{"id":201,"date":"2014-08-27T16:54:16","date_gmt":"2014-08-27T16:54:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nashvillerecovers.org\/?p=122"},"modified":"2017-07-09T06:21:53","modified_gmt":"2017-07-09T06:21:53","slug":"lets-salute-those-who-help-in-recovery-and-break-into-jails","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/nashvilleprevention.org\/nashville_recovers\/2014\/08\/27\/lets-salute-those-who-help-in-recovery-and-break-into-jails\/","title":{"rendered":"Let\u2019s salute those who help in recovery \u2013 and break INTO jails"},"content":{"rendered":"

My buddy Preston \u00a0is the only guy I know who consistently breaks\u00a0into<\/em>\u00a0jail.<\/span><\/p>\n

Preston and I are among dozens, maybe hundreds of people in recovery who regularly head out to Nashville\u2019s felony drug court, a.k.a. DC4, to pick up guys there and take them to outside 12-step meetings.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yup, inmates, allowed to wear street clothes, get to go to recovery meetings in the community \u2013 as long as volunteers who pass a background check will come and get \u2018em.<\/span><\/p>\n

But Preston has such affection for the drug court guys \u2013 both the offenders and the staffers \u2013 that he\u2019ll go over there just to visit.<\/span><\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t technically allowed. But Preston has never let a silly thing like judge-ordered rules stop him from doing what he wants.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think I\u2019ll head over to DC4 to visit those guys before our meeting,\u201d Preston\u2019ll say.<\/span><\/p>\n

But it\u2019s not their night to go out, I say.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI know. I just wanna say hi, see how everybody\u2019s doin\u2019.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m pretty sure you\u2019re not supposed to do that, Preston.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019ll be aight.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"help2\"<\/span><\/a>And it always is. Somehow, Preston even once ended up in the offenders\u2019 dining hall and had dinner with the guys.<\/span><\/p>\n

Preston loves them, and they love Preston, and it\u2019s no wonder: He\u2019s the kinda guy who breaks into jail to visit them.<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s the beginning of what Preston does for his recovery brothers. Preston has given thousands of rides to recovering addicts without cars and\/or driver\u2019s licenses, myself included. Preston reaches out to hundreds of newcomers at our home group.<\/span><\/p>\n

Preston has given thousands of his own dollars in cash and meals to newcomers and recovery veterans in need.<\/span><\/p>\n

Preston has given rides to that guy who can be so difficult that literally no one else will take him to a meeting. And he sponsors four guys.<\/span><\/p>\n

Preston regularly gives classes on his area of expertise at DC4 and at sober living houses. And he has stuck out his neck dozens of times, personally and professionally, to help the really-hard-to-help.<\/span><\/p>\n

You might be able to tell that I admire and love this guy a lot. (Love you, Presss-TONE!!) But he is hardly the only recovering alcoholic or addict I know who regularly helps others.<\/span><\/p>\n

We call it \u201cservice work,\u201d which is a bit misleading.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ya see, we who do \u201cservice work\u201d are the ones who benefit. Service work lets us get out of our own heads, out of our obsessive thoughts about a sick parent, an ex-girlfriend, guilt about what we\u2019ve done in the past, fear of the future.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"help\"<\/span><\/a>And helping others lets us build the self-esteem that we crave, that we\u2019ve rarely had in the past. And part of service work is humility. So I\u2019m not supposed to be shouting from the rooftops, \u201cHey, look at me! I\u2019m helping others!! Ain\u2019t I great??!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Still, isn\u2019t it a wonderful thing to recognize people who help others? Not even so much as a pat on the back for those folks, but maybe as a way to encourage more people to do it.<\/span><\/p>\n

To that end, my bosses at Nashville Prevention Partnership have added a category for our annual awards banquet\/Italian food-apalooza at Maggiano\u2019s.<\/span><\/p>\n

The award \u2013 Recovery Volunteer of the Year. This is that person who, without compensation, helps people in recovery. Like, a lot. And no, he or she doesn\u2019t have to be in recovery himself or herself.<\/span><\/p>\n

We\u2019re just looking for that awesome person who gives and gives to help folks recover from substance abuse.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019d like to hear from you who should win. I\u2019d like you to email me names and the reasons who that person should win. My email is\u00a0brad@npponline.org<\/span><\/a>. I want to keep it anonymous for several reasons, at least until we actually present the award.<\/span><\/p>\n

So rack your brains and help me with this one, please. The banquet\/lasagna fest is coming up in October.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m hoping to see nominations for folks like Pat M., who drives nearly 80 miles out of his way to get a teen-aged newcomer to a meeting at least twice a week.<\/span><\/p>\n

How about Lauren O., who after being released from lock up, goes back to jail to share recovery with inmates still inside? Amazing.<\/span><\/p>\n

How about Cayce L., who gives her time and money to the rehab center where she found freedom, who holds a service position in her recovery fellowship, who sponsors some amazing women, who carries a meeting to a recovery home for single moms, makes recovery attractive with a wicked sense of humor and a big heart?<\/span><\/p>\n

How about Kirk J. and Robert P. and Ed M. and Tommy S. and Jeff A. who volunteer for a special recovery group at Metro Jail?<\/span><\/p>\n

How about Mike B., who after working at a treatment center every day, still finds the time and the heart to help organize a big ol\u2019 regional recovery convention here in Nashville?<\/span><\/p>\n

How about Darin M. and Brett G. and Steve L. and all their friends who take a meeting \u2013 every single week \u2013 12-step meeting into the CCA jail in Antioch?<\/span><\/p>\n

How about helping me give some recognition \u2013 and free pasta \u2013 to a recovery volunteer who blow us away and inspire us with what he or she does for others?<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My buddy Preston \u00a0is the only guy I know who consistently breaks\u00a0into\u00a0jail. Preston and I are among dozens, maybe hundreds of people in recovery who regularly head out to Nashville\u2019s felony drug court, a.k.a. DC4, to pick up guys there and take them to outside 12-step meetings. Yup, inmates, allowed to wear street clothes, get […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nashvilleprevention.org\/nashville_recovers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nashvilleprevention.org\/nashville_recovers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nashvilleprevention.org\/nashville_recovers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nashvilleprevention.org\/nashville_recovers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nashvilleprevention.org\/nashville_recovers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=201"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/nashvilleprevention.org\/nashville_recovers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":213,"href":"http:\/\/nashvilleprevention.org\/nashville_recovers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201\/revisions\/213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nashvilleprevention.org\/nashville_recovers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nashvilleprevention.org\/nashville_recovers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nashvilleprevention.org\/nashville_recovers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}