Betty Ford Center Alumni presence during the 75th International Convention of Alcoholics Anonymous
San Antonio, TX
July 1 – 4, 2010
by Tammy Placencia
Alumni Services was well represented in San Antonio in the BFC Alumni Hospitality Suite. Our suite was situated on the 5th floor in the Grand Hyatt, which was adjacent to the Convention Center.
We were able to spend time with alumni from all over the world---Texas, Hawaii, New York, Hong Kong, Arizona, California, Florida, Canada, etc. There was consistent traffic in the suite throughout the day and evening hours starting from 7:30am until 10:00pm. And not only was our suite visited by alumni by the Betty Ford Center, but we also had many other non BFC affiliated sober alcoholics and alanons visit our suite on an ongoing basis.
This trip was truly valuable. There were some 55,000+ people that attended the convention and our exposure and presence was appreciated by our alumni and others alike. The suite was staffed by Tammy Placencia, Carla Fremlin, and various other alumni who volunteered to stand-in when needed.
Young Adults
Last Friday, both male YATs from RDT and female young adults that had been in Inpatient over a month, traveled with staff (Jennifer Dewey, Julie Leizorek, James Barry, Lorenzo Servitje and Mark Baumgartner) to La Jolla beach. They went on a sea kayaking tour together followed by a barbeque and beach activities. These patients made some lasting memories of having fun and appropriately socializing with the opposite sex in sobriety. A trip to La Jolla would probably be a great sober experience for all BFC patients, but offering this kind of treatment activity to young adults is critical. A couple of the female patients actually extended their length of stay to go on this outing.
Since the male YAT program started two years ago, young adult patients at the Betty Ford Center have received enhanced treatment activities to meet their unique needs. Brain development research indicates that the brain keeps growing until age 25 and, that among other things, younger adults have a need for engaging in risk and a decreased ability to control impulses when compared to adults older than 25. Providing extra treatment activities that meet these and other age appropriate needs has helped our young adult patients be successful with their treatment and recovery.
Both female and male young adults are now receiving enhanced Fitness, Leisure and Adventure Therapy. All young adults at RDT and IP attend weekly challenging fitness sessions and competitive leisure sessions in addition to what is offered in Fitness to regular adult patients. For example, patients may play grass volleyball or flag football on Thursday afternoons. A mock triathlon has also been a patient favorite. In this friendly but competitive activity, patients are timed running the treadmill, swimming and riding on the exercise bikes. The adventure based counseling activities have consisted primary of outings that have a perceived risk to the patient but are actually very safe when facilitated properly. Examples include technical rock climbing in Joshua Tree National Park; A Zip Line course in Big Bear; mountain biking; hiking from the top of the Tram to the peak of Mt. San Jacinto and back, and the already-mentioned sea kayaking in the La Jolla oceanic preserve. Sometimes outings are more cultural in focus. The week before last, the RDT young adult men took a tour of a local TV broadcast and production studio.
Alumni/Patient Meet and Greet
Each month, the patients are given the opportunity to fellowship with our alumni in the Alumni Lounge, during the “Alumni/Patient Meet and Greet”. This event engages the patients to our alumni and they get to experience the power of the fellowship firsthand, before actually becoming alumni themselves. This also gives our patients a chance to ask questions about Chapter meetings, being of service, what they can expect from their alumni contact relationship and to just have sober fun with those who have come in before them! Please check our Events Calendar for our next scheduled Alumni/Patient Meet and Greet.
Wall in the Hall
Would you like to put your name in the hall where you were a patient? This fall, our Alumni Challenge campaign (in support of the Financial Assistance Fund) will be focused on the four inpatient halls. For a gift of $500.00, your name and the year you were here will go on a plaque on the “Wall in the Hall” of your choice. Watch for a letter or email with details coming in August. Join your hall mates and gain recognition for the beginning of your path to recovery! Please contact Kelly Raguindin, Annual Gifts Manager, for more information at 760-773-2984 or by e-mail at kraguindin@bettyfordcenter.org.
28th Alumni Anniversary
The excitement is building as we near our 28th Annual Alumni Anniversary, and we want to share recovery with you during this special time. Please plan on joining your Betty Ford Center family November 5-7 and create your own anniversary memories.
