

Is it a relapse…a slip…a calculated and willful decision?  We have a panel of three recovering people who have been there and who may help us better understand the inner workings of this phenomenon.  Our focus is not only to look at the structure of how a relapse can occur but also to look at how recovery can continue post-relapse.  Our panel represents a sample of people from 20 + years, 5 years and 1 year post-relapse with the assumption that there are different hurdles at each level.  Although we know that every story is different we think there are common threads that we can identify.  Join us this Sunday night for an interesting and in-depth discussion on this topic.

Join us for a lively discussion with Ray Chlebicki, the former national sales manager for Roxand Labs, one of the three largest manufacturers of methadone.  Methadone, originally a drug developed by the Germans during the Second World War as a synthetic opiate pain reliever, has been used in this country both as a pain reliever and as a substitution therapy for heroin addiction.  Many have found successful recovery and others vehemently disagree with its use for this purpose.  Ray will offer us some history, some facts and debunk some myths.

Jim’s been “around” a long time.  He says that he, “didn’t get it for awhile” and that the “spiritual part of the program was a real struggle.”  His experiences range from service work in hospitals just as “rehab” was becoming popular to work at the district levels  corrections and other positions.  He’s been in on the early local wanderers group movement and despite retirement hasn’t missed a beat with priority number one.  We hope you can join us for a great story of hope and longevity and maybe even find out the “secret” to Jim’s success.

A recovering alcoholic who was looking for a place to be more frank about his Christian faith went to his well-known pastor and together they developed an international program called Celebrate Recovery; a scripturally based program that bridges Christianity and the twelve step programs.  Many Christians find their way to the twelve steps of recovery and many twelve steppers find a place to celebrate their faith.  Join us this Sunday to talk to Steve Yeschek the coordinator of our local “Celebrate Recovery” program at the Crystal Lake Evangelical Free Church.

A long-time friend to the recovering community, Father Jim Swarthout has a new role with Rosecrance Health Systems, one of the area’s largest treatment providers. He’ll tell us about all the interesting things he’s been up to and how his particular skillset fits like a glove with his position.  Attitudes about alcoholism and helping alcoholics have changed in the last 30 years and Father Jim will give us some perspective on that.  He’s informative, entertaining and a real character.  Join us Sunday night for an evening with Father Jim.