 I observed and I write. Over the last year the nation has gone through an incredible test of wills. Hindsight can’t be 2020. Alarmingly instructive but so filled with events and irony it sinks under its own weight. The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. Pretty shallow when weaponized for misinformation and here and there it seems the Dementors from the Potterverse were filling the sky. Voldevirus was anywhere and everywhere. A banner’s four words have had more improbable impact for cause than reason or truth. You can name some. Peer’s pressure and protests migrated into mob manipulation and intimidation. I can’t breathe. I note most impactful but diminishing words started with a “V”. Violence, vengeful, vitriol, voice, voter, and vicious. Look close, even Word has two V’s” in it. Verily, only virtual and vaccine are positive. Words have different meaning, use and understanding depending on cultural identity in the worlds of “woke” and the threat of “cancellation.”. This ostracism is akin to stigma and discrimination which has been an ever-present burden for those pursuing recovery from Substance Use Disorders (SUD) and mental issues. Which brings me to the title, The Power of Will and its historical relevance to long-term recovery.  Willpower is defined as the ability to control your own thoughts and the way in which you behave. In the early days of attention to alcoholism, it was often heard, as a moral judgement, why doesn’t he/she just quit? Certainly AA, the 12 steps and support of others provided choices, chances, change. and continuity. I met and heard Nora Volkow, M.D. of the National Institute of Health in 2002. I gained my first insight about the work on the science of addiction. It was exciting and hopeful for future medically assisted recovery that has evolved and in use today. I attended training with Flo Hilliard, Faces and Voices of Recovery. Her training program was titled The Science of Addiction and Recovery. We understand clearly that not understanding and overcoming craving and fear of the pains of withdrawal will drive wrong choices. With medical assist, and other therapies and recovery support, the brain will resume important activities. Remember, if you are not earning, keep learning. There are countless virtual opportunities. I recently was more informed about what I have written. You Tube, Many Paths to Recovery 11/20/2020. A New PATH—California RCO and ARCO member. Many years ago, I stated that if it is called willpower, it must be intended to have power. That power to make wise and healthy choices about behavior is reduced and at some stage eliminated with the intake of mind-altering chemicals or actions. More education is needed. Abstinence, where possible, remains the best solution. Current medicines, and there are several, provide restoration and stability and allow the brain to use them to overcome craving and fear of pain of withdrawal and to resume a more normal life. Oddly, in the recovery community, there is still a stigma associated with MAT. Another recovery advent, harm reduction programs, are controversial. In the aforementioned virtual presentation, Dr. Tom Horvath, Practical Recovery outlines principles, beginning with the first principle, that recognize self-guided change (natural recovery) as the foundation of all successful treatment. So, a properly functioning brain is essential for self-healing. The pandemic has had a disastrous effect in elevating all the elements and possibility of a set-back —perhaps a better word than relapse in the recovery process. We need all to get-back and on track. Medical assist and virtual fellowship on the chosen path to active and sustained recovery will help. We have to use resources virtually and wisely and quickly. Victory over the Virus and use newly learned Virtualocity. As the year closes, we revere the word vaccine. It has literally provided the wind beneath our wings of hope as we proceed to 2021. Close your happy eyes and enjoy the uplift into the New Year! Nothing is so bad it JUST couldn’t be verse Don’t just wake up feeling captive, You better just wake up The Positive. OR The Positive will just keep sleeping, doom and gloom just keeps creeping. Feeling really down is just really dumb, as there is just no point in staying glum. Covid vaccine? you can just wait for your big stick. Just follow protocol and parry the big sick. Each day It just may seem there’s no justice. Just don’t worry because eventually there just is. Just don’t fret about things not legit, The Positive will shadow you, so don’t worry—just do it. Merlyn Karst – Recovery Ambassador
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 I woke this morning with one day left in 2020. It was a year that surely altered and illuminated our times. In a recent blog, I referenced Harry Potter’s weird world. If you are familiar with Potter’s world, in 2020, we had our own Voldacovid and all those dementors flying about. We had no magic wands— and the spells were all on us. What to do? Find a task. Find a cause. Find the Joy.
