Recovery Community Director Chris Raymer has an invitation for alumni and their families for Reunion 2019.
Slip Away to Hunt in May
Not all of the patient-painted rocks at La Hacienda are just stones and color, nor or they all on the ground. You never know where you will find them or what new messages they will offer. In addition to the tiny metal airplane, this rock wedged in the limbs of a Serenity Hill cedar tree also contains the now-faded first … Read More
Dodgeball Daring Highlights 4th Recovery Tournament
Photo: From right, Todd Benedict bravely charges while Cade Saurage corrals a loose ball and Frost Readel observes. It was a valiant, but brief, effort by the La Hacienda team. La Hacienda’s fourth annual Invitational Recovery Tournament featured a new venue, different sports, and a David vs. Goliath storyline. Representatives from 20 treatment centers in Texas, California and New York … Read More
The Issue Man Mystery
By Chris Raymer, Recovery Community Director Photo: Chris and one of the Issue Man drawings that hang on his office wall. When I was working at La Hacienda back in the ’90s and ’00s, I started drawing Issue Man on the Bodega whiteboard to try and make clear what substance use disorder is. He’s a simple circle and stick figure … Read More
LaHa Sluggers in Vegas Softball Series
Photo: LaHa staff on Lickety Split are, from left, Jon Garcia, Frost Readel, Ryan McBride, Todd Benedict and Cade Saurage. Center front is Libby, the mascot. As the song says, it’s time to “root, root, root for the home team.” Lickety Split, a men’s softball team sponsored by La Hacienda, is playing in the 2019 Clean and Sober Softball Spring … Read More
Steve Layton Retires from Second Career
Photo: Steve Layton, center, with Clinical Services Director Janet Blackburn (left) and Outpatient Services Administrator Sherri Layton (right). La Hacienda has a reputation for long-serving staff but even the most-dedicated counselors, nurses, doctors, and others eventually feel the need to “get their cake” and retire. On the afternoon of March 12, co-workers filled the Upper Dining Room to share Intern … Read More
Solutions Hosts ‘Recovery to Practice’ Training
Photo: Joseph Gorordo, left, one of the Recovery to Practice presenters, poses with Solutions staff members (left to right) David Hutts, Mary Pilsitz, Carla Allen, Natalie Roberts, and Michael Batton. Seventy-five recovery professionals and others interested in the field packed a Recovery to Practice training session at La Hacienda’s Solutions in Austin on March 8. The free event, through which … Read More
Tough Love for Young Men
Carol McCarrick knows rock bottom. She hit there and survived. Now, as La Hacienda’s case manager for male patients in their 20s, she works to help them find their way back. Nothing in recovery is easy, but with young men it’s complicated more by several factors, says Carol. First, there’s the effect of drugs or alcohol on developing minds. “They … Read More
There’s a Lot of Hope in Reunion 2019 Theme
Caption: Alumni probably won’t need the direction sign to find their way around at Reunion in May. By Chris Raymer, Recovery Community Director ‘We have recovered, and have been given the power to help others.’ This is one of my favorite lines in the Big Book™ (page 132). A bunch of us were at a birthday meeting recently at The … Read More
Chris Raymer to Visit with Alumni
Recovery Community Director Chris Raymer will visit with each of the La Hacienda alumni groups across Texas during March and April. His schedule is as follows: San Antonio – March 4, 7 p.m., 7400 Blanco Rd., Ste. 129 Fort Worth – March 5, 7 p.m., 4255 Bryant Irving Rd., Ste. 109 Beaumont – March 11, 6:30 p.m., St. Andrews Presbyterian … Read More