Author Archives: Ruben Carreri

Is there anybody out there looking to share their recovery experience with the world???  You could be DTR’s newest blogger!  Doorway to Recovery’s staff are always looking for new bloggers to share their personal experience, strength, and hope in the recovery process!  Blogging is easy… and you can do it too! Should you be interested in blogging for The Doorway to Recovery, please contact the main office at any time and we will get the ball rolling!!!  For more information, contact:

Ruben Carreri

Administrative Director

248-987-2696

Ruben.Carreri@thedoorwaytorecovery.org

Hello everybody!

Making the calendar for the upcoming months brings about excitement for warm weather, recovery events and yearly traditions taken part in by Doorway to Recovery clients.

Spiritual Meetings- An evening of prayers, healing, and recovery from the past.  These meetings take place in the outdoor seasons (spring, summer, and fall), and are welcome to anybody who is in recovery or who loves someone in recovery.

Red Wings Game- Doesn’t need much further explanation.  Clean/Sober fun at Joe Louis Arena.

Jamapalooza – One of Doorway to Recovery’s fundraising events featuring music, food, and a good time.  Jamapalooza events are donation based and all donations go to helping The Doorway to Recovery’s mission.

Spring Cleaning – Each year, DTR Homes are cleaned from top to bottom.  While this may seem like a daunting task, Spring Cleaning really helps to motivate clients in the homes, while providing life skills that last far beyond the reaches of our recovery homes…

Tiger’s Outings – Just like the Red Wing’s Game— no explanation needed.

Dawn Farm Trips – Dawn Farms has a wonderful educational series, featuring information on addiction and recovery.  Occasionally through the year we take the vans to Ypsilanti for these wonderful educational series.

Fun nights at the office- While every Monday, our regular Doorway to Recovery residential meeting meets, occasionally we are blessed to have guest speakers, open houses, theme nights, and lots of other fun stuff!  There is always fun stuff going on.

Canoe Trips – One of my most fondly remembered Doorway to Recovery trip was our Milford Canoe Trip.  Each summer, we have the opportunity to canoe down the river into Downtown Milford for a concert and food.  This event is incredibly fun, until you get home to feel the burn from the day of paddling.

The yearly Christmas Party- The Doorway to Recovery dinner, featuring fellowship around one of the most difficult times of the year for many alcoholics and addicts.  This truly changes many people’s perceptions of the word family, and brings a whole new meaning to it.

The Doorway to Recovery has all sorts of functions for all different seasons.  As The Doorway to Recovery continues to grow as an organization, we are always experiencing new, more fun events and functions.  With that being said, everybody enjoy your Tuesday… and why not every day above and beyond that!

Ruben

The Doorway to Recovery was founded years ago, with one recovery home, The Cooley Home.  The home was founded on the product of one addict/alcoholic helping another to stay sober.  The principles of AA are based on one alcoholic helping another.  The principle of The Doorway to Recovery is still the same as it was founded… Having sober living homes where men help men, and women help women… Help with what, the non recovery person may ask…. To help on the spiritual journey that will bring about the recovery from “alcoholism”… A simple concept straight out of Alcoholics Anonymous.  The Stories in the “Big Book” of A.A. were designed to give experience, strength, and hope to those who were unable to make it to a meeting.  Through God’s gifts, we are able to communicate with each other digitally, even to people on the other side of the world.  For example, on Facebook, you will find several groups dedicated to Recovery, and Sharing Online.  You also find many groups dedicated to providing inspirational messages for those who may be in need of hope.  The Doorway to Recovery is using social media to explore the options of Sober Living Homes in the suburban Detroit Area.

As the Intake Coordinator of The Doorway to Recovery, I often have the opportunity to speak with parents, loved ones, and friends of addicts/alcoholics who are searching for answers.  Many times they tell me that their child/spouse/friend is getting out of treatment and because of their past, has nowhere to go.  Some times I talk to rehab patients themselves who do not know what they are going to do, but they need to stay sober and they can’t do that at their old place of living.  The Doorway to Recovery offers a solution that fits all of these needs.  With our suburban sober living homes, our strong recovery program, and our peer support system, recovery is possible, and do-able!  Of the people I talk with, the biggest problem is finding the sober living homes in decent areas.  The Doorway to Recovery is one of the great solutions to that problem…  So now, we begin our campaign of using the world of social media to make our sober living homes findable to the world that is desperately seeking help.  Please pray for all those who are suffering addicts/alcoholics, that they may be able to find the solution, and the desire to use It to their advantages.  Thank you.

Ruben M. Carreri
Administrative Director and Intake Coordinator

We have exciting women’s program updates! The Doorway to Recovery is excited to have our wonderful Angela Spino as a Women’s Director of The Doorway to Recovery Program and Services. Ms. Spino is a strong recovery person, with expertise in the areas of recovery homes. She brings her experience, compassion, and hard working attitude to The Doorway to Recovery. She is an excellent addition to the team, and I personally, am looking forward to working with her. In addition to a wonderful woman’s director/coordinator, we are also looking at expanding our women’s program to the Farmington Hills, Livonia area. Please pray for more opportunities for men and women to find the strength to recover, and for the needed resources to be there for them. God bless everyone!

Ruben Carreri
Administrative Director
Ph: 248-987-2696
Email: Ruben.Carreri@thedoorwaytorecovery.org

On Friday February 6, 2015 at the Monthly meeting of Families Against Narcotics (FAN) held at the Woodside Bible Church located in Farmington Hills, Michigan, Dr. Timothy Broe, PhD, gave an outstanding presentation on addiction and the human brain. The presentation was very informative and provided those in attendance with knowledge and insight of drug and alcohol addiction and the relationship with the human brain.

If you would like to know more about Families Against Narcotics, visit their website at: http://www.familiesagainstnarcotics.org

My name is Ruben M. Carreri.  I am the Intake Coordinator at The Doorway to Recovery Program and Services.  With clients coming into The Doorway to Recovery from all walks of life, change is inevitable.  Watching people change through their recovery journey is a miracle.  I for one don’t really like change too much, and I know a few of you will agree with that statement.  Sober living homes are the perfect place where changes can happen in an individual’s life and while we may want to react to the change by drinking or drugging, we can learn how to deal with these changes in a safe, peer structured environment.

With that being said, change can be the best thing ever!  The part I love about my job is that when people come into The Doorway to Recovery, straight from rehabs, hospitals, jails, their lives can be messed up!  (Not Judging, we all have problems).  Seeing that same individual CHANGE over time is a miracle because the person who once seemed doomed has hope, a sparkle in his/her eye, and a whole new attitude and outlook on life.

Thank God for change!  Thank God for The Doorway to Recovery!