Better Life in Recovery Plans for 2016

We looked at what Better Life in Recovery has been able to do since it was founded in 2012. In 2012 we had one event that impacted probably 50 people directly. It was a lot of fun, but we were just beginning. In the last blog we looked at all that we did in 2015. Summation, we had 64 events that impacted directly over 1,000 people and people in long-term recovery put in almost 2,000 hours of non-court ordered community service because it was the right thing to do. Now, we look at what we are planning for 2016.

For starters, we will once again be doing the 5K/10K Getting Dirty for Staying Clean Trail Run and Family Fun BBQ. We will also be planning the 3^rd Recovery Day at Hammons Field. Both of these have seen interest. The baseball game is extremely easy to put together, with the hardest part being selling the tickets to the game. The 5K is probably the most difficult thing we have done each year, taking a lot of planning beforehand and a dedicated bunch of volunteers the day before and the day of to make it successful.

We are getting a lot more ambitious with the stream team. We are planning at least 17 float trips where we will be cleaning the Missouri River ways as well as doing a couple of water quality management checks for the Missouri Department of Conservation.  We are also planning the big annual campout at Hootentown, a 3 day 4^th of July Campout as well as the second annual 11 Point Hike and Float Clean Up.

Last year we started Saturday and Sunday night events every week. Every Saturday, we meet from 6-11 and have an event and fellowship. The 1^st and 3^rd Saturday we have a game night and the 2^nd and 4^th Saturday we have Sober Karaoke. On Sundays there is a group of us that meets and bowls at 6. We will continue to do this every Saturday and Sunday this year as well.

We are planning on working with various agencies in the community, starting at the end of January we will have over a dozen volunteers joining with Community Partnerships and various other agencies for the Every One Counts project, where we will document the number of sheltered and unsheltered homeless individuals in Greene County to help gain a better understanding of the needs of our local homelessness. 

We will once again partner with Springfield Public Schools and are scheduled to repaint and clean up 4 elementary school playgrounds, possibly adding a fifth school at the end of the summer. We are also meeting with Harmony House, which is the local agency that houses those who are trying to escape domestic violence. We will be part of the United Way’s Day of Caring and over the course of the year finding other service opportunities so that we can continue to have a positive impact on our community.

Now we will look at what new things we plan to add for this year. We have a couple of things we will be doing, a couple of things that are in the pipeline and one big project that we need a lot of support, prayer and donations to bring to fruition.

This year we started a brand new group. The first day we had it was January 9^th. We are now doing a weekly support meeting for 15-25 year olds who use heroin and other opiates. Over the next couple of months will also be starting a rational/SMART recovery meeting as well as a family support group for the youth who are coming to the 15-25 support group.

We are going to be having a paintball day and a laser tag day every 3 months, which should be a lot of fun, good exercise and a great way to work out some frustration. That coupled with our search for a place to do sober UFC parties so that all of those who are in recovery can go somewhere other than a bar to watch the fights would be great and will happen in the near future.

Our last goal is very ambitious and I don’t know if we will be able to get it up and running this year. We are working to open a Peer Run Recovery Drop In Center in Springfield. I would tell you all about it, but that would take forever.  Basically, it is a little slice of awesome for the recovery community. There will be peer counseling, assistance with employment, budgeting, referrals to treatment and housing.

The drop in center will have groups addressing: exercise (jiu jitsu, zumba, yoga, couch to 5K), mental health issues (Dual Recovery, Overcoming depression, Managing anxiety), Recovery (NA, AA, Rational/SMART Recovery, Celebrate Recovery, Recovery Language), Grief Recovery, Anger Management, Trauma, Family and Loved One’s Support Group, Parenting, Art Therapy, Public Speaking and Life Skills to name a few.

We will also fun events such as sober Karaoke, Family Game Nights, pool tournaments, dart league, UFC Fight Nights (for viewing in a safe and sober environment) and a whole lot more. This will be one of the biggest things to hit the recovery community in southwest Missouri EVER but we need a lot of help to make it happen. The hope is to have a bare bones drop-in center by Fall and in 2017 to have it open with all of its’ bells and whistles!!

If any of this interests you, contact me. Whether you just want to come out and take advantage of the events and groups we are doing now or you want to be a volunteer making everything we do possible. If you need a tax write off or have an advertising budget and would like to support any of our events or help us make the drop-in center a reality in Springfield I would love to have lunch or coffee with you and discuss ways we can partner together!