By Emily Gautney, Arkansas CARES Peer Recovery Support Specialist
Addiction is a formidable beast. A thief. A liar. A temptress. It uses silky words, promising relief from the pain while stealing peace and pledging freedom while building chains. Sometimes its words are so convincing that we don’t even realize we’ve switched sides of the war.
Every day in active addiction is a battle. Every lie we believe, every bridge we burn, every promise we break, and every time we choose a substance over our family, our children, our future or ourselves, the enemy wins another inch of ground.
Arkansas CARES is a break in that mighty war. The day a client walks through the doors is the first battle won. Some of our clients have been fighting for years; others, their entire lives. For four months, they get to put their sword down. They assess and treat injuries and train to go back out and fight. They breathe, heal, and remember who they were before addiction convinced them they were nothing more than an addict.
That can sound like a respite but it’s also hard work. We all know what is at stake. It’s life or death. It’s getting their children back or losing them. So, we have clients face parts of themselves they’ve spent years trying to outrun. We ask them to sit with uncomfortable feelings instead of numbing them. It’s also beautiful to watch each client collect small victories.
Every morning they choose to stay when leaving would be easier is another win. Every difficult group they sit through, every painful truth they face, every tear they cry, every coping skill they practice, every apology they make, every time they choose honesty over hiding, every time they enjoy life without needing to escape it, they’re proving addiction wrong.
They aren’t just getting sober. They are learning the art of war. Because addiction isn’t just a physical battle. It’s emotional, mental, spiritual. The enemy wants our hope. It wants our identity. It wants to convince us that shame is our name and despair is our destiny. It wants us to believe that we will never be anything more than the worst thing we’ve done. It shackles us in chains that are connected to nothing except our belief that we deserve to be in them.
Even still, we laugh a lot around Arkansas CARES. We joke, celebrate birthdays, dance in the group room and play games. Someone might think that we are just having fun. But no, we’re practicing joy. Because addiction convinced us that joy only came from a substance. When we laugh or make a memory while we’re sober, we’re collecting evidence.
Then, one day, with evidence piling up, a client realizes they have a new armor. Because when they graduate, they walk back out onto the battlefield—but not as the same person. The coping skills they’ve spent four months practicing aren’t just ideas; they’re weapons sharpened for the conflicts ahead. We hope the training and support they’ve received at Arkansas CARES becomes a shield, one that helps protect them in the next battle.
