Recovery retreat

So today our clinical was to go to a recovery retreat for alchoholics and drug users. It was an awesome experience, and I learned a lot from it. I actually learned more from the two hours we were there than any time I've spent at the veteran's hopsital. It is amazing to listen to the group sessions and hear people talk so open and honest and be so real and raw with their feelings. I never really expected that. I also realized (not that I'm not open minded or anything, I have just never really been exposed to this type of thing) that recovery from an addiction is not merely giving up drinking or using drugs. It's so much more than that. There are so many little strings attached: the law, your friends, your family, redefining who you are as a person because when you stop hanging out with your druggie friends or stop drinking with people, you suddenly have no friends, no identity. It's much more complex than I ever thought. I am amazed by the people who can actually stop the vicious cycle of addiction, and become better, stronger, more admirable people because of their experience. I also really liked how the group leader, who is also a recovered alcoholic of 9 years, had no formal training, but knew the patterns, the cycle, everything all too well. He was open, honest, and quite frankly, really hard on the residents at the retreat, but I think it was good for them. It's easy to go through the motions and read some silly paper or book that tells you what you need to do, but that doesn't really help you to recover. It's people who help guide you, even test you; that's how you get better.

Also, a very weird thing for me... I didn't realize how young the residents were going to be. 85% were under 30 I'm guessing. There was a boy I knew from highschool there. It was just super weird for me to be looking at him and thinking, here I am in college, and you're in rehab. How does life go so wrong, and how do you get so far in to addiction that you blow your whole life away?