Arms Acres Alumni Connection
Click HERE for details on our Alumni Sober Cinco De Mayo Family Gathering.
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Through the years, over 50,000 people have walked through the doors of Arms Acres seeking a better life, free from the suffering the disease of addiction brings. Every one of you has been important to us. Our staff has been as touched by your visit here as we hope you were by your experience at Arms Acres. Over the years, you have gone on to become a part of a “bigger” plan, making a positive impact on your communities. We want to hear your story. Our staff will be excited to hear from you, for this is the great reward of working in this field. In addition, we would like your ideas on what we might be able to offer you in the way of support and assistance in meeting the never-ending challenges of long-term recovery.
Your comments will help us realize our goal of making Arms Acres the best it can be for people suffering from addiction. Please send your stories, ideas, comments and suggestions to us by submitting your information in the form at the bottom of the page! You can also contact Susan Attebery directly through email or at extension 6198.
Click HERE for our Spring '12 Newsletter
(HTML - Print to download)
Message from the Alumni Association Coordinator…..
The Arms Acres Alumni Association continues to grow and remains very active in reaching out to others in need of recovery. I hope you can come join us for an inspirational day at one of our upcoming alumni events. Come back and reunite with other alumni and staff along with sharing your strength, hope and serenity with the current clients.
- Alkaton meets the last Thursday of every month. Remember how important Alkathon was for you when you were in treatment? Alkathon needs you!
- Alumni Gratitude Gathering – Thanksgiving SOBERFEST - November 18th at Arms Acres. This will be a day you won't want to miss with meetings, food, fellowship, speakers and much more.
If you would like to receive information by email on future alumni events, please send me a note to sattebery@libertymgt.com
Come celebrate your sobriety and spend a day with us at Arms Acres where your recovery journey began. We'd love to see you.
- Susan Attebery
“Coming together is a beginning.
Keeping together is progress.
Working together is success.”
- Henry Ford
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ALKATHON
Alkathon is a long time tradition of Arms Acres where graduates come back to monthly meetings to attend groups, meet with other alumni, visit with case managers and of course meet and talk to the patients. The success of such a program is the direct result of the alumni participation. Alkathons are held the last Thursday of every month from 8:00 AM to 3:00 PM . If you would like to attend and transportation is a problem, please let us know. We might be able to arrange carpooling with another alumnus. If we have enough interest, there has been talk of possibly sending a van to Grand Central or to one of our Outpatient Clinics. Thank you to the many alumni who have taken the time to share their recovery stories, strength and hope with the patients at Arms Acres. Your participation is key in their recovery along with being rewarding to your own recovery. I often hear back from alumni who have held onto something an alumnus shared with them while they were in treatment. Your strength and your hope leave lasting impressions on their recovery. Thanks for giving back. If you would like more information about Alkathon or need a ride, please contact us at 1(800) 989-2676. Susan Attebery Ext. 6198 or Cathy Sacer Ext. 6145
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ALUMNI GOOD NEWS
I was at Arms Acres back when I was 17. Although I did use when I got out, the things I learned at Arms Acres finally clicked. I am now 25 and have been drug free for 5 ½ years. I graduated last year with an Associates in Drug and Alcohol Counseling and I am going to take my Certification for my CAC. I have learned that our bad experiences in life can be learned from and actually used not as a bad experience, but into what makes us who we are. Arms Acres taught me so much. And the family day at Arms Acres gave me the strength to tell my family things I thought I never could. Keep doing the great work you guys do. Thank you.
- Adrian H.
*****
One Year Clean Today.....365 consecutive days of living drug and alcohol free. One whole year with being able to resist the urge of putting a needle in my arm, a pill down my throat, and a drink in my hand. One year of undergoing the hardest obstacle I have faced in my 19 years of living. Through hard work and complete dedication, I have achieved the most rewarding things anyone could ask for. I’m a college student today. I can be a daughter today, a sister, a friend and a girlfriend. I can be trusted and relied on without question. I can wake up in the morning and feel alive, remembering everything I did the night before, and knowing I had fun without the help of any substance. I can appreciate the little things that most people leave unnoticed. I can do whatever I want, as long as I try. Throughout the year I have received the best gift anyone could ask for, freedom. Sometimes, the best gifts are the ones that you can’t hold or touch, but the ones you feel in your heart. Some of you will never understand what this process is about, and I can only pray you never do. For those left suffering, there is hope. Thank you to everyone who has supported me since day one, cause not one second of it goes unappreciated.
Revelation 21:4 God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.
- Michelle B.
