Happiness is when what you think, what you say and what you do are in harmony.

by Beth Fisher, LCSW, MAC, CCS

Recovery residences today suffer a similar dilemma faced a generation ago in professional counseling. Anyone with a house or a room to rent can hang a shingle and call themselves "recovery housing," "sober living," "halfway house," "three-quarter way housing," "transition housing," or various other names. The name variations are as diverse as the services provided, from a nightly place to eat, sleep and attend a mutual-help meeting to multiple-year intensive treatment programs provided by licensed professionals.

The critical question is, "How do consumers, recovery professionals and other organizations know if a facility provides alcohol or other drug users and people with mental health needs with a safe, healthy environment for recovery?" A common challenge in the addiction treatment field is "what's next?" for patients stabilized at primary treatment centers who have low recovery capital, are at high risk for relapse, and whose recovery was not sustained during previous outpatient treatment.

As a vital component of today's recovery care continuum, recovery residences can be an affordable and effective option as managed care creates shorter treatment stays. Professionally operated, recovery-oriented residential programs that enmesh residents in appropriate services in the local recovery community fill the service gap in a way that is not only economical, but also highly conducive to sustainable recovery.

The Georgia Association of Recovery Residences (GARR) is joining other leading voices in calling for high-quality services across the emerging recovery-oriented systems of care continuum for individuals and their recovery allies.

GARR is a unique 501(c)3 organization that serves as a professional, volunteer accrediting body for recovery residence organizations in Georgia. Our members encompass varied demographics, for-profit and non-profit providers, and a range of service levels-from long-term treatment to what traditionally has been called a "sober home." Operationally, we are a diverse group of organizations large and small. Our commonality is a shared commitment to professional standards of operation and recovery services supported by accountability to our local communities and to one another.

History and evolution

GARR was founded in 1987 in Atlanta by seven demographically diverse recovery residences that came together for the purpose of support, accountability and idea sharing. Doug Brush, Past President of GARR and Men's Director of the Metro Atlanta Recovery Residences, says GARR's history "began as support meetings, particularly around issues of interfacing with the people and communities in which our facilities were located. Soon we established standards that would enhance the recovery programs of our organizations, and developed written criteria for recovery residence operations. We then created a peer review system and opened our organization for membership. Over time, GARR's monthly meetings have evolved to include offering CEU trainings as an additional benefit to our members, as well as the professional community. Though the organization has grown tremendously, the founding principals of idea sharing, peer support, professional accountability, and most importantly quality operational standards remain essential to the GARR mission."

Under the leadership of Joel Bagley, Immediate Past President of GARR and Executive Director of Purple, Inc., membership has grown to 53 organizations at varying levels of care, serving approximately 2,000 men and women in Georgia. This represents 17 percent of total residential recovery services provided in our state.

GARR's Executive Committee meets monthly for action planning, and membership meetings occur bimonthly for information sharing, fellowship and CEU trainings. Staff from member facilities volunteer for a variety of roles. Those who complete accreditation training conduct site visits with existing and prospective members.

The accreditation and re-accreditation process is a time of training and mentoring. Often newcomers have a passion for helping others but are unaware of the need for such essentials as a written policy and procedure manual, a business license, or even an understanding of local zoning requirements. The accreditation process helps the newcomer define "who we want to be" along the continuum from residential treatment to supportive living.

The HERO House is a proud member of GARR.

Beth Fisher, LCSW, MAC, CCS, is President of the Georgia Association of Recovery Residences (http://www.garronline.org/).

Contributions by Catherine Weigel Foy

"Mothers and daughters, it's a comedy, but it also a tragedy. We fill our daughters with all the chutzpah we wish for ourselves. We want them to be free as we were not. And then we resent them for being what we made them.  With grand-daughters it is so much easier.  And great-granddaughters."

While relationships with friends and husbands begin in adolescence and adulthood, a mother's love begins before a child is born, and can create an unrealistic expectation that the connection between mothers and daughters will be as strong and free from limitations in adulthood as it was in early infancy. In reality, an individual's needs and fears are often informed by society's needs and fears, making this one of the most maligned of all human relationships. By identifying societal myths commonly found in these relationships, mothers and daughters can counteract the barriers to build a stronger foundation.

There are several "perfect mother" myths that establish unrealistic standards of behavior that often put a strain on the relationship. The idea that a) the measure of a perfect mother is a perfect daughter, b) mothers are always nurturant, c) mothers know naturally how to raise children and d) mothers and good daughters don't get angry, contributes to mother-blaming when mothers don't match the myth and can create distance between mothers and daughters.

In the same way, there are "bad mother" myths that cause behavior to seem worse than it actually is. Based on societal assumptions that a) mothers are inferior to fathers, b) only experts know how to raise children, c) mothers and daughters are bottomless pits of neediness, d) mother-daughter closeness is unhealthy and e) women's power is dangerous, mothers and daughters often feel like they are walking a tightrope where too much or too little love will push them over the edge.

These common myths translate into a superficial sort of relationship that is neither functional nor loving, and instead is characterized by ambivalence and friction. Daughters interpret mother's love as the need for control and mothers often feel angry, hurt and resentful. Both parties have to be willing to work at the relationship in order to change the relationship to a more viable one. Mothers will have to adapt to the changing power balance and daughters will have to withstand the anxiety of challenging mother with her own needs, thoughts and feelings. To break the old pattern and establish a more reciprocal woman-to-woman relationship requires courage and commitment, and the new relationship won't always be easy. There will be conflict and disagreements, but by being assertive and establishing boundaries, through vigilance, a healthy, equal relationship can be maintained.

"New Addition"

by Tricia Thibodeau

Program Director, California

HERO House California would like to welcome our newest member

Fishing at HERO House California

Vin Koes as our Men's House Manager.  Vin has his Associates Degree in Process: Addictions Counseling from The Treatment Institute of Addictions Counseling in Lakewood, California.  He is currently seeking his certification in addictions counseling.  He has been working toward that certification by completing his internship hours with a local treatment center, National Theraputic Service Inc.  He also brings previous House Manager experience from working at Cornerstone of Southern California.  We are very happy to welcome Vin as our newest member of our Hero family.