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First off I would like to start off by saying how grateful I am for The Last House, for all the people who have been by my side through this journey, for being given an opportunity to have a real chance at life.  I spent a lot of years going in and out of treatment and jail, spent a lot of money, I put myself in to a lot of debt, I threw out relationships, opportunities to grow, all my self-respect, integrity and dignity to be able to stay high just one more day.

I remember walking into Thrive Treatment on my first day, still kicking because the detox I was at wouldn’t let me stay to finish my taper.   I was in such a bad spot that anything sounded better than being back on skid row, and I was willing to do anything at that point. About a week later I figured I could probably do it on my own when I felt better, once again, and decided to leave.  Due to a series of events later that night, I ended up back at East House, sitting on the front porch I was at a crossroads, I had no more options. I was to either stay on the path I was on, or I accepted spiritual and physical help. I stayed sober for about 6 months, I started giving myself the credit for where I was at with a flip phone and a minimum wage job, and when some people tried to tell me I was fucking up, I wouldn’t listen.  I stayed out for a month, deep down regretting every second of it. Things got bad again and I ended up back in detox. I sat at a crossroads one more time, I knew if I went to another sober living without the structure I would not get very far, but if I came back to The Last House, I had real brothers that would help me stay put and be here for me. This was the best decision I’ve ever made.  

I spent a lot of time dwelling on the past, beating myself up for starting over one more time.  I made a lot of mistakes and I didn’t do everything right. But no matter what I continued to take steps forward.  I learned to listen to feedback, and do my best to apply it in my daily life. I was able to go back to court and take care of multiple warrants that had been put out a few years ago.  I even turned myself into jail while in the house. I learned to handle life head on. I’ve been able to show up to a job every day no matter how much it sucks, and no matter how much I don’t want to go.  Since having done that I have become manager of the cafe I work at. I’ve learned to show up for my family, it is no longer a chore for me to be a part of my family. I have integrity and dignity today. I have become accountable to myself and for my actions.  I know when I am wrong and I am able to admit it.  

If I can say anything for the new people, stay patient.  Be an example for the next person behind you, let someone else make decisions for you.  Don’t think you know what’s best for you, because that literally got you here, sitting in the chair you’re in right now.  Show up when you are asked to and work the steps. It certainly is not easy, but it is so simple. And if I can do this, so can you.

Wilderness Treatment in California

If you are thinking about Wilderness Treatment in California for your loved one suffering from addiction, mental or behavioral health disorders, then you are certainly on the right track. Adventure Therapy is one of the most effective forms of therapy for young adults and adolescents. Compared to traditional Residential Treatments and office-based therapies, wilderness and adventure programs allows patients the ability to exercise real learning in safe environments to push through anxiety, stress, and excitement. These are valuable skills that can be developed rapidly in an outdoor setting and translate to actionable skills when back in urban or front-country environments.

Wilderness treatment is highly effective for disorders such as; alcoholism, drug addiction, depression, borderline personality disorder, attachment disorder, spectrum disorders, bi-polar, technology addiction, and oppositional defiance disorder. A common misconception is that wilderness is a place to send “bad kids” for punishment. Most treatment is designed to treat maladaptive behavior responses that often result from core wounding or trauma responses. When removing a young person from a familiar environment that includes constant over stimulation from cell phones, media pressures, school and social pressures there becomes the ability to leverage the inherent neuroplasticity of a younger brain and can lead to a more effective intervention on disruptive behaviors.

A study in 2004 from Outdoor Behavioral Health Research Council (OBHRC) shows a 50% reduction in symptoms using the Youth Outcome Questionnaire (YOQ). It also showed a continued decrease in symptoms over time.

With Wilderness Treatment being so effective, it leads us to wonder why there isn’t a Wilderness Treatment program in our home state. The answer is because some states like California have laws that make it very difficult and expensive to run an active Wilderness Treatment Program. Due to large populations, California’s departments Land Management tightly control access to California’s open spaces. California’s laws do not protect large private landholders enough to make them comfortable with lending their land to outside use. California’s rich mineral content and agriculture make most of the earth more valuable to industries such as mining and logging. The value of land in California prices out the outdoor behavioral health industry which traditionally operates as a labor of love.

