Opening up to others is not an easy task. Whether someone is living in active addiction or has never lived with addiction before, it can often be hard for anyone to feel comfortable sharing details about their personal lives with other people they don’t know.
Particularly for us men, feeling comfortable enough in a space to share private things about ourselves is even more difficult, because a lot of us are taught that showing emotion and making ourselves vulnerable isn’t “manly”. In treatment, making ourselves vulnerable is one of the boldest and manliest things we can do.
Treatment is all about safe space. Almost all therapy sessions, no matter what treatment center we go to, emphasize the importance of everyone being able to share thoughts, feelings, and emotions with their peers. When we all feel safe enough to share intimate things about ourselves without feeling like we’ll be judged or attacked, we learn just how productive talking through what we’re dealing with our peers really can be.
Respect for each other, having empathy for each other, and creating unity with each other are the results of thriving in a safe space. Through the treatment modalities here at Tree House Recovery, we learn to rely on each other to get through challenges together, and in doing so build mutual respect for each other. We tackle everything from ironman runs to yoga therapy as a unit, and build bonds that inspire us to motivate and encourage each other, instead of judging or making our own little groups of isolation.
There’s an old saying which goes: “don’t judge a man until you walk a mile in his shoes”.
Every day of treatment, we take the opportunity to walk the same miles together. We start to see that addiction isn’t an individual problem, and that we all suffer from similar issues, although they may manifest differently. More importantly, though, by conquering challenges together and forming bonds with our brothers, we learn that none of us is our addiction. We’re all men with strengths, talents, and skills, that happen to be on a similar recovery journey.
Celebrating each other for the skills and talents we bring to the group allows us to create a positive, safe space to work on our weaknesses together.
Tree House Recovery of Portland, Oregon is a premier addiction treatment center that teaches men the importance of empathy, unity, and respect on their recovery journeys. No one man is an island, and, together, we’re a force to be reckoned with. Call (503) 850-2474 to get started with Tree House Recovery today.
