Sobriety/Recovery

Recovery Comedy Presents: Steve Smith

This is the first of 56 videos presented by Recovery Comedy’s YouTube page. Recovery Comedy is a group of comedians who tour AA and NA meetings, jails, and universities. The comedians speak about the process of recovery in a way that appeals to those working on sobriety and their loved ones. These stand-up routines are recommended for mature audiences only, but they would likely appeal to recovering addicts from any age group. Browsing their website http://www.recoverycomedy.com would be the best way to find a video to fit a particular audience. (00:03:33)

Faces and Voices of Recovery: Young Person in Recovery/Michaela

Michaela talks about her struggle with bipolar disorder and how her mood instability led her to use substances in an effort to cope. Michaela credits the discovery of her bipolar disorder for starting her on the road to recovery. This is a hopeful clip that could be useful in discussions about addiction or mental illness. This video is available on the Faces and Voices of Recovery YouTube channel. (00:02:44)

Faces and Voices of Recovery: Young Person in Recovery/Kristina

Kristina does a great job of emphasizing the point that age (specifically youth) should not be a deterrent to entering recovery. She discusses the eating disorder she had in college and subsequent heavy drinking in her early twenties. She admits to being unable to see a problem with her behavior since the other 23-year-olds she knew also engaged in substance use. She discusses how finding a supportive group of people was a catalyst to her recovery. This video is available on the Faces and Voices of Recovery YouTube channel and would be great for young people as well as clinicians and families. (00:02:53)

Faces and Voices of Recovery: Young Person in Recovery/Ben

Ben discusses his struggle with addiction throughout his teen years, which eventually led to a 30-month incarceration that he used to turn his life around. Ben discusses how he lost a few opportunities through his addiction, but that he was adamant about earning his college degree. He was also determined to have a typical college experience with friends and fun along with sobriety, and he discusses how he was able to do this by joining a Collegiate Recovery Program. This video would be great to show clinicians and staff working at college facilities, individuals working with recovering addicts who want to go back to school, and high school and college students in general. This video could inspire more schools to adopt a low-cost Collegiate Recovery Program at their university to help support their students in recovery. This video is available on the Faces and Voices of Recovery YouTube channel. (00:03:09)

Faces and Voices of Recovery: Young Person in Recovery/James

James talks about his addiction to drugs and alcohol and how he used substances to help alleviate feelings of loneliness and inadequacy. When things got out of hand, James entered recovery but admits that it was a great struggle. Like Ben, James talks about the help and hope a Collegiate Recovery Program gave him. He explains how the experience gave him a sense of belongingness, helped him reach his academic goals, and allowed him to see recovery as more than simply abstaining from using drugs and alcohol. This video would be great for staff at the university level, individuals in treatment, college and high school students, and those in the position to create Collegiate Recovery Programs at their university. This video is available on the Faces and Voices of Recovery YouTube channel. (00:03:33)

Addiction Recovery and Yoga: Introduction

This is the first of a series of seventeen videos in a documentary about practicing yoga during alcoholism recovery. Recovering individuals tell their personal stories of struggling with addiction and how they used yoga as a source of strength while they worked the twelve steps. Many parallels are made between the steps and the exercise, as they are both centered on spirituality and mind-body connection. This series would be great for practitioners working with clients in recovery. Each video offers insights that could be used as a discussion point for different topics. The website Adyo.org offers these videos free of charge, but the entire set of videos is available on one DVD that can be purchased through Amazon. These videos include some offensive language. (00:01:50)

The following list summarizes the other videos in the documentary:

Addiction Recovery and Yoga: Addiction Problems
Individuals discuss their addiction problems. (00:08:55)

Addiction Recovery and Yoga: Rock Bottom and First Twelve Step Meeting

Personal accounts of hitting rock bottom and attending AA for the first time. (00:08:14)

Addiction Recovery and Yoga: Stopping

Personal accounts of quitting substance abuse and entering rehab. Individuals discuss how their worldviews shifted during this time. It is very moving to hear the individuals’ anxiety about living without their substances and their fear of engaging in the daily events of life that many take for granted. (00:06:54)

Addiction Recovery and Yoga: Truth and Inspiration

Personal accounts of the road to recovery and how interviewees began to see the light in the process through their own and other’s honesty in meetings. (00:03:38)

Addiction Recovery and Yoga: Chances of Success

Personal accounts of recovered individuals who discuss success in recovery using both the twelve steps and yoga. (00:03:00)

Addiction Recovery and Yoga: Twelve Steps

Personal accounts of descriptions of the twelve-step program. (00:03:33)

Addiction Recovery and Yoga: Denial

Personal accounts of experiencing denial and the power of yoga to counter denial. (00:04:03)

Addiction Recovery and Yoga: Restoring Sane Thoughts

Individuals progress through the steps and continue in their quest to be honest and use yoga in recovery. Participants add a cognitive approach to their recovery to counter negativity and increase optimism and positivity. (00:05:33)

Addiction Recovery and Yoga: Surrendering to a Higher Power

Individuals speak of surrendering to a higher power during their recovery and some of their initial resistance and reservations to doing so. (00:06:09)

Addiction Recovery and Yoga: Facing the Truth

Individuals speak to the concept of honesty in recovery and in yoga with a focus on Step Four. (00:03:49)

Addiction Recovery and Yoga: Yoga in Depth

Individuals give personal accounts about the practice of yoga. (00:03:30)

Addiction Recovery and Yoga: Meditation

Individuals give personal accounts about meditation in recovery and how yoga helps them to work through Step Eleven and “be in their bodies.” (00:04:37)

Addiction Recovery and Yoga: Sobriety One Day at a Time

Individuals give further personal accounts of moving through recovery using yoga. (00:05:09)

Addiction Recovery and Yoga: Emotional Stability

Individuals give personal accounts of moving through recovery using yoga and how yoga is helpful for stabilizing emotions after addiction. (00:05:55)

Addiction Recovery and Yoga: Real-Life Changes

Individuals talk about the impact in all areas of their lives of practicing the principles of the twelve steps and yoga. (00:05:52)

Addiction Recovery and Yoga: Epilogue

This moving conclusion emphasizes some additional observations about recovery, the twelve steps, spirituality, and yoga. (00:06:32)

Ambivalence: Scene from Girl, Interrupted

In this short scene from the movie Girl, Interrupted, Susanna Kaysen and her psychiatrist discuss the word ‘ambivalent,’ Susanna’s new favorite word. Susanna believes it to mean carelessness, but Dr. Wick informs her that it really means to be pulled in opposing directions and that it perfectly describes her current situation. Clinicians and mental healthcare workers could mention this pivotal scene when working with clients who may be ambivalent about the changes they are trying to make. This excerpt could be useful for a discussion about motivational Interviewing techniques for those working with individuals in recovery. (00:02:24)

Building Communities of Recovery: How Community-Based Partnerships and Recovery Support Organizations Make Recovery Work

This short clip touches on the importance of person-oriented recovery programs that partner with communities to help individuals successfully recover from mental illness and addiction. This video promotes the direction that behavioral healthcare has taken over the past few years away from the medical model and towards holism and sustainability. This video could stimulate discussion about such models, act as an incentive for individuals who work in more clinical models to consider a more holistic approach, and encourage those already working in such models. This video was developed by SAMHSA as part of their national recovery month series. (00:01:49)