Testimonials
Dear Stuart,
I would like to express my sincerest gratitude and thanks to you and
everyone at the Lake House for the wonderful opportunity it has given
me to focus on the importance of living a full and sober life. I
cannot even begin to express in words what the experience of being
here with all of you has meant to me. I have appreciated every single
moment of my time here and will be forever thankful that God led me to
you and the wonderful people you have working at the Lake House.
Lynee, Annie, Brian, Mark, Miles, Eric, and Ed are wonderful, caring,
and compassionate people. Greg is a great guy too. The other
residents of the house during my time here have also touched my heart.
I pray that they all continue on successful journeys to recovery. I
thank God for each of them. I truly feel in my heart know that I have
a new lease on life. My stay here has given me the opportunity to
look at my life and examine what is most important-sobriety, health,
family, friends, God…the list goes on and on. I will be in the
United States until December 30 and I am going to continue my
appointments at Vantage Point until that time as well as coming to the
Lake House for meetings. I am grateful to have the support around me
as I transition back into my life. I have learned so much about
myself, my feelings, my triggers, and have been taught some tools to
keep me on the right path in my road to recovery.
Alyce, 50
“My name is Mike and I have been addicted for 26 years, in and out of rehabs for the most part of my life and never could complete a program. I came across a place called Recovery Advocates on the internet and decided to give them a try and it was the best move I ever made in my entire life except for my wife and the days my children were born. I didn’t have a life anymore. My wife has had it with me, my children didn’t respect me, I was on a trip to hell fast. Listen to what I am telling you. If you are reading this, trust me, from one addict to another. My energy level is high, I am sleeping good and if I have to talk to someone I just call and they are there for me. If it wasn’t for the Recovery Advocates team I don’t know where I would be at this moment. I’d probably be dead.”
Mike, Musician, 44
“I thought life was my oyster; and it was all so exciting growing to be a woman. I had men crawling out of the woodwork, a different date every night of the week. Then came my ski trip to Vail. First day, 3rd run down, my ACL is completely torn. I was stuck in bed, bored and miserable. Then they offered me Vicodin ES for pain. Suddenly, the hours spend sulking bored, had disappeared, magically with these little pills. Then I discovered the more I took, the better I felt. The pills seemed to make everything OKAY. Or, so I thought. I started popping about 10 to 15 pills a day, for almost a decade.
It’s the only thing I had left. My boyfriend dumped me b/c he didn’t want a junkie for a girlfriend, my best friends wanted to stay away. I continued to lose and lose hard. I got arrested for DUI, and that was less than a year after putting myself into a detox which I could not stand.
Then I came across RECOVERY ADVOCATES, using Google. They were kind, and considerate and affordable! They really made me feel like they had an answer to my long-drawn drug addiction, in fact, they had a crisis phone call, took my number and called me right back.
I started the program and really did it. I started to see colors again and hear music, and feel good, the world started appearing so much brighter to me. My friends all told me how fantastic I looked, even people that did not know me. Recovery Advocates gave me my life back, and I am forever eternally grateful.”
Ballet Dancer, 27
Dear Stuart:
I would like to take this opportunity to describe my experience as a resident of The Lake House in early 2011.
Prior to my two-month stay at The Lake House, I had participated in and completed several well-respected alcohol abuse treatment programs (both in-patient and out-patient). Subsequent to each program, I remained sober for various lengths of time; however, in each instance, I never remained fully engaged in my recovery and, quite frankly, did not immerse myself in Alcoholics Anonymous. In an effort to better understand this repeated pattern, I engaged in numerous discussions with my therapists, substance abuse counselors, my AA sponsor and recovering substance abusers. I concluded that in order to lay the groundwork for long-term sobriety, I needed to obtain a “sobriety base” and to jump into AA with both feet. Based on the aforementioned discussions, it became apparent that a structured sober living environment would best allow me to achieve my objective and that The Lake House would be a good fit for me.
My view of my recovery, and my engagement therein, changed dramatically during my stay at The Lake House. The advice that I received and the tools that I learned have been invaluable. In addition, I have come to understand that while recovery does not have to be my life, it must be the most important component of my life – I now know that I am not defined by my alcoholism. With the guidance of The Lake House counselors, I have become an active participant of AA, not just a member of the program. Moreover, at the suggestion of the counselors, upon leaving The Lake House I asked a sober companion that I met in the program to live in my home with me; we provide each other with support and participate in recovery-related activities together.
There are several things about The Lake House sober living program that greatly contributed to my sobriety. First, by being exposed to a variety of different AA meetings, I discovered that there were certain meetings in which I felt most comfortable and thus was more willing to become engaged. Second, The Lake House program was structured such that I did not have to put my professional life on hold during my stay – I was able to be very productive while still fully participating in my recovery. Moreover, I was able to fulfill my personal responsibilities and continue my personal life while in The Lake House program; for example, The Lake H House provided transportation to all of my various appointments, including my DUI classes, during my stay. Finally, the presence of a wonderful on-site chef/counselor made meal times an enjoyable experience rather than an unpleasant chore.
I would like to conclude by stating that The Lake House not only provided an environment that allowed me to develop a strong, stable foundation of sobriety, it also was structured to enable an effective, seamless transition back into “mainstream society” upon my departure. I can recommend The Lake House without reservation to anyone interested in a sober living facility.
Very truly yours,
Attorney, 40
“I would like to thank Stuart and the entire staff at the Lake House, for playing a key role in turning my life around. I entered the Lake House on April 6, 2010 and four short months later, my life has never been better.
During my stay, your staff, educated me and gave me their personal one on one time, advice, education, and useful tools that I needed to learn, in order to live a productive life with my disease. Following my stay, I continue to attend Alcoholic Anonymous meetings, be of service to fellow alcoholics, and work the “Twelve steps”. Your staff taught me the importance of working a program to maintain my sobriety. Along with the staff, the Doctors, Therapists Addiction Specialists associated with the Lake House full service recovery program, were key to my sobriety. It was a blessing to have such talented professionals provided for me.
The Lake House will always have a special place in my heart and if any clients or potential clients would like to talk to me, regarding my experience, in your program, I would be happy for you to give them my contact information.
Thank you again for helping me get my life back and showing me that it is possible to put my problems behind me.”
Sincerely, Mark Ortega