*****
After about five years, I just wanted to reach out and thank you for your part in my recovery. Five years ago, I came to Arms Acres after a nearly lethal overdose of Xanex. I may not have exactly been a model member of your program when I first arrived however, as my time in the program progressed something changed in me. My social worker was incredible. He helped me rebuild a relationship with my family and find closure to issues that I had in my past. He also inspired me to work with youth in the human services field. Five year later, I am a graduate of Human Development and Family Studies from the University of Vermont with a Bachelor’s in Science. My experience at Arms Acres taught me to help myself achieve happiness and I have paid it forward to the youth that I have worked with in residential facilities. I would love the chance to come and speak to the youth program members at Arms Acres. I remember very well sitting in the community room listening to speakers while eating a peanut butter sandwich and wondering where I would be in five or ten years. I wondered if I would ever be one of those people who made it. I am in such an incredible place in my life that I never thought I would be and never would be if it were not for the help of Arms Acres. As thanks, I would love to come full circle and speak to the youth program.
Thanks for everything,
- Julie L.
*****
I left Arms Acres a little over eight years ago and it was one of the best things I’ve ever done for myself and my family. I left Arms Acres and went to Sober Living in Delray Beach, FL for about one year and have been sober ever since. It wasn’t always easy, but it was well worth it. My wife and kids have never been happier as well as myself. I work a respectable job and look forward to the future.
When I was at Arms Acres, my wife had asked for a divorce. I was then in a position to go to Delray and work on myself. We got divorced, but after it was finalized, four months later, we were back together. So good things do come back in sobriety. Wife, kids, house, job and serenity…it’s all back thanks be to God!!!!
My sincere gratitude goes out to Arms Acres and the entire staff. You are all saints in my book. Coming to Arms Acres saved my life and helped give myself and my family back the happiness and comfort that we all deserve.
Again my sincere thanks,
- Wayne B.
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Today Not Tomorrow!
This morning I woke with the rising sun.
To see another beautiful day has begun.
I’ve got to pull myself together.
Cause so much work has to be done.
Today I’ve got to over come my addictions and sorrows.
I’ve got to do it today cause no one ever said I’m promised tomorrow.
To make it through the day I’ve got to stay strong.
Although I know a second of fighting can seem so long.
But still I’ve got to find the will to carry on.
Cause Once I pick up my whole life is gone.
Now I don’t know about you.
But as for me, I’m doing all I can to change cause I know time I cannot borrow.
So take my advice and do it today.
And not tomorrow!
Tommy B.
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There’s A Dog At My Door
There’s a dog at my door and he’s trying to get in
But I won’t pay him mind and he’s not going to win
He can chew off the knob, he can scratch off the paint
See, he’s trying to get in, but I’m telling you, he ain’t
He’s been out there for hours, maybe days, maybe years
But I’m shutting my eyes and I’m closing my ears
Coz there’s no dogs allowed in this place I call home
I bet he’s got fleas and a mouth full of foam
Said there’s no dogs allowed, keep him out of this place
He might sniff out my stash or get up in my face
He might knock over bottles that I need to survive
Should that happen, I swear he won’t leave here alive
Better get on the phone, call up animal control
There’s a dog at my door and he’s after my soul
So I pick up and dial but the line has gone dead
And I’m starting to freak, going out of my head
What the hell does he want, why on earth is he here
Is he sensing my sickness, is he smelling my fear
Now the chewing’s getting louder and the scratching’s getting bad
And I find myself thinking of the things I once had
Like serenity, happiness, true peace and love
Used to fit in my life like a hand fits a glove
Doesn’t matter when things changed, all I know is they did
And so into this house I ran scared and I hid
And I’ve been here for hours, maybe days, maybe years
Grinding my engine and stripping my gears
And I’ve got nothing left, against all my hoping
That dog’s coming in, and the door starts to open…
...but he doesn’t come in. He just stands there between
this hell I call home and a whole different scene
“Come and kill me”, I say. “Isn’t that why you’re here?”
And he looks at me kindly, and he hands me a mirror
And he says: “your reflection is a blessing, not a curse
Gaze into this mirror, look at me in reverse”
So I do, and it’s strange, and it strikes me as odd
When I spell his name backward, that dog becomes God
And the whole time I thought I knew what he was about
He wasn’t trying to get in
He was trying to let me out.
- Jason W.
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Our Higher Power didn’t promise days without pain, laughter without sorrow, sun without rain, but he did promise strength for the day, comfort for the tears and light for the way…..
Unknown Author
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Contact Us
Arms Acres
75 Seminary Hill Road
Carmel, NY 10512
General Information: 845-225-3400
Central Intake/Admissions 1-888-CARING1 [227-4641]