ADDICTION RECOVERY: PROGRAM PROVIDES SAFE PLACE TO FACE PAIN

read with interest your editorial ("Why the clinic," Nov. 19) and
felt led to respond. I agree we should reach out to help those who
have been affected by the inhuman treatment received while [patients
of] the Myrtle Beach Pain Management Center. I have two family members
[who were patients] there, and I've witnessed the destruction it has
and continues to do in their young lives. Drugs, when prescribed by
qualified physicians, are necessary; and even then we have to be
careful, because any of us can become addicted if [we use them] over a
long period of time. Pain isn't always a symptom that something is
physically wrong. Pain in many cases is created by things in our lives
that have hurt us deeply, things we either bury, deny or are just to
afraid to deal with.

This type of pain is what many addicts are covering up with these
drugs. Until they know there is a safe, loving, caring place where
there are others who have been there, done that, they will continue to
seek things to cover up pain versus dealing with the root causes,
whether it be drugs, alcohol, pornography, relationships, etc.

Thank God there are such places right here in Myrtle Beach. A few
years ago, Myrtle Beach Community Church began a program called
Celebrate Recovery. Celebrate Recovery is a 12-step recovery program
[that] follows the same 12 steps from Alcoholics Anonymous; the main
difference is that our higher power, without any excuses, is Jesus
Christ.

The program is not only for addicts; it's for everyone dealing with
life's hurts, habits and hang-ups: men/women in recovery for anger,
co-dependency, divorce, overeating, control, sexual addictions, abuse.
The list goes on and on.

I and my wife, Gloria, are grateful that MBCC had a vision and the
wisdom to begin this program. It not only has helped us to look at
ourselves individually, because that's what it does, but it also
encouraged us to share it with others.

God placed it on our hearts to begin a Celebrate Recovery in our
church at Low Country Community, and each week we see more and more
people coming to receive the healing power of Jesus Christ. MBCC not
only offers Celebrate Recovery, it goes above and beyond by offering
the Leadership Training for those like my wife and me, in order [that]
we can take this back to our churches to reach those who are hurting
with life's problems.

Through MBCC's encouragement and training, there are several Celebrate
Recovery programs now in our community, and the goal is to have one
every night of the week throughout the Grand Strand so this awesome
program is available for those in need.

Celebrate Recovery is free, and its leaders are people like you and me
who volunteer their time and efforts in order to give back to others
what God's given them. It's all about accountability, responsibility
and learning to love ourselves in order to reach out and love others.
I like to finish with Step One, and I will guarantee if you do it, it
will change your life.

"We admitted we were powerless over our addictions and compulsive
behaviors, that our lives had become unmanageable."

For information, see www.celebrate recovery-se.com or call
236-5645.

The writer lives in Myrtle Beach.