A new drug and alcohol recovery group, Great Bear Recovery Collective, is hosting a disc golf night on Friday at Aant’iyiek Park and Disc Golf Course.
The game will go from 6-8 p.m. and there will be a limited number of discs provided.
Michael VanLinden and Carrie Amott of the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (NCADD) created the collective this spring, which seeks to “cultivate a thriving fellowship of people in recovery who have gained a life of meaning and purpose and wish to share it back.”
It can be hard for recovering addicts to know where to begin looking for meaning in their life once they’ve stopped using drugs or alcohol, says Amott.
“It’s like the next step in sobriety, it’s reconditioning your brain to engage in activities and have fun while being sober at the same time,” Amott said. “That can be … hard to know where to start.”
Disc golf is one of the sports that VanLinden says doesn’t need to involve alcohol or drugs to enjoy.
“We’re trying to teach people to have fun again because a lot of times is what causes relapses is being bored and not being able to enjoy regular things,” VanLinden said. “Then it also sort of supports a community because you get new friends because a lot times people have a problem of going back to their old friends because they don’t know anybody in recovery.”
The Great Bear Recovery Collective has seven board members and a growing number of participants. For more information, go to http://greatbearrecovery.com/.
• Contact sports reporter Nolin Ainsworth at 523-2272 or nolin.ainsworth@juneauempire.com.
