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A Wellness Workshop Helps Writers Chart a Path to Recovery
“It fills my soul in a way nothing else does. It’s magic.”
Susanne Wessler is talking about writing. In this case, writing as part of her sobriety and recovery. Susanne is a devoted member of the Writers for Recovery workshop at Turning Point Center of Bennington (TPCB).
“I find that writing in a community — same place, same faces in the group — brings me closer to people. It lets me get to know them through their art,” she adds.
For Jim, another member of the group, enthusiasm for the workshop came as a bit of a surprise.
“When I started coming here, writing was new to me,” he says. “But in the four months I’ve been coming, writing has developed into a habit. I have to do it. Writing calms my thought process.”
The Writers for Recovery workshop is one of a half-dozen wellness programs accessible at Turning Point. TPCB Director Margae Diamond notes that wellness work is an important part of the center’s holistic approach to helping clients chart their road to recovery.
“Having designated wellness coaches who are trained in trauma-informed practices is so important,” she explains. “Sustained recovery involves retraining the mind and forging a new relationship with your body. The groups we offer are designed for people in recovery.”
Writers for Recovery, which meets Tuesdays 4:00 to 5:30 pm, is led by Carol Adinolfi, a writer, teacher and dramaturg.* Adinolfi is also a certified recovery coach. The group is part of the Burlington-based Writers for Recovery organization, which since 2014 has brought workshops and public readings to communities all over Vermont, from the Northeast Kingdom to Bennington. Celebrating their 10th anniversary this year, Writers for Recovery aims to expand their reach across New England.
“The tagline for Writers for Recovery is Where Words Replace Silence," says TPCB director Diamond. “That is so powerful to me because we are so shut off in our addiction. We are silent. This is a space to express your journey and find that you are not alone.”
In a recent Tuesday workshop, Carol starts by reading a poem by the Nobel Prize winning poet Derek Walcott entitled Love After Love, reading in part:
“… You will love again the stranger who was yourself/ Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart/to itself, to the stranger who has loved you all your life…”
Carol asks the group to write their response to the poem, remembering the workshop credo: “There is no right way or wrong way” to tackle a writing challenge. The clock stops ticking with 7-minutes to go. It’s a thorny assignment, but in seconds pens are frantically scratching the paper.
Reading their work aloud, they write of lost love — Love after love ain’t the same as the first time ‘round — and of loving the “stranger” that they once were, their innocent younger self, so full of hope — Had I forgotten her? That girl who ran barefoot on the velvet moss paths?
The writing is deeply personal, and full of passion. Their work speaks of their struggles and of bravery in facing down substance abuse. It is both expression of their personal journeys and a powerful tool to help them on the road to recovery.
“There’s a lot of neuroscience charting the restorative power of creating writing,” says Adinolfi. “The science is confirmed in these workshops … it’s what people experience when they sit down together and write.”
As Adinolfi puts it, workshop members find their burgeoning voice as writers and tap into the “amazing riches” poetry and literature have to offer. “It’s inspiring,” she says with admiration.
* You can read more about Carol Adinolfi at https://www.dovetailarts.org/about and her recent work at https://www.thresholdcollaborative.org/events
Find more about Writers for Recovery at https://www.writersforrecovery.org/
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