Personal Stories of Dual Recovery

DRA United Kingdom would like to hear any stories of experience, strength, and hope, in dual recovery. We would like to assemble a collection of our member's stories for this website, from across the UK, and possibly to be used on the DRA Online website, in The DRA Vision, or other as yet undetermined future DRA publications. The stories of DRA members offer believable hope to those who are still struggling and help ease the pain, fear, and isolation newcomers may feel as they begin their journey in dual recovery.

Please use the contact form below to send us your stories, marked for submission, with your name and email address and we will endeavour to get back to you as soon as we can.

The stories must follow the Tradition of anonymity at the level of public media so use only a first name with last initial or a pseudonym. We reserve the right to edit submissions for punctuation, spelling, and issues of anonymity and non-affiliation as stated in our Traditions. We can not guarantee that all submissions will be used. All submissions become the property of  Dual Recovery Anonymous.

• Tim H. - "DRA continues to offer me believable hope, direction to follow, the support of other people, and a way to continue the process of inner healing and growth."
• Patrick C - "I knew I needed "something" more so began researching dual recovery on my own."
• Katherine - "Learning how to cope with her demons one day at a time ..."
• Carol - "I really love the freedom that recovery is giving me."
• Penny - "Now I look foreword to waking up in the morning."
• Bright - "We learned why people in dual recovery need each other."
• Vicky - "Finally, someone understands me!!!"
• Bill - "Today my life is Real! Today my life, along with all the symptoms of my psychiatric illness, is controllable."
• Brian - "Today I am working, feeling better about myself, and trying to reach out to help others."
• Shaun - "I am learning to be gentle with myself, allowing myself time to take breaks, to "regroup" and recover."
• Val - "I learned that there are programs and supports to help people like me. The DRA fellowship has taught me that if I go to meetings and become part of a group my life will get better."
• Mike - "DRA takes recovery, honesty, and acceptance to another level, dimension, or stage..."
• Ed - "Once I started taking medication for my bipolar disease, I became balanced; my mood swings were less severe."
• Mandy - "DRA feels like home to me because it addresses issues that other fellowships do not."
• Annie - "Recovery is about sharing and giving back what I have learned in these programs and my life. I have so many people in my life today who believe in me, and it is truly miraculous."
• Steve - "I'm also a therapist in a mental health rehabilitation facility. One of the best therapeutic tools I have at my disposal is my own experience with 12-Step recovery. I am a grateful member of DRA."
• Jeanne - "I found that the Twelve Steps were the most important steps of my life."
• Andy S - "Remembering to focus on the Principles and Concepts of the12 Steps of DRA."