Dale's Story

Recovery & Relationships

What do you do when you’re in recovery yourself but people you care about are still struggling? For many, this can be a huge trigger. Dale is a current resident at Unity House, and he’s confronting this dilemma for himself. His relationships have gotten him through tough times, but they’ve also been challenging. Thankfully, he’s talking to his staff members about it, and he’s determined to bring up his struggles at self-help meetings.

As you can imagine, Dale is a social guy. In fact, he describes himself as a “people person.” In many ways, though, this is what led to his drinking, and quite a few of his past relationships were based around this. While Dale encourages his friends and loved ones who are still struggling to get help, he knows he has to focus on himself, and part of that involves identifying what sets his drinking into motion.

Dale was sober for four years fairly recently, and he’s drawing on that to give him strength. He had a job that took up pretty much all of his time, and he began to reward himself at the end of a long day with a drink. He always drank with a friend, but it began to spiral out of control. Once he accepted that he needed help again, he went to detox, inpatient, and he eventually arrived at Unity House.

Unity House & Dale’s Goals

Now that Dale has found a routine there, he says that he feels “safe” and protected. This is likely because he knows what it’s like to feel the opposite. Before he got treatment earlier this year, he was homeless and moved from couch to couch. Dale said that those days “weren’t comfortable.” The staff at Unity House have helped him to adapt, too. “I have a good rapport with the counselors here,” he said.

Dale also recognizes that setting achievable goals is important, and he has a few. He wants to move into a Supportive Living apartment, get his license back, and either find a job or go back to school. “I want to ease into it a little bit,” said Dale. These days, he finds motivation in all the open doors before him. “I have everything in the palm of my hands,” he said.