VAN NESS RECOVERY HOUSE TURNS 50
The Van Ness Recovery House, the oldest LGBT recovery house in the nation, is celebrating 50 years in September—during National Recovery Month. We asked these clean and sober folks who are alumni of the house what their experience was like in the program
BY PAULO MURILLO
SOMETHING MAGICAL
“Truth be told, I was not at the Van Ness Recovery House for very long, just due to my own actions. I was only there for about two weeks, but I’ve said this a thousand times before, everything I needed to learn about recovery, I learned at Van Ness. I learned how to ask for help. I learned how to share my feelings. I learned how to sit with the uncomfortable. I learned in some aspects that I need to be able to follow direction without debate. I learned that there is no shame in who I am and where I come from. When I was very nicely asked to leave, I just wanted to show everyone that I could stay sober, but the reason that I keep going back to the house and taking an active role is because what’s happening there is special. There is something magical about this place. Those two weeks kept me sober.”
—Ari Udeze, sober since August of 2005.
SWEAR MY LIFE
“The Van Ness Recovery House is a program that was tailor made for someone like me. I was uppity and self-serving and angry and evil, which can be a lot of work. I didn’t think Rehab was possible. I didn’t think it was affordable, but the VNRH is available to everyone who needs it, especially to those who can’t afford it. When I went into the House, I only planned to stay there for 28 Days because of that Sandra Bullock movie, but I saw some shit that made me rethink my existence and I stayed. And it worked. It has worked sixteen-plus years later. My bed is made today. I’m wearing underwear right now. I no longer fight with people who aren’t there… much. And I have gotten some relief from the bondage of self, which I’m grateful for, because self-possession is exhausting. The house gave me the distance I needed from that last drink and bump of meth to turn my life around, I swear my life is better because of it. I recommend VNRH to anyone who is tired of being of being tired.”
—Paulo Murillo, sober since January 10, 2007.
THE PROGRAM WORKS
“When I was in the Van Ness House doing my powerless and unmanageability, I had a moment of clarity that I was completely broken. I felt like a China doll that was in a million pieces and I just clung on to the hope that I could have a better life by facing everything that was in front of me in a group of 20 peers and having to be rigorously honest and accept the fact that I had torched my life and a program of recovery could offer me a different. That house was able to provide that for me. It was an opportunity that allowed me to come in there penniless and homeless. They offered me a chance at rebuilding my life with sobriety. The house changes people’s lives if they are willing and open-minded to look at the hard facts of their life. I recommend it to everyone who wants to make their life better. The program works.”
—Linc Davis, sober since December 28, 2010.
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