Keith Howard

You aren’t alone, no matter what your addiction or your mental illness tell you

Wednesday, May 27, 2020 Keith Howard 0

Dear Hope Nation, This letter may be directed at the one person in the world who absolutely needs to read it. I don’t know if you’re that person, and neither do you until you’ve read READ MORE

Land, Ho! Hi-tech hybrid recovery and pop-up meetings in the park!

Sunday, May 24, 2020 Keith Howard 0

I know a number of folks may have had reoccurrences (relapses) during this time. Please, please, please don’t let this keep you from coming. You’re in recovery when you say you are, and letting shame or remorse keep you from doing something healthy is doubly, triply, quadruply self-defeating. READ MORE

Tears before breakfast

Tuesday, May 19, 2020 Keith Howard 0

Dave Cote painted “Peers” over the past weekend. When I saw it, and read Dave’s commentary on it, I cried at both. READ MORE

Missives from Hope: Broken Glass Everywhere. Close to the Edge

Wednesday, May 6, 2020 Keith Howard 1

Over the course of the past eight days, someone has broken five different windows at Hope. Someone threw one rock through one window last Monday evening. Someone (or someones) threw three rocks through three windows last Thursday night. Someone threw a rock through a window last night. Three nights. Five windows. No explanation. No rhyme. No reason. READ MORE

Dear Hope Nation: Missives from Hope for NH Recovery Director Keith Howard

Friday, April 10, 2020 Keith Howard 0

When Lucy and I found each other, she was about three or five — who can tell, really? — and still had a lot of puppy in her. For instance, she had some very strong ideas about where various animals belonged in the universe. When she saw a bird on the ground, a squirrel out of a tree or a woodchuck above the earth, Lucy would make damn sure they got back to their rightful habitats. READ MORE

HOPE for NH temporarily closes, but offers online resources during COVID-19 precautions for those in recovery

Tuesday, March 17, 2020 Keith Howard 0

In a perfect world, things like Covid-19 wouldn’t matter. The power of group support, recovery and positive thoughts would be enough to protect us. In a perfect world, giving up a self-destructive practice would lead to a much easier existence. READ MORE

An Unorthodox Man’s Unorthodox Search for a New Home

Tuesday, December 17, 2019 Keith Howard 0

I’ve decided it’s time to buy a home, preferably one with running hot and cold water, a flush toilet and more than the box’s 72 square feet, of which fewer than 27 square feet is floor space. I don’t think that’s too much to ask. READ MORE

Letters: Relapse is Part of the Addiction, NOT Part of the Recovery

Friday, December 13, 2019 Keith Howard 0

No, what really and truly galls and angers me is a single sentence, used as the headline for the piece: “What is critical for our community to understand is that relapse is part of the recovery process.” No, my friends, that is exactly what we in the recovery community know to be false, misleading, and potentially fatal for anyone who puts it into practice. READ MORE

A Drunkard’s Dream

Thursday, August 1, 2019 Keith Howard 0

He ordered two quarts of vodka along with a stand-alone pint, a six-pack of beer and two packs of cigarettes. At the end of my drinking, when mouthwash had become my drink of necessity, John’s order would have been answered prayer. READ MORE

When the ER nurse says, “Good Luck” it’s medical jargon for “Next Step: The Morgue”

Friday, March 22, 2019 Keith Howard 4

That ambulance ride was the last positive part of the medical response our family experienced. Really. The Hub-and-Spoke Model touted by the state at a cost of $45-million dollars, offered nothing — in fact is banned from the emergency room of the hospital she was taken to. Three or four hours after Meri arrived, our family was escorted by security off hospital property. Apparently my manner, calm as I may appear in writing, made them very nervous indeed. READ MORE