I have sat inside rooms with people who live in one day at a time recovery. Most of them are fairly adapted to life when they don’t use or drink. Most of them are able bodied and most of them have sound minds. I used to feel a little on the outs because many of them have no idea of what psychosis is all about. But in reality, some of them do. They talk about the coming down or the coming off of whatever they so chose to get or keep wasted on. They talk about the voices that were taking over. The thoughts of suicide and the suicide attempts. Some of these people were in such bad shape that they had little concept of reality. I have heard the stories of the people who were in the units. Even with these stories and experiences most of them don’t say they have, or had, a mental health disorder. Maybe they don’t. Maybe they didn’t. Sometimes when I am talking I will say that I am a disabled recovering psychotic after I identify myself as a person living in one day at a time recovery. It is a part of my story. You see, the units were not shameful for me. That is where one day at a time recovery begins for many people. Many people are beginning to understand this. In these rooms we are no longer alone and we are not out of our minds. We see the miracles begin.