Donella C. and I first spoke on April 9 and imagined and spoke about an RCO or two in Orange County—and the train left the station. In my mind, with Donella as engineer and Janie as conductor, this was the Recovery Bolder Express. Of course, I contributed some experience and communication about staying on the track but mainly loved the ride. Working virtually, We paused at stations for needs and deeds, but our destination was Costa Mesa on October 13, for the introduction of The Purpose of Recovery—TPOR. TPOR gathered for the first time and met, masked and in person, from 6 feet away in Costa Mesa, California. We found the Joy. As I recall 2020, October 13 was my most joyous day of the year, filled with hope and literal togetherness. TPOR founders had the virtual opportunity to speak of the joy and happiness of recovery as discovered through The Purpose of Recovery. The food and accommodations through the day were outstanding as well as the company who enjoyed them. I closed my eyes, did a review, and called it most memorable and filled with the joy shared by all. As you know, this train and any different recovery train is no express, just moving, sustained, progress for those continuing the journey. No ticket to ride. Just stay aboard and enjoy what is the trip of a lifetime. I’ll be loving the ride with you and all the fellow riders. Merlyn Karst – Recovery Ambassador  From a family recovering journey, I have gone through the stage of typical denial, anger, and confusion. When I finally surfaced my head above the dark water, I found not only my loved one but a lot of his recovering peers are also struggling more or less. I found my family members and friends are still confused. It made me keenly aware that there are many obstacles and hidden challenges along the way. It also made me fully recognize the importance of the needed support for you. I guess I can throw a few key words of support, like make connections, families, friends, sponsors, .. and more. But, what strikes me the most is finding truth to ourselves, finding the value you see to yourself, and finding a purpose in your life.
Through this, I found my purpose. My purpose is to support you. And yet, HOW? My little lived experience, without knowing the landscape of what you have gone through, I struggled again. Thanks for a lot of friends and families, I found comfort knowing I am not fighting this by myself. That family peer support allowed me to believe there is a light at the end of the tunnel, that got me through the most difficult time, and allowed me to stand on my own feet right now. I felt the peer support and peer coach that got me through this, ought to be the support to all of you and your families. This is in addition to whatever your current recovering path you are on. Coach is someone with the same lived experience that connects with you to guide you with your own decision. Then, I look at Orange County, and found no organization offers that. Hence, The Purpose of Recovery is established just to offer that and more of course. So, if this concept is new to you right now because we are the first organization to roll this out, we know there will be more in the future. Thanks for the hard work from the team and special thanks to Merlyn and Donella, we are happy and ready to share our vision with you today. I also want to thank my own family that taught me to be compassion and loving each other from a different perspective. We all know recovering is a lifelong journey. Just to know that we are here alongside you. Again, I am glad you are with us today! Merlyn Karst - Recovery Ambassador  Good Afternoon. Thank you for your virtual presence. I am, virtually and otherwise, Merlyn Karst, a person in long-term recovery, as a result, I haven’t found it necessary to take a drink of alcohol for 22 years, my only drug of choice.
My standard answer to how much did you drink is—just enough—until it wasn’t. I found that alcohol is out to kill us, but first wants to get us alone. I retired early and went from corporate executive to consultant while paying the consequences of DUI’s through Nancy Clark’s Alternative Sentencing Program. No jail time and the positive experience led me to stay with the program as administrator for several years. Time in our Recovery Centers, instead of jail, saved lives, families, and productive careers. In sustained recovery, I have had a full and healthy life and have accumulated 88 years of lived experience. After 27 years in Orange County, my wife and I relocated to Denver, Colorado. I immediately pursued activities in the justice system and the agencies serving the recovery community. It led to a meeting in St Paul, Minnesota in 2001. The meeting centered around the fact that by our silence, we let others define us. We needed to put a face and a voice on recovery. With respect for anonymity and its role in recovery, we set forth to develop a language, an identity, and a message so that individuals in recovery could stand up, stand out, speak out, and be proud about their reality of their recovery. Faces and Voices of Recovery was born. It birthed a movement that is now national and international. We adjourned the meeting with the words, from our movement’s leader, Bill White. Let’s go make some history—and so we have and so we are. I was privileged to be its board chair for the first six years. At the same time, we started the RCO, Advocates for Recovery-Colorado. We featured advocacy and peer