Agenda
Hotels
FAQ
Register
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Regional Alumni Volunteers Support BFC Alumni
A Regional Alumni Volunteer (RAV) is a BFC alumnus who is willing to be of service, committing both time and effort to fellow alumni from their hometown “region.” The RAV works in association with BFC Alumni Services to support a variety of recovery programs. Through his/her proven sobriety, the RAV also focuses on connecting returning alumni to the numerous recovery tools available in their home area.
RAVs make themselves available for a variety of services as outlined by the Alumni Services office. They work collaboratively with other RAVs in their region and understand that what they do is as important as how they do it: they practice 12 Step recovery principals in all of their affairs.
The largest group of RAVs is in the Coachella Valley. They play an important role at the Center and are truly committed to serving current patients as well as alumni. Some of these service commitments include:
• Facilitate regular ‘Back to Basics’ workshops for Residential Day Treatment (RDT) and Intensive Outpatient (IOP) participants;
• Coordinate alumni panels for Inpatients as well as for RDT and IOP;
• Facilitate IOP exit meetings;
• Call on patients during Sunday visitation;
• Work with Alumni Services to make the weekly ‘alumni contact calls’;
• Decorate residence halls for major holidays;
• Organize the annual Alumni Spring BBQ;
• Provide enormous support to the Alumni Services staff during the Annual Alumni Weekend.
This enthusiastic group truly displays integrity and commitment to the Betty Ford Center. We appreciate their passion for what they bring to our patients and alumni.
Being of Service as an Alumni Contact
There are many ways that Alumni Services connect newcomers to recovery after treatment.
Alumni contacts are a vital link in this process. Alumni Services makes every effort to find an alumni contact in the departing patient’s home area with the expectation the contact will be of service and take the newcomer to a 12 Step meeting, meet for coffee, or - if there is a BFC Chapter meeting in their area – introduce them to more alumni.
Each Friday afternoon, time slots are set aside so current patients can visit the Alumni Services offices and call their alumni contact. Staff are available to answer questions regarding early sobriety, getting involved in 12 Step fellowship and connecting with an alumni chapter.
Alumni Services is committed to making the transition into alumni fellowship and the recovery community as smooth as possible.
If you would like to be of service as an alumni contact, please call our office at 1-800-854-9211 ext. 2071 or email Tammy at tplacencia@bettyfordcenter.org.
Shame and Guilt
by Merlyn K., Colorado
The pain of shame stays mainly in the brain but,
Even though I know that,
It still hurts me in my gut.
There are times when I’m overwhelmed with guilt.
It seems to want to smother me,
Almost like a heavy quilt.
My mind is telling me I should regret the past.
But, I wish to shut the door on it
And do it really fast!
What is troublesome and very difficult to learn,
Is which bridges do I cross and
Which ones do I burn?
I have learned, through all that I’ve been shown,
Whatever the choices I may make,
I don’t have to make them alone.
My special fellowship helps me find direction.
To live and progress on life’s terms,
With spiritual imperfection.
I can find a freedom that is truly new.
For I know that if I work for them,
The promises do come true!
Experience, Strength and Hope
by Susan B.
Before active involvement in AA, before entering the Betty Ford Center, the words experience, strength and hope were not commonly used in my daily conversations. My experiences were centered around drinking, my strength was in pouring a hefty glass and my hope, well, there was none. I walked through the doors of Camp Betty devoid of hope and filled with the fear that once the alcohol was removed, there would be nothing left.
And that was the end of my drinking experience and the beginning of my life experience. What I learned at BFC and subsequently in the rooms of AA is that the adventure of life is something to be embraced, experienced and enjoyed for the alternative is death, and quite frankly, I’m just not ready for that!
The experiences I’ve had in sobriety continue to reveal to me the depth, breadth and width of just how glorious this life can be, how genuinely happy it makes me feel to be of service and that the healthiest action I can take is to get out of my head!
The strength that has been granted to me is divinely inspired – strength to believe in a power greater than myself; strength to believe that I a, not on this journey alone, and strength to know that the decisions and actions I make today will determine my tomorrow.
It is still a marvel to me to awaken each day with hope. After so many miserable days, months and years, to now have the opportunity to live in hope is truly a gift of the AA program.
Living in the light of the Spirit, consciously being in the moment and knowing that fear no longer need be my constant companion, is a miracle. Thank God I didn’t give up before the miracle happened!
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