Opportunity is defined as “a favorable or advantageous circumstance or combination of circumstances”. In active addiction, this usually meant some circumstance that I could exploit to continue using. It didn’t matter what consequence, spiritually, emotionally or financially that was caused, so long as I could get what I wanted out of particular situation.

Getting clean provided me with a vast number of new, more positive opportunities in life. On a very basic level, when I stopped chasing the next high and spending all my money on drugs, I had a great deal more time and resources to dedicate towards positive avenues. When I embraced others in recovery, I acquired valuable friendships, new insights and perspectives and solid peer support. Working a program of recovery enables me to do the internal work to become a better version of myself on a daily basis. As a popular recovery saying goes, “lost dreams reawaken and new ones are found”. For the recovering addict, with a little patience, the possibilities are endless.

Working at TSN, I get a chance to encounter and work directly with addicts who often claim to feel “stuck”. It’s true that an addict or alcoholic’s bottom is usually that place in their life when they’ve run out of chances to continue using. I know from firsthand experience that feeling of the walls caving in. The beauty is that this ‘bottom’ is actually an opportunity; a favorable circumstance to affect change in that individual’s life, if they so choose.

At TSN, we pride ourselves on being a part of that process. We feel every addict or alcoholic deserves the opportunity to recover. We are glad to be a piece in the puzzle, along with family members, social workers, EAP’s, and the many other professionals involved in the field of addiction, to help create this ‘favorable circumstance’ for recovery.

A lesson is defined as “an experience, example or observation that imparts beneficial new knowledge or wisdom”. In active addiction, I consistently refused to ‘learn my lesson’, so to speak. Time and time again, I’d repeat the same behaviors and receive negative consequences. Towards the end, I was aware that I was acting in a totally self-destructive fashion but continued to do so because I was unwilling to allow any new information in and find another way to live.

Recovery is a process of learning lessons slowly over a period of time. The biggest lesson we learn is that for us to use drugs and alcohol, we immediately put our lives in jeopardy and face an entire host of unpleasant outcomes. From that simple starting point, we become open to grow. Through experiencing life without drugs and alcohol, having a support group and being allowed to make our own mistakes, we come to learn many lessons. We learn where our attitudes, beliefs and behaviors fall short or fail to work for us. We learn where we can do better next time. As long as we don’t pick up a substance, we always have the opportunity to do better.

In recovery, none of us are perfect. The recovering addict or alcoholic is simply another human being who is motivated to learn from life’s lesson in order to affect change and to grow for the positive. The miracle of it all is that the same addict or alcoholic who once existed as a plague to their loved ones for so long in active addiction can become, in recovery, an inspiration for family, friends and peers to seek change in their own lives. The shift from negative to positive that the recovering addict or alcoholic experiences is an enormous testament of hope for all involved.

At TSN, we take great joy in participating in this process. We believe that any addict or alcoholic, given the opportunity and the proper support, has the potential to make a miraculous change in their lives. The individual, the family and the entire community reap the benefit any time an addict or alcoholic begins to seek a new way of life. And one day at a time, we here at TSN are very pleased to play our part.

The entire idea of recovery simply to learn how to incorporate positive behaviors and principles into one’s lifestyle, so that when a real life situation arises, we are able to handle it, first and foremost without the use of a drug and ideally with a degree of dignity. It’s like a blueprint for life. We practice it repetitively and consistently in all our affairs, so that when something major arises, we can be ready at a moment’s notice to summon all that we have learned. Life on life’s terms means that when life shows up, we take it as it comes and don’t run from our problems by using a substance.

Dealing with life on life’s terms is not something addicts and alcoholics are accustomed to. In my active addiction, I used any excuse I could to continue using. Any “difficult” situation in life became an opportunity to justify my next high. In recovery, I’ve been able to learn new and constructive ways to deal with life. It started by practicing simple levels of responsibility to manage basic daily stressors like jobs, bills and traffic. In the past year, putting recovery into practice has allowed me to navigate some of life’s more serious challenges like the death of a loved one, illness in the family and difficulties in some personal relationships.

At TSN, we place a very high value on the gift of recovery. We realize that recovery is so much more than simple abstinence from drinking or drugging. When a sick and suffering addict or alcoholic becomes ready to embrace recovery, they find entirely new levels of freedom. Their lives are transformed. People that were once the source of chaos, pain and discord in their homes are able to become loving sons, daughters, spouses, parents and friends. Their recovery becomes a source of hope and joy, not only for themselves, but for their loved ones and others around them still suffering from addiction.

Life is never going to be perfect or without its challenges. Recovering from alcoholism or drug addiction can sometimes be a long road. At TSN, we are here to make sure that journey starts on the right foot and that any addict or alcoholic seeking that freedom gets the best available assistance in creating a solid foundation for their recovery.

Cooperation is defined as two or more forces working or acting together towards a common end or purpose. In active addiction, my concept of cooperation was using and manipulating others, so that I could continue getting high. If a person or thing didn’t fit into my self-centered pursuit of the ‘next one’, I found very little need to involve myself, let alone work together with them towards any positive goal.

Coming into recovery, I learned how to cooperate with others in a healthy context. My life and my ability to stay clean depended on other recovering addicts who were willing to help support me in finding new ways to live in order to get another day clean. I found I was no greater than and no less than the next addict and we were both working towards the same goal of continued recovery. It took work building genuine trust in others to drop my guard just enough to allow them to get to know the real me, in order to help me in my recovery process and to be willing to do the same for them in return.

At TSN, we strongly promote an environment of cooperation and teamwork. Our mission is to provide every addict or alcoholic we come in contact with that is seeking freedom from active addiction the opportunity to achieve a better way of life through recovery. From our CEO, to our Regional Directors, to our Treatment Consultants, Intake Coordinators and Case Managers – everyone at TSN is working towards the same end. With everyone in motion towards the same positive goal, I find typical problematic issues like conflicts of personality and egos quickly take a backseat.