California’s Behavioral Health industry has grown in response to increasing rates of drug addiction and mental health disorders nationwide. It has long been a haven for the treatment of mental health disorders because it is socially acceptable to be open about recovery. So, it is easy to see why programs would take modalities that work so well in the wilderness and apply it to treatment in more populated area’s. Programs like The Last House in LosAngeles, Ca utilize experiential therapies to get their clients “off the couch” and practicing coping and recovery skills outside of their treatment office. “Although our program is not a replacement for Wilderness Treatment in California ,” says Clayton Ketchum, Founder of The Last House, “Using experiential therapies in young adults significantly improves the transition from the backcountry to an urban environment where most young people desire to live and grow their lives.” Utilizing local recreation areas like the Santa Monica Mountains for day outings and the Sierra Nevada Mountains for weekend adventures, “Creates lasting bonds between our clients, because completing a small journey together introduces them to the camaraderie necessary to embark on a life long journey of recovery.” The Last House urges those considering treatment to call their Admissions Counselors for a thorough assessment and to learn about the different types of Wilderness Therapy programs.

When it comes to choosing a Wilderness Treatment Program, it is essential to have a thorough assessment to identify the best fit. It may be difficult to find Wilderness Treatment in California. Several wilderness programs operate in Utah, Colorado, Oregon, and Montana. The two main types of programs are known commonly as the Base model and Nomad model. Different Wilderness programs best serve different populations so it is important that a student be paired with the program which best suits their needs. The other thing to consider is insurance coverage and cost which takes a thorough financial evaluation. Wilderness typically runs $15,000 to $38,000 per month and varies on what insurance covers or reimburses. Chris Kirby, the Admissions Director at The Last House, says, “Not all insurance is created equal, I have seen insurance cover 90% of a program or only reimburse 10%, the first step is getting a full Verification of Benefits to determine what coverage would be.”

The “Nomad Model” is a type of wilderness which is full wilderness immersion. The students begin at a base camp and don’t return until they are finished. They are in the wilderness the entire time trekking from camp to camp and doing group and individual therapy sessions in the woods. They utilize highly skilled field guides to facilitate interventions in the field.

The “Base Model” wilderness, also known as an “Adventure Model” utilizes the wilderness for multiple day excursions and incorporates different activities into each journey. Students return to base where they engage in medical and clinical visits, de-brief and planning for their next outing. They also utilize skilled field guides and therapists in the field to process the experience.

Wilderness Therapy is described by professionals, families and clients alike as one of the most effective and significant interventions for people struggling with mental and behavioral health issues. The other significant factor in the success of someone doing a wilderness program is continuing care. Any initial treatment experience is only the first intervention. For lasting success and decreased recidivism, it is recommended that a young person is in one year of follow up care. Best outcomes come from a highly structured sober living or young addult transitional program. It is crucial that students learn to use their wilderness skills in everyday life and habituate their new coping skills, especially when combating the internal dialogue and behavior patterns which typically lead to relapse.

Citation:

Russell, K.C.(2005). Two years later: A qualitative assessment of youth-well-being and the role of aftercare in outdoor behavioral healthcare treatment. Child and Youth Care Forum, 34, 3, 209-239.

In the summer of 2013, I made a decision to make another attempt to get sober. Up until this point I had struggled with heroin addiction for nearly a decade and could not achieve long term sobriety. I had been through multiple treatment centers, detoxes, sober livings, and done a geographical move. All of which resulted in failure which took me further away from my own self, my family, and loved ones. I had embraced the fact that I was a drug addict and I would probably die from this affliction. But there was still a glimmer of hope that I could finally “get this” and be a happy and productive member of society again. You have to be broken in order to be fixed, and I finally felt truly broken and ready for some sort of change in my life. I knew that it would take a lot of work and I was ready for someone else to tell me what to do, because up until this point my way wasn’t working. Getting out of my environment and going out of state made it easier for me mentally because it was difficult for me to leave and get loaded if I had an urge to use, so I decided to hop on a plane and go to a treatment center in California. In the past I had done something similar and done treatment and a lightly structured sober living in South Florida. It ended in catastrophe and I eventually moved back home after a year of bouncing in and out of different rehabs. I had to do something different but I had no idea what that was supposed to look like. While I was in treatment in Los Angeles, I met a guy who worked there that had 15 years sober and I noticed that there was something different about this person. It’s hard to explain but it was almost like he knew something that I didn’t. He exuded some sort of aura and had a light in his eyes which was attractive. This man ended up being my sponsor after I completed treatment and he convinced me and my family that I needed to go to a structured sober living.

