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Swift Creek and Recovery

My name is Pam and I am an alcoholic. My dad’s name is Bill and he has Alzheimer’s. I always had a difficult relationship with him. As with any disease walking the path is never easy. And I mean that for both of our diseases.
My dad can not communicate much any more. Mostly when I go see him, it is full of heartache, of what is and what never was. I saw him recently and he looked at me and said “remember jumping off that bank?” My mind was flooded with memories of jumping off that bank. I knew exactly what he meant. The banks of Swift Creek here in Alabama in the middle of the summer. These were not difficult memories but sweet memories of a family loving one another and enjoying each other’s company. We would go to Swift Creek and jump into icy cold water in the middle of August heat in Alabama (which is VERY hot). The water was so cold we would keep our watermelon in the icy water to eat after swimming and having fun. The next memory I had was of singing a Hank Williams Sr. song: Kowaliga (it was about a wooden Indian) as we drove down to Swift Creek.
Beautiful family memories. My family can not carry a tune in a bucket as we say in the South. That never stopped us. We sang…… a lot!! We sang in the car mostly. Whenever we drove anywhere we would sing and sing, with no one in tune but everyone “in tune.” At least with one another.
It helped me remember that we not only repress painful memories but memories of simplicity and beauty. That sometimes recovery is about the beauty that was always there but we missed.
I love recovery. Our love for recovery is the main reason we started Addiction Research Foundation and The Moore Institute. Our desire is for others to find the beauty of their life and their own Swift Creek.

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Pam Moore

Author Pam Moore

Pam received her Master’s of Social Work from the University of Alabama in 1993. She has worked both as a manager and a principal therapist at The Moore Institute. Her major interests are in addiction disorders, co-dependency, trauma, and mood disorders. Pam works with individuals couples and families. She is an intuitive, interactive solution-focused therapist. She integrates complementary methodologies and techniques so she can offer a highly personalized approach to each of her clients with compassion and understanding. She works with clients to help them build on their strengths. Pam developed The Method which is featured in her book Show Me The Way while working through her own personal struggles. She received so much help from The Method she offered it to her clients with great success. Pam also authored 3 books titled Unhook and live Free, Show Me The Way, and a meditative journal titled Inward to the Kingdom, a Six Week Journey. She is Vice President of the Addiction Research Foundation, as well as the President of The Moore Institute.

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