The August 29, 2024 New Canaan Vigil was a success because of storytelling, specifically through ourline-up of speakers who shared their recovery journeys in a very open and authentic way. They allreceived standing ovations because of what we called “The Power of Story”, or in Ty Bennett’s book ThePower of Storytelling. Neuroscientists have proven long ago that people who hear …
At our August 29 New Canaan Vigil, I introduced the concept of Power of Story. By this, I meant that recovery stories told, in a courageous, vulnerable way, saves lives. I have even quantified it, even though–as I mentioned–I have no academic or work-related credentials. I said that every story told openly results in at least one life saved. Why …
Our September newsletter is out, and I was grateful for the opportunity to write about our August 29, 2024 New Canaan Vigil. There were so many things that went right for our 8th Annual, which I discuss in the Letter from the Founder below: We did it! Hit the stretch target of 500 attendees at our 8th Annual New Canaan Vigil. …
It’s hard to believe, but we actually hit our stretch target of 500 people at our August 29th Vigil, on a beautiful evening at the corner of South Avenue and Elm Street. Our goal was to touch and inspire through the recovery testimonials, and we believe we succeeded with our recovery speaker line-up of Aidan C., Cini Shaw and Ben …
Hi, my name is Cini Shaw, and I am in recovery. I was born and raised in Peter Cooper Village on the lower east side of Manhattan. My mother was orphaned at the age of 7, marrying my father in her early 20’s. My parents divorced when I was 4 yrs old because of my father’s drinking and erratic and …
When I first decided to start a parent support group, I knew that eventually I would need to have a funding strategy. I finally got around to contacting Lauren Patterson, the newly-appointed (in 2017) ED at New Canaan Community Foundation. What was great for me, was that Lauren had experience in fiscal sponsorships from her previous gig in the DC …
Stephen Chapin Garner is Senior Pastor at the Congregational Church of New Canaan, who I have gotten to know as we plan our 8th Annual Community Addiction Awareness Vigil. Chapin has stepped forward to help lead the candlelight vigil ceremony of the Vigil, and we are very grateful. Here are some facts about Chapin: 1) He is a graduate of …
I first met Aidan C. at one of our parent support meetings. At his mom’s invitation, he came to the meeting to share his story and give hope to other parents in the room. During his talk, he mentioned how 12-step meetings and service to others was important to his long-term sobriety and recovery. He also mentioned that the meetings …
Dependable, loyal and compassionate are three adjectives I’d use to describe John Hamilton. He is returning for the eighth year as Emcee of NCPSG’s Community Addiction Awareness Vigil. What I like about John is he blends his expertise of three plus decades in the prevention, treatment and recovery world with empathy for those who struggle–be they the loved ones themselves …
I recently had a conversation with Joe Feldman, who is the Founder of CoverMyMentalHealth.com and mental health care advocate. While we all know there is supposed “parity” for insurance coverage of mental health and substance use disorders, in practice that is not the case. In our conversation, Joe brought up an important idea that can forestall the agonizing appeals process …
