Recovery Beyond, a local non-profit that facilitates healthy lifestyle and social support activities for people in recovery, is proud to sponsor Jenn Boudreau at the 40th Anniversary Emerald Cup Bodybuilding & Fitness Expo from April 29th-30th.
Jenn, a seasoned bodybuilding competitor, is no stranger to the Emerald Cup. After three thwarted attempts at joining the competition due to injury, pregnancy, and coaching, the 2017 Emerald Cup was her final appearance in the bodybuilding arena. Now, she’s coming back to the same stage to revisit a goal she set for herself many years ago. “I’ve never put so much effort into anything in my life,” says Jenn, Recovery Beyond staff member, and bodybuilding competitor. “Before, if I didn’t win my world was shattered. Now, I’m just hoping to be in the top five.”
Bodybuilding helped Jenn maintain her substance use recovery. The gym was a space where she was surrounded by others who weren’t focused on drinking. “My first attempt at prep was my first attempt at sobriety as well,” she explains. “If I had had this group [Recovery Beyond] at the last Emerald Cup I probably would have won. I took second place in two divisions [at the 2017 Emerald Cup] and not because I didn’t have the physique but because I couldn’t stop drinking during that prep. I’m positive if I had not been drinking at all in that prep, I probably would’ve won…I’m coming back knowing that [drinking] won’t be the thing that stops me.”
Jenn recalls conversations she had with fellow competitors while working a Recovery Beyond booth at a bodybuilding event earlier this year. “[They] secretly wanted to make sure no one was listening to us and whispered, ‘I’m in recovery too.’ I told them literally every single person who has come to the booth has said that to us. They were baffled. They were falling over like, ‘What really? There are other people who like bodybuilding who are in recovery as well?” They couldn’t believe it. It was great to be able to bring it to the competitors’ attention that most of them were in recovery.
Recovery Beyond hopes that sponsoring Jenn will create awareness of substance use disorder and spread the word that there is a recovery community that enjoys fitness and healthy lifestyle activities as a pathway for recovery. Megan Fisher, the new Executive Director for Recovery Beyond, a person in long-term recovery, and an advocate for stigma reduction, shares what fitness did for her recovery. “I was close to two years abstinent from alcohol, but couldn’t put down the cigarettes. I got involved in a running group through my church and ended up slowly training for the Chicago Marathon. Every day, as I worked through my run/walk cycle, I reminded myself that a cigarette would destroy my goal. The community of supportive friends who had a common purpose drove me to keep showing up. I ran that marathon, I’m 14 years sober, and I’ve been smoke-free ever since!”
The Emerald Cup is the largest amateur show in the nation, with competitors flying in from all parts of the globe. If you are in recovery or an ally, join us at the Emerald Cup Recovery Beyond booth on April 29th-30th in Bellevue, WA. General admission tickets are $20-40 and can be purchased ahead of time at www.ribicproductions.com.
About Recovery Beyond
Today, over 40 million Americans live with substance use disorder. For the first time in 2021, this epidemic cost the lives of over 100,000 people (CDC). In addition to the irreplaceable loss of lives, substance use costs us over $700 billion in healthcare, crime, and lost productivity. Only about 10% of people with a SUD are able to enter into a formal treatment program. Of those who receive treatment, as much as 85% will suffer symptom relapse within the first year of recovery. Drug Relapse | Drug Addiction Relapse Statistics & Prevention (drugabuse.com)
In 2011, a collective group of people living with substance use disorder, social work professionals, and outdoor enthusiasts teamed together in an effort to find long-lasting sobriety through climbing mountains, specifically Mt. Rainier. Year-after-year, substantial relationships and sustained recovery resulted from this mountain-top, community experience. Recovery Beyond was created in 2016 as a non-profit organization with the purpose of multiplying the impact discovered on Mt. Rainier. Recovery Beyond’s current peer-driven model works in partnership with treatment programs and community partners to provide additional, critical success factors for maintaining recovery:
Recovery Beyond’s volunteer-driven model works in partnership with current addiction treatment programs to provide the two additional, critical success factors for long-term sobriety:
- Health – tools for learning to manage the symptoms of substance use disorder and making positive behavioral choices;
- Purpose – meaningful activities that allow exploration of interests and development of life goals; and
- Community – a network of recovering individuals and their allies who offer support, encouragement, and hope.
The critical elements of recovery are met. There is external supervision and support outside of treatment. Vigorous physical activity and exercise-driven endorphins provide a healthy and pro-social behavioral alternative. Members also enjoy a close-knit community, forming new and positive relationships that last a lifetime. The long-term goals with a sense of accomplishment, opportunities for growth, and engagement in a community of service help provide a purpose. They know that when these exist, long-lasting recovery is possible.
Recovery Beyond believes it is never too late to pursue personal goals and dreams, to value self and others, and to become a unified core of health in body, mind, and spirit.
Want to see more of Recovery Beyond’s history? A feature-length documentary, A New High, tracked the impact of our program and made its world premiere at the 2016 Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF). In 2018, Recovery Beyond was also featured in short-form documentaries produced by REI and Now This.
“A NEW HIGH” Documentary
In the heart of downtown Seattle is the Union Gospel Mission—a homeless shelter catering to the addicted and the abused. For these men and women hope is a novelty, self-esteem is a luxury, and recovery is a faraway ideal. But within the UGM is one man, an ex-Army Ranger, who believes in them. Believes in life. Believes in mountains. And he will attempt to use one of the most treacherous peaks in North America, 14,400 foot Mt Rainier, to give these recovering addicts hope again. Will their personal mountains be too steep to overcome?
CLIMBING OUT
“It’s crazy to me that we have all of this beauty and nature around us, and some people don’t even see it. For me, I get to appreciate it sober. Something I didn’t think was possible. I didn’t think happiness was possible.” – Sarah Going from rock bottom to the mountaintop, one woman’s journey from the streets to the top of one of the most challenging mountains to climb in the lower 48.
Speak Out Speak Loud is a space echoing Madonna’s call to “Express yourself!” This is where our readers and contributors take center stage, sharing their transformative sobriety journeys. Often, sobriety uncovers hidden talents, abilities, and new avenues of self-expression. By sharing these stories, we not only facilitate personal healing but also offer hope to those still navigating the path of recovery. So, let’s raise our voices, Speak Out, and Speak Loud! In doing so, we combat the silence that often shrouds addiction, offering solace and inspiration.
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Climbing Out Of Homelessness & Recovery Beyond
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