"SHAFA HOME proudly sends two of its trainee counsellors to the 7th A.R.S in Pakistan"

The Asian Recovery Symposium is an annual event conducted by the founders of the 'Columbo Plan Bureau' ; an international NGO based in Sri Lanka's capital city, Columbo. It is a pioneer organisation within the cluster of de-addiction support organisations in Asia. Its primary goal is grouping,co-ordinating and strengthening all efforts against substance addiction and its treatment.       

        Two of our trainee peer-support counsellors, Mr. Goverdhan Joshi and Mr. Sanjeev Kodan (who are both recovering addicts) travelled to Pakistan to attend the seventh annual 'Asian Recovery Symposium'. Our keen trainees were delighted to recieve this chance to embark on a fantastic learning experience. They were highly optimistic that this event would be a gem-of-an-oppurtunity to expand on their knowledge regarding substance addiction counselling for the recovering induvidual.

         Hundreds of ex-addicts, advice & support professionals and trainee counselling personnel from South and South-East Asia gathered in the capital city, Islamabad to take part in a weekend-long conference, series of talks and educational seminars from the 12th - 14th April 2014. The event's main focus was geared at raising awareness of the destructive impact of active addiction, the individual's transition into recovery and the wealth of support strategies a recovering addict can encounter to strengthen and maintain a clean and serene life. 

        The Symposium hosted a range of activities such as one-on-one 'meet & greet' sessions with professional support workers with years of valuable and extensive experience in the field of recovery. Our SHAFA team met with the leaders of the event and remarked how focused and determined the organisers were to ensure the A.R.S would be a fruit-bearing success for all attendees.

        The event also hosted counsellor training seminars wherein our very own Mr. Sanjeev Kodan was an active and conscientious participant. As a counselling ambassador representing SHAFA HOME, he expressed how "these sessions gave light upon a variety of useful and implementable tools to construct a healthy relationship with the recovering addict so that the counsellee would be able to trust his/her counsellor, openly share their fears and apprehensions and trust their counsellor to give reliable and pertinent advice.  

        The 7th A.R.S also involved members' individual speeches regarding their own journies into recovery. Our Mr. Goverdhan Joshi brought his own addiction & recovery experience before the eagerly attentive hall. He eloquently spoke of his own harrowing life in active addiction , his courageous transition into recovery and how he met with the helping hand of SHAFA HOME's team of dedicated and unconditionally supportive counsellors. He went on to add "how important it is to face life's challenges head on without dissolving into feeling overwhelmed and admitting defeat...each sober day is a resounding success and miracle. This triumph must be recognised and celebrated because life in recovery is God's gift.

        All-in-all, this was a smashing experience for our trainees! It had been a superb chance for them to enrich upon their own recoveries as well as enhancing their counselling skills. They were filled with fresh ideas of how they would pass their HOPE, STRENGTH  AND COURAGE to the newly recovering addict. 

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CELEBRATING LIFE

Today, I experienced something which was very different and unusual than a general birthday. In TC terminology it is known as a "Recovery Birthday". A birthday signifies that the earth has completed one revolution around the sun in its orbit. Similarly, a Recovery Birthday is celebrated when an addict completes a year staying away from drugs or being sober. We celebrate our birthdays every year with the same enthusiasm and excitement irrespective of the kind of actions or deeds we might have committed during that time, every year. But today, this day seemed of more importance to me than any birth anniversaries. During this year, the addict accomplishes a lot by going through all the hardships in one's life without resorting to the escape route of numbing things with the use of drugs.

                          Today, I witnessed Anand Mani's 15th recovery birthday celebrations. He shared his feelings of 15 years of drug use and his journey of recovery, in front of residents of Shafa. Like every year, this

 this year too, he came to the center to celebrate his birthday with the Shafa family as a token of love and honor, as this place has helped him to embark on this new beginning in his life. He shared amongst the family that after losing everything in all realms of his life and getting admitted to 8 or 9 treatment programs at the age of 37 years he came to Shafa. This was where he surrendered to the program and accepted his own mistakes and this was only possible because of the kind of atmosphere and platform offered at Shafa.

According to him, this was the turning point in his journey towards recovery. This journey must not have been very easy, after living a life of a junkie on the streets, one forgets about his duties, responsibilities and a sense of discretion between right and wrong. Then, he had to conform to the new norms of the program and this helped him to instill self-check mechanisms, which ensured him to sustain his recovery in every possible way. This family has become like a safe haven for him, as his program got over and he was told to go home he got scared, as he had nowhere to go. Tears welled in his eyes when he started talking about the changes which had come in his life after being in recovery. He still can't believe that he has a family who loves him, he has a son, he has bought his own house, he has a good job as a banquet manager and he has build relationships with people who support him. I strongly feel that he has become a good role-model. Previously, he used to be a person who was using drugs as an excuse or a support system for everything and now he faces every life's every challenge without drugs and has managed to cope well. He himself said that "Recovery is the fight and struggle in life" and this struggle is never-ending.

Today after listening to his words, this birthday celebration felt special, when I compared it with all other biological birthdays I have celebrated so far in my life.

                

As seen by XYZ, an Intern on 2^nd May’2014, in SHAFA. 

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