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Weekend Gathering to Kick Off Expanded Alumni Outreach Effort
By Hugh C. McBride
For the past nine years, Passages to Recovery has been dedicated to helping young people take their first steps along the road to successful long-term recovery. From July 31 to Aug. 2, the program is going to take a weekend to celebrate the great distances some of its alumni have traveled, and to renew its support to current, past and future clients.
Brandi Bradbury, Passages to Recovery's admissions and outreach coordinator, said the inaugural alumni gathering will be an opportunity to strengthen the already considerable bonds that exist between the program and its graduates.
"So many of our alumni stay in contact with us because they had such a life-changing experience here," Ms. Bradbury said. "This weekend is going to be a great opportunity for them to reconnect with the place where they began their healing, and to share their experiences, strength and hope with one another."
The gathering will also serve as the kick-off event of an expanded alumni outreach effort, Ms. Bradbury said, with features to include regular quarterly updates with all former clients.
"We want to stay in touch with our alumni, and we want to remind them that we're still here supporting them throughout their journey," she said. "Their stories inspire us to continue doing our jobs."
A Celebration of Recovery
The alumni gathering was conceived as a way to reunite former clients and staff members, while also offering family members a glimpse into what their loved ones experienced during their time at Passages to Recovery.
"We thought maybe we'd get five or ten people the first year, but we've already heard from more than 50 alumni who plan to attend," Ms. Bradbury said. Family members and former Passages staffers will push the total to about 120 people for the weekend.
"We have staff that worked with us who are now working at programs throughout the United States," Ms. Bradbury said. "So it's really exciting to have this very diverse group coming out here to celebrate with us this common theme of recovery."
And though the Passages to Recovery program involves a considerable amount of hard work, when it comes to the inaugural alumni gathering, "celebration" is, indeed, the operative word for the weekend.
"This event isn't designed to be programmatic at all," Ms. Bradbury said. "It's just an opportunity to celebrate recovery, and to celebrate the lives that have been changed here at Passages to Recovery."
An Opportunity to Reconnect
The location of the gathering will be very familiar to alumni attendees. Passages to Recovery has reserved a section of Fishlake National Forest, which is also home to the program's wilderness therapy phase, for the weekend get-together.
"The wilderness offers the perfect environment for recovery, because both the 12-Step program and the wilderness are spiritual in nature," Ms. Bradbury said. "In the wilderness, it's difficult to avoid acknowledging that there's something greater than ourselves. The wilderness allows clients the opportunity to get comfortable in their own skin."
The focus of the alumni gathering is on forging stronger connections and sharing experiences, with events designed to support recovery, celebrate successes and have a bit of fun, too. Highlights of the weekend will include the following:
- A 12-Step routine each morning
- A 12-Step meeting each evening around the campfire
- Sunrise drumming Sunday morning
- Wilderness Olympics
- Campfire Cook-Off Challenge
Even the timing of the gathering was established to support the efforts of those who are continuing their efforts to achieve a lasting recovery, Ms. Bradbury noted. "It starts Friday afternoon, and we'll wrap things up on Sunday, so that clients who are currently in their extended care treatment or who are in school can come here for the weekend," she said.
A Commitment to Continued Support
From sharing experiences around the campfire to receiving the regular alumni updates that will follow the inaugural gathering, Passages to Recovery clients should know that the program remains committed to supporting their recovery long after they have completed their initial stay in the Utah wilderness, Ms. Bradbury said.
"Passages to Recovery remains a leader in the effort to provide wildness-based 12-Step treatment to young adults," she said. "We recognize how important it is to continue to support our alumni, and we're really looking forward to helping them re-connect with the place where they began their healing."
For more information about Passages to Recovery and the July 31-Aug. 2 alumni gathering, call 866-625-8809.