When I arrived at sober living any and everything was taxing on my serenity. Receiving feedback from my peers on what I needed to change was not something I had experienced in prior attempts to get sober. My patience and tolerance of others was tested on a daily basis while living with 14 other newly sober men. But we had a common bond, and most of us had been through the wringer already. I am an only child so I don’t know what it’s like to have siblings but I would soon have an idea of what it’s like to have brothers. Some of the best feedback I ever received during a group at the house was that I needed to find inner peace. I almost laughed when the manager told me that! I had no idea what he meant but was forced to take a look at it. There was a lot of inner turmoil and pent up rage within myself that I didn’t even know was there. Thankfully, a requirement of the house was to get a sponsor and start working the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous and go to AA meetings on a daily basis. We had to start practicing awareness and know what was going on around us at all times. Getting a routine down and finding a job also played a big part of my early sobriety. I had my schedule down to a science and knew exactly where I was supposed to be and what I was supposed to be doing every second of every day. My life started to have purpose and meaning again. I developed lifelong friendships with other guys that I went through the house with and we trudge this road together.

My name is Miles and am 31 years old. I have been sober since November 11, 2014. I am an alcoholic and also used other drugs. My drug of choice was Crystal Meth. Before coming to The Last House, I was at an all-time low. My life was becoming more and more unmanageable. I had been using drugs every day for 5 years. I was able to function as an addict for some time but little by little problems would come up. I burned all my bridges, no one wanted anything to do with me. At the end my car was repossessed, I received an eviction notice and become homeless all within 2 months. For most people this would be a bottom but I continued using.  I always said to myself “it’s not that bad yet” but that was my addiction speaking. 

            My first time in treatment was at the age of 15. I was using meth and was stealing from my mom. She caught me stealing from her and immediately sent me to treatment. This was my first introduction to AA. I did not believe I was an addict at this time, I was simply going to treatment to guilt trip my family. I was playing the sympathy card and manipulating my family. I was not ready to get sober and not ready to surrender. As soon as I got out of treatment I continued to use. 

            Two weeks later I was arrested for smoking meth in a parking structure. I then was introduced to juvenile hall. After being sentenced I started to go to meetings and contribute in my Alumni treatment center. I was staying sober but again was not doing it for me, I just didn’t want to go back to jail. I managed to put 2 years of sobriety under my belt. At the age of 18 I was released from probation and continued to use drugs more than ever. What lead to this relapse was me not putting in work on myself and not taking my addiction serious. I wanted to have fun with my friends and did not think it was possible without drugs.

             I was using for 3 years and then ended up getting arrested again and went to back to jail at the age of 21. After I was out of jail I was able to stay sober again for around 1 year. I went to sober living in Costa Mesa. This sober living was very relaxed and all I had to do is pay rent and check-in once a week. There was no structure at all. At this sober living I knew others were using but ignored it due to me being on probation. As soon as I was released from probation I ended up relapsing with guys in the house. The same cycle started over again. After this relapse I would not get sober till the age of 27.

            November 11, 2014, I did what every grown man does and called my mom for help. My mom was waiting for this call for years. I called her because I was at the end of the road, it was either be homeless, eventually go to jail or die. She picked me up and took me to detox. In my head I felt regret because I was taking the one thing I relied on the most away “METH”. I did not know how to function without this. My first few days in detox I stayed to myself and slept for 3 days. My plan in the back of my head was to get a few days sober and then go back at it one more time. After detox I was taken to a structure sober living. I walked in to sober living on November 14 2014 and have been sober since.

