Distilling Hope: 12 Stories to Distill the Steps

“Old stories are universal and want to be told.  To bring those stories out into the world as a vehicle for navigating sobriety and recovery is a glorious thing. I was hired to be an addictions counselor for the therapeutic community at the Frederick County Adult Detention Center. Susan Gordon encouraged me to tell them stories. I thought she was crazy, but I trusted her judgment and told them stories. The impact those stories had on those men changed my life. I worked in addictions for 15 years, taking those stories with me to very agency in which I worked.  The women at the Center 4 Clean Start in Salisbury, MD were every bit as receptive to story as the men who were in jail.”             —Beth Ohlsson