It’s True Story Tuesday! Today’s feature is Savannah, who overcame addiction, abuse, and disordered eating while in treatment at Phoenix House. Today, she has three years sober.
“I’m only 18,” she says excitedly. “I’ve got a whole life in recovery ahead of me! I’m like, dude—what great stuff is going to happen next?”
Click here to read more of Savannah’s remarkable story.
Awesome artwork from one of our clients in New York! #art #recovery #drawing #flowers #color #teen (Taken with Instagram)
It’s True Story Tuesday! Today’s feature is Steven, a teen who started using drugs as a method of coping with his mother’s cancer diagnosis. “I just ran off and got high,” he explains. “I guess it was easier that way.”
But in treatment at our Phoenix House Academy of Los Angeles, Steven learned healthy coping mechanisms and made positive changes. “I noticed drastic transformations in myself and eventually in my relationships—especially my relationship with my mother,” Steven adds. “My mom always did everything she could with the tools she was given. The least I could have done was to show her some support and love—but drugs always got in the way. I’m better than that now.”
Recent SAMHSA data, based on the National Survey on Drug Use and Health for the years 2002 to 2012, shows that more teens tried drugs for the first time in June and July than at any other point in the year. Each day during these months, more than 11,000 teens on average tried alcohol, more than 5,000 tried cigarettes, and more than 4,500 tried marijuana—each day!
To read more about teen use in the summertime and what we can do to help, click here.
Teens, staff and friends at the Phoenix House Academy of Los Angeles are excited for this Friday’s long-awaited unveiling of their Mural Project. For three months, students have been collaborating with Create Now (a local non-profit dedicated to the arts) and a noted muralist, Roger Dolin. Together they designed, created, and painted a large mural in the entrance way to the agency’s building in Lake View Terrace.
Click here to see more photos of this amazing piece!
The teen clients in our Phoenix Rising Music Program are hard at work composing, performing and recording their original songs in our state-of-the-art recording studio. We love this new song, “Lost,” which addresses the teens’ past struggles with addiction—which they have worked so hard to overcome today.
We’re so proud of our young client, Amanda, and the other teens in our Phoenix Rising Music Program, created by singer/songwriter Kara DioGuardi. This inspiring original song - written and performed by our teens - won the NIDA Teen Substance Abuse Awareness contest. Amanda was also recently honored by the City of Los Angeles for her accomplishments—proof that recovery and creativity go hand in hand!
Students from our Phoenix House Academy of Long Island started 2012 off with an adventurous New Year’s Day Polar Bear Splash. It’s amazing what these kids can do when they put their minds to it!
To read more about this (freezing) fun day, click here.
A collection of cool quotes and folks in recovery, compiled by us at Phoenix House, an organization dedicated to helping teens and adults overcome addiction.
www.phoenixhouse.org
| Follow Phoenix House on: | ||||
 |
 |
|
||
This song is so painfully beautiful.
4 months clean. #sober #clean #recovery (Taken with Instagram)
timshel by Rebecca / Aurelle on Flickr.
Fear is the enemy of love. - St. Augustine