            Becoming a new person was not easy, I had to learn how to live life all over again. My old ways were not going to work anymore. The guys in the house were very welcoming and had my best interest. At first, I didn’t want to hear what others told me and let my ego get the best of me. I would always try to run from my problems and not face them. I didn’t want to work on myself at all. So many times, I wanted to give up, but my brothers carried me through the toughest times. Accountability and integrity are two things I never had. I didn’t know how to be honest nor how to do the right thing. Two months into sober living my mind set was to leave and get high, it was about 6 months sober that I decided this life is actually a lot more attractive. I surrendered and left into god’s hands. My life started to mean something to me, I started to realize how important family is. I treated my family like crap my whole life and pointed the finger at everyone else. Today I get to show up for them and be a part of their lives. 

             I feel it was very important for me to invest time in working on myself without any distractions from the outside world. Being able to take direction from others and trust things are going to be okay. Cleaning up the wreckage of my past was not easy and didn’t happen overnight. I had to put trust and faith into others. If you are struggling and you are sick of the never-ending cycle of relapse there is hope for you. I used drugs for 14 years and never in a million years thought my life would be as blessed as it is today. I surround myself with good people, I show up for my family, and I am able to show up to work on time every day. My house is in order today. This past 4 years has been a journey and I thank The Last House community for showing me a new way of life and how to become a new man. 

I am what one could call a chronic relapser.  I first started trying to get sober in 2003 back in Canton Ohio.  I’ve made about every mistake one can make on my path to sobriety.  In the beginning, I knew that I wanted to stop drinking and using drugs but I wasn’t ready to put the work into it.  In Ohio, most of the people in AA were way older than me. I was around 23 at the time and these people were easily over 40. There wasn’t a lot of people my age trying to get sober and I felt like maybe I was too young to stop drinking.  I separated myself from them and had a hard time relating. I was focusing on the differences rather than the similarities. Drugs and alcohol were tearing my life apart but I also felt like there was a lot of “good times” that I was missing out on.  My drinking progressed to pills and then eventually heroin. To make matters worse I had a 4 -year- old daughter that I wasn’t showing up for and I couldn’t hold down a job. This would start a 14- year cycle of sobriety, treatment and relapse repeatedly.  The worst times of my life were still to come. It’s hard to put into words just how worthless I felt being addicted to drugs. I hated what I was doing to myself, my family and my friends. I wanted to stop and just live a normal life but I couldn’t and the years were starting to slowly slip away.    

      There were times that I put together some spotty sobriety and was sober continuously sober from 2011-2014.  I was working in treatment in west Hollywood and thought that I had finally had this thing beat. I was wrong and relapsed again.  This time I stayed out for a few years I ended up losing everything. My job, my car and my apartment. Most of all I was losing the support of my family.  After years of having their hopes raised and then crushed again they were starting to lose hope that I would ever get this thing. I couldn’t blame them.

    I came into The Last House sober living in July of 2017 and I was in bad shape.  I walked in with a little bag which had 2 pairs of jeans, one sock and two T-shirts.  That’s all I had left. I didn’t even really want to get sober again but I knew that I couldn’t keep living the way that I was.  I knew my life wouldn’t last long and if it did it would be a sad, lonely and painful one. The first thing I noticed was how much younger everyone was than me.  When I got back I had this feeling that life had passed me by. My friends all had jobs, careers and families and I was in sober living again trying to put my life together.  Here I was pushing 40 years old and i felt out of place. When I first started to try, and get sober in 2003 I felt too young. Now, these years had passed and I was feeling too old!!  I realized quickly that this was my disease and it was trying to do anything it could to separate me from these guys so I could build a case to go get loaded again. Good thing I didn’t stay in that mind set for very long!   Being at The Last House, I had plenty of opportunities to share my experience and all the mistakes that I have made in hopes that maybe these guys would hear something and in turn, not make the same ones. This state of mind helped me get out of myself and my head and turn things around.  Being one of the oldest guys in the house I became both an example of what can happen if you don’t get sober for a long time and someone for people to turn to for advice or guidance. I finally had something to offer! Something real and valuable. For the first time in a long time I felt useful.

