STORIES of HOPE and RECOVERY at RIVENDELL
...Since leaving Rivendell I have maintained my sobriety, and will have 5 years sober on August 7th, 2022...
One way to describe my life before Rivendell was lost. I had nothing and I had no one. I scraped to get by everyday. My only thoughts were about the next fix. No amount of drugs or alcohol could fill the void I had in my soul. I had alienated anyone who ever cared about me. If you stood in my way or had something I wanted I was coming for you. Through emotional or physical threats and intimidation I got what I needed. Then came Hugh McGee and Rivendell Recovery Center. I was living out of hotels in Baltimore and called my mother for one last helping hand to try to get sober. Mom had met Hughie years ago and said Rivendell was the only place she would take me. I was driven to Rivendell and dropped on their doorstep. When I walked through the door I felt a sense of relief, a sense of hope. It’s hard to explain but Rivendell just has this calming effect like the home you never knew. I stayed for 90 days.
This was my 13th time in treatment. Hugh’s program showed me how to live and how to life and how to have fun. “Find your Saturday night” was what he told me. Other programs just never worked for me. Hughie and his staff took me in and helped me identify things in my life and in my past that had helped lead me down the path to alcohol and substance abuse. It helped me save my life. Since leaving Rivendell I have maintained my sobriety, and will have 5 years sober on August 7th, 2022. I’m living a life I couldn’t have dreamt of. I have my daughter back in my life. I got married. I bought a house. I have a job that I enjoy going to. I have hobbies and most importantly I have friendships. Real friendships with people who think like me, people I can talk to about life and its ups and downs. Doing something like that was insane to me before I got sober and Rivendell taught me how to do it. There is no way I could ever thank the staff and Rivendell and Hughie enough.
...I’m so grateful to Hugh and the community of Rivendell for showing me a better way to live and always putting the fun in recovery...
9 years ago when I arrived at Rivendell I had lost all hope of having a good life. I really didn’t want to live anymore I was in so much pain mentally I didn’t know what to do with it except mask it with drink and drugs. I had lost my home, my kids and my career. After arriving at Rivendell and finding a place that felt like home around people that understood me and wanted nothing for me but to see me happy and free from the pain I had been carrying around I finally began to understand that I had finally found a place where I could be myself and fit in.
Throughout my recovery I certainly have made my share of “mistakes” and I have not done recovery perfectly. What I have done is not pick up a drink or a drug and reach out to my network and recovery family when there is something in my life going on that I can’t handle. I’m so grateful to Hugh and the community of Rivendell for showing me a better way to live and always putting the fun in recovery. Today my children look up to me and have seen my ability to show up for them no matter what. I recently purchased a house and working my career of choice very happily. None of this would’ve been possible without what I learned at Rivendell.
...they treated me like family from minute one and have never stopped. They welcomed my family and loved my children and helped me love myself again....
You just have to show up!
One of my first memories of Rivendell is before I was a client and I came to a Saturday night NA meeting. I don’t remember how I got there or why, all I really remember from that night is hearing someone share the words “you just show up”. This simple statement has been the motto of my recovery.
I had no idea how to show up for anything at that time. I’d been in and out of jail, I’d lost my job, my home, my children. My family would no longer help me, I had no friends and no real desire to help myself. I was broken and empty but I knew something had to change. Recovery was the only option I had left and I was terrified. Hearing those words that night made it seem a little less scary to me and so “I just showed up”. A few days later, I found myself on Rivendell’s front porch dragging my bags and crying uncontrollably. I was greeted with so much love and support. In recovery they say “we will love you until you love yourself” and that is exactly what happened.
Hughie and the staff at Rivendell were amazing, they treated me like family from minute one and have never stopped. They welcomed my family and loved my children and helped me love myself again. Hughie is full of hard truths that we need but don’t like to hear.
He is also full of love and wisdom and hugs that wrap you up and let you know you’re in the exact right place. I have no doubts that my Higher Power had this planned for me long before I ever got here.
I came to Rivendell in August of 2018 and because I listened to and took the suggestions of my network I am here today. I get to be an active participant in my own life. I get to show up. Hughie and all the Rivendell crew lit the path, all I had to do was follow.
Now I can do the same for the next person, today I am the General Manager of Rivendell.
In recovery I’ve made friendships and unbreakable bonds with people I may never have crossed paths with otherwise. I’ve had the best of times and also some of the worst but I’ve had people to lean on, people who understand, people who never let me fall. I no longer find myself hiding from my life, I’m out here doing just what they told me to do…I’m just showing up!!