Our Stories
Share the power of long-term recovery. If you are in recovery, a family member, friend or ally of someone in recovery, we want to hear your recovery story!
Learn more...
Faces & Voices of Recovery's book page
has information on many of the growing number of recovery-related publications. It’s a work in progress, so please let us know of other books that you think we should include. Check it out!
|
Recovery in the News
Creativity that fosters recovery
Matt Ryan
Burlington Free Press
December 16, 2007
Pink and violet flower photos glowed beside a sea of Lake Champlain shots taken from Battery Park. Abigail Roberts also takes portraits.
"I learned you have to take chances and that some people don't like having their picture taken," Roberts, 37, said. "I like taking pictures of just about everyone. You can make anyone look good in a picture."
Roberts and a few other artists sold their wares Saturday inside the Turning Point Center at the corner of Main and South Champlain streets. The second annual Artists in Recovery Holiday Craft Fair continues today from 2-5 p.m.
The lofty space with pool tables and couches supports recovering drug and alcohol users. The nonprofit center hosts up to 28 meetings a week, like Alcoholics Anonymous, Vet to Vet and Mothers in Recovery.
Roberts came to the center more than a year ago. She said photography, as part of recovery, saved her life.
"I didn't do much of anything while I was drinking and drugging ... except get in fights or go to jail or to the state hospital," Roberts said. "I was very suicidal before I started taking pictures. When people tell me that it's good or beautiful, it increases my self-esteem and makes me more optimistic."
Roberts has been clean 11 months. Unfortunately, her used digital camera stopped working a few days ago.
"I'm at a loss without it," Roberts said. "There's beautiful stuff on Church Street I'd like to take pictures of."
A friend is working to fix the camera, she said.
"I'd love to get a job with my photographs," Roberts said. "I'd love to be off disability or making a little bit more money."
At times, the handful of vendors outnumbered their prospective buyers. Christine Stork, 47, sold restored chandeliers for her "Cottage Chic" home business. Diane Hulphers, who volunteers at and serves on the center's board of directors, sold pins and magnets and played "Joy to the World" on a flute.
"Once the choke collar of addiction's lifted, the creative spirit blossoms," Hulphers said.
Melissa Clark, 27, sold necklaces she made from hemp and beads. Her 7-week-old daughter, Isis, slept -- sometimes smiling -- in a carriage.
"She's a cool cat," Clark said.
Clark moved to Burlington in April and became involved with the Turning Point Center a month later. She'll have been sober for a year in January. She began making necklaces at a homeless shelter in Bar Harbor, Maine, more than a year ago, and hitchhiked to sell them at festivals.
"I had no idea I could do this," Clark said. "But I was always attracted to it. The idea of making money and doing something I love is awesome."
Copyright ©2007 Burlingtonfreepress.com All rights reserved.