     I am grateful for the experience that I’ve had this time around and with this house and the guys here.  I have built a lot of solid, long lasting relationships with them and I know that they have my back just like they know I have theirs.  There is never a perfect age to get sober. For some reason, I just couldn’t do it when I was younger. I’m not sure why. All I know is that it didn’t happen.  It is happening now and all those experiences were necessary for me to be where I am. I have learned over the last year how to connect with people and find common ground no matter how old they are. There is a bond that forms when one is around people who have a common past and common goals for the future, a brotherhood, and I have found that here.  

-Mike J.

I’m originally from Des Moines, IA which is the largest city in Iowa at roughly 200,000 people. This is where I grew up and when through high school and partially through college as well. I had tried getting sober back home multiple times whether it was to get my family off my back, to have a place to stay, or because the law required that I go to treatment to satisfy charges I had received. I went to several meetings across Des Moines, but I never felt like it was for me. I also was only doing it for a reason other than for myself. I went to jail time and time again, but as soon as I was given freedom, I was right back where I started even though I would swear off completely while behind bars. My family wouldn’t allow me to stay at their house anymore, so instead, I would find somewhere else to stay temporarily or sometimes I would even sleep at work. Even though my life was falling apart both externally and internally, I continued down this dreadful path. One day, my parents called to say they would give my one last chance and send me to a place in Los Angeles. I had been to California before to try to get sober but I eventually manipulated my way back to Iowa by buying a plane ticket home and doing it all behind my parents back. I told them I was coming home for a visit but instead packed up everything, thinking I would never return. Getting sober in Los Angeles is a lot different than Iowa. The meetings in Iowa were full of grumpy old timers who only complained about their crummy lives. I think that partially turned me off to the rooms. In LA, the rooms of AA are full of a much younger crowd and there are a wide variety of meetings to go to. When I landed at LAX, I was mainly excited to have a roof over my head and some food to eat. I had honestly accepted that I had caused so much wreckage in my life, that I wouldn’t be able to turn it around. The sober living that I arrived at was The Last House. The name of it was actually fitting considering my parents told me this was my last chance. Although the structure of the house was a little intimidating at first, I realized that what was asked of me day to day wasn’t very hard at all. The most challenging part at my stay, was going through the steps and figuring out how to live a healthy, manageable, internally happy life. I had ups and downs, trials and errors, but I found that’s what life really is. Fear had riddled my life to this point, and anytime I was faced with an obstacle or hardship, I would run. Facing my troubles head on is something I learned not only in the steps, but also at the house hearing feedback from my peers. The Last House is heavily based around unity and camaradery. From revamping my shot on the basketball court to taking trips to Mammoth mountain, I found gratification in things that used to bring me joy. The house also made me feel like I wasn’t the only one who was trying to put my life back together. Another crucial characteristic at the house was that people actually cared. I had been to many outpatients and other sober livings where how they communicated with me felt so fake and in-genuine. Throughout my stay, I learned how to balance everyday life, recovery and work. Once I completed the program, I was offered a job working at the house which I gladly accepted. This allowed me to not only give back, but also to witness significant change in others. One of the biggest gifts of the program was getting my family back. For so many years, I created so much havoc in their lives. Being able to make amends to them and be a part of their lives once again brought me peace of mind. I’m now present when we get together during the holidays and I’m a brother and a son. Today, I am financially self-supporting, I have hobbies that bring me joy, and I have a group of friends who are trudging the same road as I am.

Treating Addiction with DBT

DBT is a form of therapy that helps individuals struggling with addiction and substance abuse develop skills that help them recover and move forward.

Short for Dialectical Behavior Therapy, DBT is a modality used to treat various mental illnesses and disorders. This form of therapy has been particularly useful when treating addiction and substance abuse.

Although it was originally intended to treat personality disorders and severe suicidal thoughts, DBT has expanded and can help just about anyone under intense stress.

Treatment centers and addiction mental health professionals are increasingly using DBT more because its core tenets possess the necessary skills to recover from addiction and substance abuse.

