2014: Looking to the Year Ahead (I Need Your Help)

So, in 2013 I did not get accomplished a lot of things that I wanted to. I did however get to spend time with my family and that really took priority in 2013. In 2014 my family is still a priority, but there are goals that need to be met. I am not sure if I should outline the final goals or how I plan on reaching them, so I will do a little of both. My primary goal is to continue dealing hope to the people I come in contact with better than I did this year and to continue advancing Better Life in Recovery (BLiR).

This year I made some progress and accomplished some pretty neat things in my mission to share recovery, my faith and deal hope to all I could. I wrote 77 blogs for Spiritual Spackle on various topics that were viewed over 42,000 times. I had several blogs published by The Poached Egg as well as Global University. Better Life in Recovery is now recognized in the state of Missouri as Better Life in Recovery, Inc. I was the closing speaker for the Missouri Association of Drug Court Professional's state conference. I also did two 6 hour presentations teaching co-occurring disorders to the MRSS-P (Missouri Recovery Support Specialist-Peer) program.

Better Life in Recovery partnered with Alternative Opportunities Treatment Services, the Carol Jones Alumni Organization, the Missouri Recovery Network and various other organizations to do Recovery in the Park for National Recovery Month attended by over 100 people. Better Life in Recovery also partnered with New Life Church, Incredible Pizza, Roma Foods, Coca Cola and Henry's with entertainment by Kelsey Snapp, Kayleigh Amstutz and the Legacy featuring speakers Ellie Hagen and Darrin Mendez to put on the Spring Break BLiR Bash that was attended by over 100 people. Alternative Opportunities Treatment Services also partnered with Greene County Men's Drug Court to do a river clean up on the James River for National Recovery month.

GOALS

1. Speak at least once a month with churches, groups, colleges, community events and seminars. I currently have a couple of Celebrate Recovery groups I will be sharing my testimony with as well as a Victim Impact Panel in Greene County.
2. Get an article published in a magazine
3. Complete writing my book, Spiritual Spackle: From Dealing Dope to Dealing Hope and get it published
4. Sit on the board of at least two organizations
5. Have the finished version of the Better Life in Recovery website go live
6. Get Better Life in Recovery, Inc. non-profit status
7. Complete interviews for the Better Life in Recovery documentary
8. Have 4 major events for National Recovery month in September
9. Have a BLiR event
10. Get grief and loss certified
11. Get EMDR certified
12. Get below 200 pounds
13. Set up a Kickstarter project to self-publish Spiritual Spackle
14. Set up a Kickstarter project for the documentary Better Life in Recovery

 

What I Can Do

 

1. Talk to people, places and organizations that might be interested in me speaking or teaching
2. Send blogs and articles to various magazines and organizations that might be interested in publishing them
3. Set aside 2 hours a week just to focus on writing my book
4. Look further into the Victim Impact Panel and The Missouri Recovery Network to see the requirements of sitting on their boards and then apply
5. Put together meetings of people and organizations that will be interested in helping with the National Recovery month and the BLiR event
6. Reach out to find people who are willing to share their story of recovery as well as a couple of parents who have had children in addiction and possibly lost them to their addictions
7. Already paid to go to the St Louis grief and loss training for certification
8. Begin putting together packages and videos to promote Spiritual Spackle and Better Life in Recovery Kickstarter projects
9. Begin following a better diet, stop stress/comfort eating and get into the gym at least 4 times a week
10. Continue publishing at least one blog a week on Spiritual Spackle

What You Can Do

 

1. If you are a professor, teacher, counselor, pastor, sit on a board or are part of a group or organization that I could speak at contact me. I speak and teach on topics ranging from addiction/recovery to mental heath to grief and loss to PTSD/Trauma to Christianity/building a better foundation for your faith.
2. If you would be interested in helping me with the non-profit Better Life in Recovery by either sitting on the board, hosting an event, donating time/money or helping at an event contact me
3. If you would be interested in either donating time, goods or money for our Recovery Month events that are promoted to reduce the stigma of addiction contact me
4. If you would be interested in sharing your story of recovery or are a parent of a child who struggled with addiction, especially if you are an ethnicity other than Caucasian and/or between the ages of 18-25 (under 18 with parent's permission) or know of somebody who is please contact me
5. If you know of any organizations or groups that I could partner with, put us into contact with each other
6. If you are interested in helping me get Spiritual Spackle published and/or the documentary Better Life in Recovery completed, contact me and we can talk about the things that will be required for the Kickstarter projects to be successful and to further the message of recovery and hope to all that we can reach

I had high hopes for 2013 and some of them were met. The 3 biggest I did not accomplish were competing the book Spiritual Spackle, finishing filming on the documentary Better Life in Recovery and BLiR becoming a non-profit organization. These are still at the top of my list, as is spreading the message of recovery and dealing hope and faith to all I come in contact with.

 

I look forward to meeting my goals above, but it can only be done with your help and assistance so if you can help me with any of the above goals contact me at david.stoecker@gmail.com Thanks for reading and praying for me and my calling. I look forward to the coming year and all that we can do together.