by A Women in Sobriety | Mar 19, 2014 | Addiction Articles, Sobriety For Women
Delray Beach is The Recovery Capital of The World!
Delray Beach, Florida, is known as the recovery capital of the United States. It’s also knows as the recovery capital of the world! It’s located in Palm Beach County, in beautiful south Florida. Delray is an hour north of Miami and only twenty minutes from Ft. Lauderdale. It lies between Boca Raton and Boynton Beach.
I have a saying I like to repeat to women new in Delray Beach. It goes a little something like this – my grandparents worked their entire lives to retire to Delray Beach. All I had to do was lie, cheat, steal, and drink!
Why is Delray The Recovery Capital?
Delray Beach has the country’s largest amount of sober communities, treatment centers, halfway houses, and other sober living facilities. There are over 200 weekly twelve-step meetings to choose from, many of which are women’s meetings.
As if all that wasn’t enough, Delray has a number of recovery business. These range from twelve-step intergroup offices to meditation centers to yoga studies to spiritual shops.
Why Is it a Good Idea For Me To Live in Delray?
Recovery for women can be hard, especially when surrounded by the people, places, and things we associate with active addiction. Getting away from these places can be a tremendous help in the recovery process. Being around other recovering women, who share your struggles and triumphs, is a great form of sober support. Being part of an active community of sober women can make you feel accepted and comfortable through the difficult time known as early-sobriety. It also helps with preventing relapse.
Delray is diverse and boasts a demographic of all ages. Young people (eighteen to twenty five years old) are quickly becoming the largest group admitted to treatment centers. Delray beach has a ton of young people in sobriety! It’s easy to make new friends, supports, and meaningful, lifelong connections. Some of us refer to these people as our second family! Delray is also know for it’s old-timers. These are people who have long-term recovery and (guess what!) they don’t have to be old! They have an incredible amount of experience, strength, and hope, which they’ve gained over their time in the rooms of recovery.
While some people stay in Florida to fulfill their treatment and return home, approximately 65,000 people make it their home after treatment.
Testimonial articles about Delray Beach, FL, have been found in the NY Times and the Herald Tribune.
Can I Have Fun in Sobriety?
Delray Beach is known for being a popular vacation spot. Many love the beautiful scenery at night, which, for many women, is great place to meditate.
Delray boasts over thirty parks and recreation facilities for residents and visitors. These include pools, water parks, athletic fields, skate parks, and one and half miles of public beach. Guess what else? The beach is open and beautiful three hundred and sixty-five days a year!
Downtown Delray is known for its dining, shopping, arts, culture, and nightlife. It’s filled with great restaurants, retail stores, spas, salons, art galleries, and unlimited fun. Downtown Delray’s known for its arts and crafts festivals and Christmas Tree lighting festival. Delray is also right next to the PGA Tour headquarters, markets, and countless concert venues.
Delray Beach is a fantastic place to start your recovery journey. No wonder is has been dubbed the Recovery Capital of the World! No wonder it’s become a home for so many women in sobriety!
by A Women in Sobriety | Dec 21, 2012 | Addiction Treatment, Sobriety For Women
One Woman’s Story of Taking Suggestions
As a scared eighteen year old girl entering treatment for alcoholism and an eating disorder, I had no idea what to expect. I had no idea what to expect from treatment. I had no idea what to expect from my life. I had no idea what to expect in so many ways!
I tried to convince myself I only needed help for “debilitating anxiety.” I had no plan to stay sober from any of my addictions. I was looking for a temporary break, a bit of peace and quiet. After staying in a hospital and slowly putting together a few days, I took my first suggestion. I came to an extended care treatment center in Florida.
Extended Care in Florida
I’d call my parents everyday, anxious to tell them how well I was doing. Of course, I was lying, I just wanted to get out! I sat in groups, saw doctors, and had individual therapy. I smoked cigarettes with my roommates and talked s**t.
I liked going to outside meetings and getting a glimpse of the real world the most. I couldn’t wait to have what everyone on the outside had. I didn’t want someone checking on me every half-hour. I didn’t want someone verifying if I could go to Starbucks. I didn’t want someone telling me I couldn’t use the phone.
Most of my peers from treatment moved out and roomed together. Some went to “three-quarter houses,” which were loosely organized and should have been called crack houses! I wanted that freedom. I wanted a car. I wanted no curfew. I debated going back to college. I wanted to join a sorority, drink in moderation, and get my life back. I wanted what I wanted when I wanted it.
Today, most of my peers from treatment aren’t sober. Two are dead. Of the fifty confused, young women I was in treatment with, only myself and one other are still sober.
Today, I thank God I got what I needed, NOT what I wanted.
What the Hell is a Halfway House Anyway?
That one other girl who’s still sober, well, her and I chose to go to halfway houses after treatment. When my treatment center suggested a halfway house, I reaction was dismal at best. I didn’t even know what a halfway house was!
One of my childhood friends lived next door to a halfway house. She always told me not to make eye contact with the residents and to go inside when they were smoking. I asked her why and she responded, “they’re all crazy people who do crack all day and have mental diseases.” So, when my treatment center suggested I go to a halfway, I wasn’t sure I wanted any part of it.
I finally learned what a halfway house really was. I was still skeptical. Bed-checks? Curfews? Been there, done that. I was pretty fed up with people running my life.
Taking Suggestions Saved My Life!
Today, I look at going to a halfway house as the best decisions I ever made. Sure, I didn’t want authority, but I was willing to try it out for a few months.
My thinking went something like this, “sure, authority sucks. What other option do I have though? If I start using again, I’ll probably die. Even if I don’t, I’ll be separated from my family and everyone else…”
Sharing a house with six women and sleeping in a twin-bed was never my idea of luxury. The feeling of belonging, hope, and happiness I experienced was better than anything else I’d ever felt. See, through living in a halfway house, I was introduced to Alcoholics Anonymous. I was introduced to young women in recovery. I was introduced to a new life.
Women with time took me to AA meetings my treatment center didn’t go to. I loved these meetings! There were women I could relate to. There were women talking about the Big Book and “recovering from a seemingly hopeless state of mind and body.” There were women talking about sponsorship and the twelve-steps.
Above all, my halfway house kept me accountable. I met my sponsor at a meeting the halfway house brought in. My halfway house manger consistently asked me where I was with my step work. When I wasn’t doing it, she pushed me to. I finished the twelve-steps. I felt, for the first time in my life, a real difference. I didn’t want to go home and try to drink in moderation. I wasn’t obsessed with getting high. I was taught how to live my life!
I started working part-time and taking college classes. I had the love and support of other girls doing the same thing. Sure, there were times I wanted to drink. If I hadn’t been in a halfway house, if I was in my own apartment, the chances are high that I would have. To put it another way, I never lacked a shoulder to lean on. Anytime I needed to vent (which, in early sobriety, was always!), there was someone there.
A Sober Woman
My experience in a halfway house allowed me to get reacquainted with life and all the responsibilities it entails.
Today, I have a full life. I’m a college graduate. I’m a sponsor. I’m still sober. These are high milestones for an addict and alcoholic!
I frequently remember my time in the halfway house with a bittersweet smile. I remember the ups and downs, the times I wanted to leave. I remember the end of my commitment, when I was actually ready to leave. I don’t have any regrets.
The women from my halfway house shaped me from a scared nineteen year old girl, to a mature and sober woman. Today, I can accept life’s hardships. Today, life is good, but only because I did the necessary work!