So how does it work?

The goal of DBT is ultimately to improve an individual’s quality of life by changing maladaptive behaviors, negative thoughts and beliefs. Often times those with poor emotional regulation struggle to change these things about themselves and are confronted with conflicting feelings about changing. DBT therapists work to help clients synthesize these conflicting feelings and identify their own strengths, the things that they do have control over and accept the world around them.

DBT is a form of cognitive behavioral therapy as it tries to change thoughts and distorted cognitions. Although these two modalities are similar, DBT has its own components and skills that set it apart. DBT professionals rely on helping clients through individual therapy, phone sessions, group therapy, skills training, and team consultation. Often times, clients will be given homework to work on in between sessions. There are five objectives that guide the therapist and client.

These include:

There are also skills developed within each objective. For example in objective one, mindfulness, distress tolerance, interpersonal effectiveness, and emotion regulation are emphasized. These skills are especially helpful and necessary when treating someone with addiction or substance abuse.

Some examples of Treating Addiction with DBT include:
Fostering relationships with individuals and groups that do not encourage drug or substance use.
Removing triggers such as, unhealthy relationships and actual drugs and substances or paraphernalia.
Building self esteem so that clients feel confident to remain sober after treatment.

DBT can be modified to specifically treat those struggling with addiction and substance abuse. Furthermore, individuals with addiction are often times diagnosed with personality disorders in which DBT was originally intended to treat. DBT is a strong therapy modality to use in many mental health settings and can be especially useful when treating addiction and substance.

Strange addictions are more common than you think. When people think of addiction, they usually imagine drugs, alcohol, gambling, food, or even sex. However, addictions can occur to the most unexpected things like the ingestion of nail polish or air freshener. People can become addicted to behaviors or people or even objects.

Addiction to these strange things works similarly as addiction to drugs and alcohol. When individuals engage in their addictive behavior, such as eating cat food, they get a similar high from such acts like smoking cigarettes.

In reality anyone can become addicted to anything for many reasons. Some of the more common strange addictions include:

Tanning

Plastic surgery

Chewing ice

Hair pulling

Exercise

Social networking

Work

TV

Pica (eating non edible substances)

Wearing costumes all the time

A lot of these addictions sound strange because they are not typically heard of, however these strange addictions are more common than you think.

Causes for these strange addictions are similar to most causes of drug and alcohol addiction. For example, trauma, biology, genes, abuse, etc.  However, some people become addicted to things because of poor nutrition. For instance, some people become addicted to non-edible substances like chalk because they may have a severe mineral or vitamin deficiency.

There are many negative effects that can occur from these strange addictions. For example, eating non-edible things can have profound negative health consequences like gastrointestinal failure. An addiction to tanning could lead to cancer. Addictions to things like costumes or watching tv can be very detrimental to relationships. Furthermore, addictions in general interfere with all aspects of life.

If you know someone that is showing addictive behavior with anything. whether it seems strange or not, please encourage them to seek mental health support right away.  The Last House Sober Living can help with strange addictions!  Contact Us Today!

The Fun And Adventure Of Spontaneity In Sobriety

To be spontaneous or not to be spontaneous? That is often a perplexing question for men in the early stages of sobriety because spontaneity can be a bit of an enigma. On the one hand, we are learning how to have fun again, fun which doesn’t include the self-destructive abuse of drugs and alcohol. For most men in recovery, the end of their addiction and/or alcoholism wasn’t fun anymore. Physically sick, mentally sick, and spiritually sick, their chemical dependency on mind-altering substances had wiped all the fun from our lives. Yet, our addicted minds tell us another story. Still hopeful for another stimulating dose of dopamine, the brain chemical messenger, called a neurotransmitter, which sends out all messages of pleasure, the addicted mind would have us believe that drugs and alcohol could still be fun. Moreover, our addicted mind would have us convinced that not only could drugs and alcohol be fun again, that drugs and alcohol are still the only kind of fun we’re capable of having. Thankfully, sobriety teaches us that just isn’t true. Thus, on the other hand, spontaneity is a necessary tool for recovery for unlearning addiction and relearning healthy fun.

