A Message From Donna M. Keener
Founder & President

Dear Friend,

All I know about alcoholics, I learned from my father. His alcoholism killed him at age 57. He was drinking a gallon of gin a day towards the end.

All I know about addicts, I learned from addicts while I was serving as the Christian Fellowship Director in a Traditional 12-Step Program. Those who joined the fellowship became my teachers and my friends.

It was from hearing their stories and supporting them in their search for answers that the idea for Living Recovery was born.
The impression imprinted in my spirit from 3 years of intimate conversation with them led me to the realization that many substance abusers are estranged from God because of hurt in their past of which they could never make sense. Unable to make sense of it, many of them found no other place to lay the blame but on the “God of their understanding”. In Georgia, that is typically, Jesus Christ.

I heard shocking horror stories about people some of which professed to be Christians but were appallingly not Christlike! The following examples are drawn from the lives of my addict/alcoholic friends:

… an adulterous minister was murdered by another minister after being caught in the act of adultery with his wife. The son of the adulterer is my friend.

… a minister stepfather molested my friend’s little sister. In his bitterness my friend came to doubt the integrity of the God of his understanding and became agnostic.

… the son of a Tennessee Mafia man plunged further into his teenage addiction after his father shot his mother nine times in the back.

These examples are a snapshot of what can happen during an innocent child’s developmental years, and sadly, often does. In fact, except for the grace of God, there go I. Although my dad was not a minister, he killed his best friend with a double barrel shotgun after knowledge of his affair with his best friend’s wife became public knowledge. I was 8 years old. My 6 year old brother was an eye witness to the murder.

Thankfully, neither my brother nor I turned to drugs or alcohol to combat the trauma. We did, however, find our strength in God. But what if we had turned to alcohol? By the law of average, my brother would have located a recovery program to help him. Unfortunately, I would not have. Why not? The reason is simple; because I am a female.

An article published by New York University Law School's Brennan Center for Justice and the advocacy group Break the Chains had this to say about the lack of treatment facilities for women, “Treatment programs, to the extent they exist, often are tailored for men and prove relatively ineffective for women.”

And to make matters worse, children of addicted mothers are at risk. A statistic confirmed by my friends in the rehab center is that over 15 million Americans are dependent on alcohol. 500,000 are 9 – 12 years old! (Source: http://www.usnodrugs.com/alcohol-statistics.htm) One of my friends said he was 2 years old when his dad started offering him sips of alcohol. Similarly, another failed Kindergarten two times for the same reason.

Partly due to my personal experience as the Adult Child of an Alcoholic, partly due to my awareness of the need among women, primarily because of the qualified team that surfaced to help me, equally because of a heavy burden for the children, but chiefly due to the deep desire inside me from which came the courage, Living Recovery was birthed.

Even though my dad’s influence was negative, in a way it was positive. He taught me everything I never want to be. And his influence laid the foundation of my life so that I had the opportunity to become the person I am today. Thanks to strength found in my Higher Power, Jesus Christ, I learned how to become better, not bitter. Notice I did not say, “I learned.” I said, “I learned how.” There is a big difference.

Perhaps, now, you can see why Living Recovery lives. We have structured the program to draw those who have placed the blame on God for their pain.
We want them to come, feel welcome, and learn how to let God heal them.

What I mean is that basically, when a woman joins our community, we do our best to role-model Christlikeness in the same way the Lord taught His disciples.
We want those in our care to experience what it “looks like” when one is experiencing a “living” recovery with the support of Jesus Christ.

We invite you, or yours, to come. No matter what your religious orientation, we believe you will be glad you did.

Sincerely,
Donna Keener
Adult Child of an Alcoholic,
and thankful for what the experience taught me