As a unified whole, TSN depends upon the cooperation of referring facilities, EAP’s, families and even the addict or alcoholic themselves, in order to achieve our goal. Addiction is a large and pervasive problem in America and it takes cooperation on a large scale to make a dent in the problem. I’m reminded of the saying ‘It takes a village to raise a child’ because it requires an entire community to help place suffering addicts and alcoholics on the path to freedom. One day at a time, we here at TSN are committed to doing just that.

Ryan is an Intake Coordinator for Treatment Solutions Network. If you need addiction help don’t hesitate to call him at 877-417-6237

Accountability is the “willingness to accept responsibility for one’s actions”. In my active addiction, not only did I lack accountability, I sought at any and all costs to avoid it. I did not want to be held accountable for my whereabouts on any given day, for what lies I told to cover my tracks and most certainly not for my behaviors. Accountability implies a level of acceptance with regards to consequences and I spent a tremendous amount of time and effort to evade the consequences and repercussions that resulted from my irresponsible and self-centered lifestyle.

Adopting accountability is a learning process for any recovering addict. It comes slowly because for so long, it was often much simpler to put the blame others or the circumstances and situations. Early in my recovery, as I began to learn and grow, I became able to admit my wrongs or to having had made a mistake but my tendencies to rationalization or justify outside events or other people’s behaviors as a cause still remained. It took a very long time before my pride would allow me to simply state “I was mistaken, I will do better next time and please accept my apology.”

Working at TSN, maintaining personal and professional accountability is absolutely critical. Every call I receive represents a prospective patient who is looking for help. Behind every patient is a concerned and hurting family and many times, other interested and caring healthcare professionals, employers, etc. There is a great deal of trust placed in my hands to be helpful and effective, to educate along the way and to treat everyone I come in contact with, no matter how difficult or abrasive, with patience, respect and above all dignity.

At TSN, we pride ourselves on our accountability. We take it upon ourselves to be responsible to ensure the suffering addict or alcoholic gets the appropriate level of care from that initial call, to being educated on both their disease and the possible placement options, to their stay in one of our facilities and all the way through an effective aftercare program and case management. When mistakes do happen, we take measures to remedy it immediately, as individuals and as a company. In this field, I find there is no other way to operate – the life of the suffering addict or alcoholic is simply too valuable to be jeopardized by a lack of accountability.

When I came into recovery, I didn’t feel I had much to be grateful for. My life was at an all-time low, again. I felt miserable about myself and everything around me. My thinking was still geared towards extreme negativity and I couldn’t see that for all my problems, I still had the gift of life and loving support of my friends from the program.

One night, I was thanking a friend incessantly for some assistance he provided me. “Gratitude is an action word. Don’t tell me. Just show me,” he replied.

Those words stopped me dead in my tracks and revolutionized my outlook on the world. I’d always thought that gratitude meant saying ‘thank-you’ when one received a gift. It had never occurred to me that my gratitude could simply be reflected in my actions. My gratitude speaks when I honestly and diligently work a program and apply principles. My gratitude speaks when I reach my hand out to the next newcomer and offer my support.

In recovery literature, it states that a grateful addict will never use. This is a strong statement and yet, in my personal experience, I’ve found it to be very true. The disease of addiction robs us of gratitude and programs us to always look for more, better, faster or stronger. Thinking and behaving from a place of gratitude is the polar opposite of compulsion and a very powerful antidote to the addictive mindset.

Working at TSN and in the treatment field gives me something to be grateful for on a daily basis. Speaking to addicts and alcoholics reaching out for help gives me a stark reminder of my own affliction. Taking the time to offer love, tolerance and assistance to a suffering individual and their family gives me the opportunity to ‘pay it forward’ for all the help I received along my own path. And today, I always offer the same challenge to thankful clients – Don’t tell me, just show me.

Introducing Ryan Collison. Ryan will be publishing a monthly article on his own experiences with recovery. This new feature of the TSN Addiction Recovery Blog will be called “Collison Corner”. We encourage you to subscribe and keep up with Ryan’s insightful stories.

Recovering Integrity

Integrity is defined as an adherence to a code of values, a soundness, a completeness. In my active addiction, this concept meant absolutely nothing to me. It couldn’t. My lifestyle was consumed by self-seeking behavior. I had no values to adhere to. I was not a sound individual and my idea of being complete meant that I had enough drugs to last me through the day, regardless of who I hurt or what I did to obtain them.

Simply putting the drugs down did not mean that I suddenly transformed into a person who practiced a principled lifestyle. Living with integrity is like any behavior or skill that needs to be learned. I had to learn by watching others and by doing. I observed the people around me who were there to help teach me a new way to live. I saw when these people said that they would be somewhere, they showed up. I saw when they didn’t know or they made a mistake, they said so. I began by imitating them, until I understood what it felt like and the value of making such a change.

Integrity is a practice. It must be repeated over and over again and continuously refined. I try to practice integrity in my personal life, in my relationships with friends, co-workers, family and strangers. I don’t always get it right, but I do see the constant growth and change.

In the field of addiction treatment and at TSN, this practice becomes all the more essential. When an addict or alcoholic reaches their hand out, seeking help, it is imperative that my actions and behaviors are reflective of my values as a recovering individual.
In life, it’s often the small things that really count. This starts with returning phone calls promptly or admitting when I don’t know the answer to a specific question. I understand that I’m responsible for putting people on the path to recovery. They need to see me walk the walk. And for my own recovery, so do I.

Ryan is an Intake Coordinator for Treatment Solutions Network. If you need addiction help don’t hesitate to call him at 877-417-6237