Learning how to have fun again in a healthy way means having to have fun again in a healthy way. To anyone on the outside, having fun doesn’t sound like a forced activity. With a brain which has depleted its ability to produce fun-having chemicals, fun takes a little work. Overcoming the programming caused by addiction and reprogramming the brain is both a job and a journey. When healthy, holistic, spontaneous fun is involved, the job becomes much easier and the journey more enjoyable.

Spontaneity can be seen as a threat to sobriety because of its very nature in the definition. Words and phrases like “sudden inner impulse”, “inclination”, “without premeditation” fill various definitions of spontaneity. Impulsivity and inclinations without premeditation are symptoms of addiction and driving problems which perpetuate the cycle of addiction. Addiction quite literally shuts down the parts of the brain responsible for regulating impulsivity, calculating consequences, and weighing options. Confused on what is right or wrong, the addicted brain almost always chooses the wrong kind of impulsivity in favor of feeding addiction rather than the right kind of impulsivity which might rob an opportunity for intoxication. For precisely this reason, rewiring impulsivity is a critical necessity for a thriving life in recovery.

Spontaneity In Park City, The Last House Staff Adventures

Spontaneity is part of the natural flow of life and allows us to flourish in the possibilities of living in the present moment, free from the bondage of the past. Osho, the Indian mystic and philosophical leader said of spontaneity, “To be spontaneous means not to act out of the past, because out of the past is all cunningness, cleverness, calculation, arithmetic.” Living in fear of spontaneity in sobriety means giving all control to fear of an addicted past and all of the ways addiction was cunning, baffled us and rendered us powerless. In sobriety, as Osho describes, to be spontaneous is to live in a way which directly opposes these forces of the past. Matt Fidlow, The Last House Alumni and currently serving as the Admissions and Outreach Coordinator, couldn’t agree more. “Don’t let the past determine who you are,” Matt has developed as part of his sobriety philosophy, “Let the past determine who you become.”

While on a recent trip to the Wilderness Therapy Symposium in Park City Utah, Matt and The Last House Director of Admissions Chris Kirby found themselves in the middle of a rather spontaneous Saturday as the symposium slowed down. Bubbling fun ideas over with industry peers, our staff settled on fun activities at the Park City Mountain Resort including an Alpine Coaster and the Alpine Sled, two gravity-fed adventures.

Surrounded by the lush green beauty that is the ski-slope carved mountains of Park City in the summer, our team had a blast experiencing child-like wonder at the hands of sheer physics. On the Alpine Coaster, they were taken up a steep incline surrounded by Alpine Forest and peeking mountain views. Once at the top, the track curved, swerved, and cut downwards through throttling turns, stomach-lurching dips, and endless encompassing by greenery. Though Chris’s injury couldn’t allow him on the Alpine Sled, Matt took advantage of the opportunity. A chairlift up the mountainside offered stunning panoramic views of Park City Mountain Resort and the entirety of Park City, Deer Valley, and beyond. After dragging a “bobsled” down a beautiful winding forest path, Matt settled on the “Dynamite Express” track and went bolting down the twists and turns of the track. Along with their industry peers, Chris and Matt shared good laughs, took in the splendors of nature, listened to some killer live rock music, and engaged in good old spontaneous fun.

“Spending time in nature and having fun with people in the community of recovery is good for the soul,” Chris Kirby reflected. “So much of sobriety is about connection and there’s no better way to get connected than to have fun in the outdoors.”

Having fun within a community of like-minded, like-recovering, peers is part of what recovery is all about. Recovery should never be a punishment for addiction. Sobriety should never be lived like a sentencing because addiction is not a guilty conviction. In recovery, we have a second chance at life, an opportunity to discover what living is really all about, and a nothing less than miraculous gift of being able to live well and thrive well.

Offering men’s sober living in the Los Angeles area, The Last House strives to provide a safe, fun, program-oriented setting. Men in our program find their purpose and passion by progressing through their recovery in one of the world’s largest recovery communities supported by their peers and an experienced staff. For information on availability and our program, call us today: 1-866-677-0090.