FOR-NY “WHOLE PERSON WELLNESS FOR THE RECOVERY COMMUNITY” PRESENTATION!:LOVE, WENDY – Wendy Blanchard, M.S. CHHC, CPS
Just this afternoon, I received a phone call from Friends of Recovery NYS https://for-ny.org/ to ask me to be a presenter at the state conference in October, 2021. I had been asked to submit a proposal about a month ago for my Whole Person Wellness for the Recovery Community workshop training, and today it is official!
“Friends of Recovery – New York (FOR-NY) is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization with a mission to demonstrate the power and promise of recovery from addictions and its value to individuals, families and communities throughout New York State and the nation. We actively seek to advance public policies and practices that promote and support recovery.
We envision a world in which recovery from addiction is not only common, but celebrated; a world in which the entire spectrum of effective prevention, treatment and support services are available and accessible to all.”
For those of you who know my story, you will also know that my passion and purpose in my own recovery is to lovingly support and guide others in their own recovery, as Spirit guides me with grace on their behalf. My story is one of lifelong addiction to prescription pills in order to numb early childhood, and ongoing trauma that haunted me until I asked for help to save my life 8 years ago. I lived with this trauma throughout my entire life not knowing where to go for help, and feeling hopeless and helpless, numbing myself with prescription drugs. I am now in my ninth year of wellness recovery and work in my private practice with clients to lovingly guide and support them through the same means through which I recovered…natural and organic solutions. For those who need and/or require medication, I work with a trauma therapist and/or psychiatrist of my client’s choosing. We are the “support team.” I guide my clients according to what their health and wellness needs and goals are to assist them in achieving harmonious health 4 life!
In addition, I provide mental health and wellness literacy professional development trainings which I have created, and my workshops, to school districts, educators and support staff, and to those in the community who are eager to adapt wellness practices as sustainable solutions where one can thrive and achieve harmonious health 4 life!
I have trained thousands of students in emotional literacy, and mental health and wellness, in addition to school districts, and to Family Universities of a number of school districts. I have helped to start up mental health awareness committees in many school districts in our county. And, I have also trained thousands in Mental Health First Aid for Youth, and for Adults, as well as Suicide Safety for School Staff.
I delivered the Keynote speech at the Chris Ashman Wellness and Recovery Conference in Dec., 2018, and I worked as a Recovery Specialist, Client and Family Advocate and Ambassador for the Mental Health Association with those living with a severe and persistent mental illness, and substance use disorder in two of our local hospitals weekly for three years. I was also the Community Educator in our county and a neighboring county.
I have had the honor and privilege of working at the Warming Center in our county with our homeless population where I was instrumental in saving two lives, and countless other lives as the crisis contact person in our county by the Grace of God, while working for the Mental Health Association. In addition, I worked with clients at our facility who were beginning their own recovery in mental health, and substance use disorder. I have also been a speaker/presenter for the Mental Health Association NYS, and have had local speaking engagements on what I am most passionate about…
My Wellness Approach to Recovery!
This next “gig” in October is a way for me to be recognized on a larger platform for my work and devotion to the recovery community, and to share my knowledge and experiences with others eager to begin their own “wellness recovery.”
I would be remiss if I did not stop here to thank all who have supported my journey so lovingly, most especially my amazing and devoted children, Matthew, Nicole, Olivia and Sarah, for their ongoing support, and for standing on the sidelines and being my most passionate and loving cheerleaders.
My children were my currency…the reason that I asked for help to save my life.
Now, in my ninth year of wellness recovery, I have dramatically changed the trajectory of my life, and my legacy, and have given my children, and grandchildren, something meaningful to call their own if they so choose…
Health and Wellness…
Thank you to all of you for taking the time to read my blog here and at www.writeprayrecover.com, and for attending all of my workshops, trainings and professional developments, and for the outpouring of loving support, ongoing.
I am hoping that my book will be out shortly for further support and inspiration!
Together, we are making monumental changes, and promoting awareness and eliminating stigma in the name of mental health and substance use disorder.
In order to normalize the disease of mental illness, and substance use disorder, also a mental illness, we must continue to have an open and ongoing dialogue because…
We all have mental health…
Be well and practice daily self care.
“Self care is the actions that we take to achieve wellness, and wellness is where we stand in our power!”
Love and blessings,
Wendy