supported services and training. We assisted in bringing the Betty Ford Children’s Program to Denver. I learned very quickly the value of an executive director to the growth and success of a national and/or recovery community organization. I praise and appreciate Pat, Patty, Tonya, and now Donella. A few months ago, we moved back to California and Orange County from Denver. Denver was the birthplace of an organization many of you know as The Phoenix, now growing nationally and internationally. Besides renewing a relationship with Nancy and Alternative Sentencing Programs, I made contact with Lauren Deperine, the Director of The Phoenix in Orange County and San Diego. Through Lauren, I was introduced to Donella Cecrle, and through her, Janie Tsao. Our common interest was the development of a Recovery Community Organization (RCO) that could serve the needs and interests of a variety of those principally involved in Substance Use Disorders (SUD). We want to be a catalyst for expanding peer specialist training and support, with an eye to providing career path opportunities. Though Donella, Janie, and I have not physically met until this week, (from 6 feet) The 3 of us have contributed to the ZOOM Boom through countless virtual meetings and attended several trainings and conferences. Following the work of Donella and several others, we are together today to share progress in the development of our new RCO, The Purpose of Recovery. We invite you to be a part of our purpose and promise as we become a collective of the purpose and promise of recovery for all. As our logo portrays, our heart is truly in it. We must always remember, they won’t care about what we know until they know that we care. Merlyn Karst - Recovery Ambassador  Good Afternoon. Thank you for your virtual presence. I am, virtually and otherwise, Merlyn Karst, a person in long-term recovery, as a result, I haven’t found it necessary to take a drink of alcohol for 22 years, my only drug of choice. My standard answer to how much did you drink is—just enough—until it wasn’t.
I found that alcohol is out to kill us, but first wants to get us alone. I retired early and went from corporate executive to consultant while paying the consequences of DUI’s through Nancy Clark’s Alternative Sentencing Program. No jail time and the positive experience led me to stay with the program as administrator for several years. Time in our Recovery Centers, instead of jail, saved lives, families, and productive careers. In sustained recovery, I have had a full and healthy life and have accumulated 88 years of lived experience. After 27 years in Orange County, my wife and I relocated to Denver, Colorado. I immediately pursued activities in the justice system and the agencies serving the recovery community. It led to a meeting in St Paul, Minnesota in 2001. The meeting centered around the fact that by our silence, we let others define us. We needed to put a face and a voice on recovery. With respect for anonymity and its role in recovery, we set forth to develop a language, an identity, and a message so that individuals in recovery could stand up, stand out, speak out, and be proud about their reality of their recovery. Faces and Voices of Recovery was born. It birthed a movement that is now national and international. We adjourned the meeting with the words, from our movement’s leader, Bill White. Let’s go make some history—and so we have and so we are. I was privileged to be its board chair for the first six years. At the same time, we started the RCO, Advocates for Recovery-Colorado. We featured advocacy and peer supported services and training. We assisted in bringing the Betty Ford Children’s Program to Denver. I learned very quickly the value of an executive director to the growth and success of a national and/or recovery community organization. I praise and appreciate Pat, Patty, Tonya, and now Donella. A few months ago, we moved back to California and Orange County from Denver. Denver was the birthplace of an organization many of you know as The Phoenix, now growing nationally and internationally. Besides renewing a relationship with Nancy and Alternative Sentencing Programs, I made contact with Lauren Deperine, the Director of The Phoenix in Orange County and San Diego. Through Lauren, I was introduced to Donella Cecrle, and through her, Janie Tsao. Our common interest was the development of a Recovery Community Organization (RCO) that could serve the needs and interests of a variety of those principally involved in Substance Use Disorders (SUD). We want to be a catalyst for expanding peer specialist training and support, with an eye to providing career path opportunities. Though Donella, Janie, and I have not physically met until this week, (from 6 feet) The 3 of us have contributed to the ZOOM Boom through countless virtual meetings and attended several trainings and conferences. Following the work of Donella and several others, we are together today to share progress in the development of our new RCO, The Purpose of Recovery. We invite you to be a part of our purpose and promise as we become a collective of the purpose and promise of recovery for all. As our logo portrays, our heart is truly in it. We must always remember, they won’t care about what we know until they know that we care. Merlyn Karst, Recovery Ambassador  September is designated as Recovery Month. Recovery Month promotes the societal benefits of prevention, treatment, and recovery