DEALING WITH DISTANCE We asked these clean and sober folks with different lengths of recovery time, what they have learned about themselves while social distancing during the LA County Safer at Home Order. BE HELPFUL “For me social distance has not been that difficult. Because of my age, I already stay home. What I have…
SOBRIETY & SELF-ISOLATION We asked these clean and sober folks with different lengths of recovery time, how they are maintaining their sobriety during self-isolation as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. ASK FOR HELP “I just moved to a sober living after completing the Van Ness Recovery House program. I feel very fortunate that in…
Happy, Joyous & FREE We asked these clean and sober folks with various lengths of recovery time, what they love and gives them the most joy about being sober.BY PAULO MURILLO FEELING OF ACCOMPLISHMENT “What I love most about sobriety right now is my journey of self-discovery and how I’m getting to know myself on…
COUPLES SOBRIETY With Valentines Day in mind, we asked these two husbands with long term sobriety, how they make their relationship work while working a program of recovery. BY PAULO MURILLO KNOWING YOUR BOUNDARIES “For me, the tools of recovery make me the best version of myself. If I’m a person of integrity and I’m…
Sober New Year We asked these clean and sober folks with various lengths of recovery time what their year was like and how they stayed sober throughout 2019BY PAULO MURILLO ALLOWING MYSELF “I celebrated 12 years of recovery in 2019. Crystal meth was in my life for 11 years, so I’ve been meth-free longer than…
SOBER FOR THE HOLIDAYS We asked these clean and sober individuals with various lengths of recovery time, how they plan to maintain their sobriety during the upcoming holidays BY PAULO MURILLO THE REALITY “I was born and raised here, so my holidays will all be spent local. We have lots of annual traditions. The way…
Attitude Of Gratitude Three individuals with various lengths of sobriety on why gratitude is important in their recovery. BY PAULO MURILLO THE CURE “Addiction is a disease of forgetfulness. If I forget that I had nothing and I was living on the street, then I forget to be grateful for having a home and a…
Van Ness Recovery House We asked three individuals what their experience was like getting sober at the Van Ness Recovery House, the oldest drug and alcohol treatment center in the country, serving the LGBTQ community for over 46 years. BY PAULO MURILLO ROLLER COASTER “The Van Ness House was like a roller coaster ride. I…
STAYING SOBER We asked these sober individuals about the worst thing that happened to them in their recovery and how they stayed sober through it no matter what. GETTING INTO ACTION “The worst thing that happened in my sobriety is that I lost both parents and a brother in a period of six months in…
SOBER HOT SUMMER We asked these three clean and sober individuals with various lengths of sobriety how they’re staying sober during these hot summer days. ENERGY OF LOVE “My sobriety is about my connection to God. God is love and the energy of love that flows through each and everyone of us. That energy shows…
Recovery doesn’t just mean living substance-free, it means living more integrated and expressive lives. BY VICTOR MELAMED Founded in 1986, Pride Institute is the nation’s first and leading provider of residential and outpatient treatment programs devoted to treating addiction and the mental health needs of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. At Pride Institute,…
In The Spirit Of Fellowship We asked these clean and sober individuals who participated in this year’s Gay & Sober Men conference in New York, why they think fellowship is an important part of recovery GET ENERGIZED “I love fellowship in recovery. I love the beautiful sense of community that we have. I love that we…
Long Term SOBRIETY We asked these three individuals who recently celebrated clean and sober milestones, what their lives are like as members of long term sobriety. Mind Boggling “Turning 19 years sober is mind boggling. I don’t know quite how I’ve done it, other than to have realized that I had no idea how to live…
Overcoming Triggers With summer fast approaching, we asked these clean and sober folks with various lengths of recovery time how they deal with triggers ortemptations during the warm weather party season. SUPPORT GROUP “The summer was always a little triggering for me. The smell of chemicals trigger me (laughs). Anything that smells like a chemical,…
Sobriety Checkpoint We asked these sober individuals with different lengths of sobriety time to check in and share where they currently are in their recovery. HELP YOUTH “Before I got sober my life revolved around not getting sick. I was physically dependent on alcohol and on benzos and those give you a physical withdrawal. I…
LIFE IN RECOVERY We asked these three clean and sober individuals with different lengths of recovery time, how their life has improved since they decided to get sober. MORE MINDFUL “Before I used to say sobriety has given me the car, the material things and the cash and prizes, but the more I’m sober, I…
DATING SOBER We asked a few local clean and sober folks, with various lengths of recovery time, how they navigate through dating in sobriety. DISCOVER YOURSELF “I find it way easier to date in sobriety. Before I was sober, I didn’t know how to love myself. Recovery is all about self-discovery, so until you discover…