for mental and substance use disorders. It celebrates the millions of people as they live in the joy and reality of recovery. I have participated in Rallies and events primarily in Denver, Colorado since 2002. In 2018, Advocates for Recovery-Colorado, was the host to the national hub event. Country wide, these events provided the opportunity to announce the birth and carry the message of Faces and Voices of Recovery. Making history year by year, Recovery from Addiction is now a growing national and international recovery advocacy movement. I now live in Orange County, California, I recently participated in an event named Recovery Happens originating in California’s capitol. Three well-known names were among sponsors. Faces and Voices of Recovery, Young People in Recovery, and The Phoenix. It is usually held on the Capitol steps, but as is today’s normal, It was virtual instead. I’m a fan of virtual technology. Unfortunately, it does not have the value of human togetherness and fellowship. We are involved in a Zoom Room Boom. It does allow an important factor. To achieve and maintain connections. I am participating in a Peer Coach Training with Peer Coach Academy in Colorado. SAMSHA’s theme banner says: Join the Voices of Recovery: Celebrate Connections. We are virtually connected in so many ways—apart but together. We are getting good at it. The definition of virtuosity is to have a skill and expertise as we see in virtual activities. I think it leads one to a new word --virtualocity. I find it worth repeating what I wrote in a recent blog. In the real and virtual world, I make my bed, shower, and dress presentably for viewing and being viewed. No travel involved. Bed and board are at hand. check the “set”, settle in my comfortable chair, and put my best face forward. The virtual world has merit through selective learning and social sensibility. If you are not earning, you should be learning. It will be of benefit to the establishment of health and well-being and even might allow being better than well. Recovery Community Organizations are being formed at a growing rate with knowledge that the pandemic will put new burdens on the community from increased mental health and substance use disorders. Unfortunately, there has been an increase in use and misuse of the drug alcohol. Communities need resources, information, and leadership. I recently read this, By repairing past and current harms in our communities, we bring new possibilities to the future We have a role to play.
In a recent Bill White and Bill Stauffer paper, Nothing About Us Without Us, I noted the following: People with personal knowledge of the recovery process and the historical challenges faced by people seeking and in recovery free of conflicted interests are the best suited for recovery advocacy leadership. Guidelines: 1) Members of recovery communities are provided a voice in the selection of persons who represent their experience and needs. 2) Those representing the recovery experience at public and policy levels possess rich experiential knowledge of personal and/or family recovery from addiction. 3) Persons representing the experiences and needs of people seeking and/in recovery are free from ideology, political, or financial conflicts of interest that could unduly influence their advocacy efforts. This paper is important. Read this and another, Recovery Advocacy For a Country is Crisis. We recently formed the first RCO in Orange County, The Purpose of Recovery. Our primary purpose is to promote and perpetuate connections, resources, and a collective purpose for providers of recovery support services in Orange County. It was established with support and guidance with connection to other RCOs in Northern California, Texas, Georgia, and Colorado. All members of Faces and Voices of Recovery’s ARCO, the Association of Recovery Community Organizations. ARCO links RCOs and their leaders with local and national allies and provides training and technical assistance to groups. ARCO helps build the unified voice of the organized recovery community and fulfill our commitment to supporting the development of new groups and strengthening existing ones. As the SAMSHA banner says, Celebrating Connections. A great purpose to be served during Recovery Month. Together We Are Stronger. Merlyn Karst, Recovery Ambassador  The Purpose of Recovery has a logo. The development of our logo began with the purpose of providing a visual impact that carries a message. We conceived a circle of people connected in joyous connection while the colors are warm and calming. They surround a heart that holds hope. Recognizing years of communications about recovery and the possibilities and probabilities of positive outcomes, we have heard the response, "I certainly hope so." Hopelessness dwells in darkness and hope provides light in spite of it. Go with the flow is best served when hope is flowing.
We concluded that hope rests in the heart—connected but apart from the brain. We like songs of hope from the heart rather than the chaotic chorus from the brain. The Purpose of Recovery is to provide reason and resources to sustain and nurture continuing hope, help and well-being on the chosen path to long-term recovery. You will not be alone on this journey, join us in the spirit of fellowship and kinship. Together we serve our purpose— a purpose served well brings hope. Merlyn Karst, Recovery Ambassador |
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