Philadelphia-area’s Livengrin Foundation is renowned for its nearly 70 years of dedication to personalized, private treatment for addiction, detoxification and healing.
One thing most often heard about this dedication is its sense of “giving back,” how many of its staff members and volunteers – the proud Livengrin Alumni – welcome new patients and make certain their needs are tended to with an excellent quality of life, fun and camaraderie maintained. Along with that, the Alumni Association acts as a source of motivation and continued affirmation for patients long after they depart to create a crucial gateway from one’s past to their future of continued recovery.
Alumni Association President Lorraine Cooper, part of Livengrin’s front offices since 2014, has been involved in many aspects of their admissions program – greeting new guests, tending to patient care and insurance needs. A patient at Livengrin two decades ago, and sober since, Cooper understands deeply what it means to seek sobriety’s healing and to stay connected to the community that guided her to spiritual, psychological and physical health and well-being.
“I got the best education of my life here: I went through their initial detox program along with their intensive outpatient after-care and follow-up meetings, and kept coming,” said Cooper. “I have lived a great life since, even meeting my husband, Dave, in recovery. I joined the Alumni Association to help keep people connected—myself included.”
Through a program titled “Together,” those in the Livengrin Alumni Association are responsible for planning and attend longtime recovery events — such as their Third Sunday gatherings and Oct. 8’s Back to Livengrin event at its Bensalem campus — leading patient lectures, and creating their own leadership roles in the recovery community.
“Keeping patients connected is crucial,” said Cooper. “It gives you a view of becoming a better person and staying a better person. It’s about continuing on with what you learned at Livengrin and having a better life for it.”
Cooper stated how at many rehabilitation centers, patients are brought to their rooms after counseling and made to watch television, “not learning or engaging.” The Livengrin that she made part of her life 20-years-ago had set groups, functions and activities so to offer a “sense of scheduling in one’s life.” Staying with that same program of activities, often touched by spirituality, those activities are still crucial for patients to feel necessary in the world, and to open each of them to new ideas and different opinions.
“I put the things that I learned there and the openness that I developed there, 20-years-ago, into action now, every day, and try to instill that in fellow alumnus and new patients,” said Cooper. “My husband and I have what we call “God moments,” and know that if we weren’t living a good, straight life aided by Livengrin – the experiences we had, the people we met – that we wouldn’t have those moments.”
That is what Livengrin’s Alumni Association is about—experiences, connection and friendship.
Lorriane Cooper remembers what a Livengrin counselor once told her upon the completion of her detox, that when she left, she would make many new friends there. That sense of friendship and connection is something she passes along daily as part of the Alumni Association.
“The friends I had when I was an alcoholic I never hear from, ever. The friends I made at Livengrin, and continue to make through the Alumni groups, I hear from all the time. True friends.”
One of the many functions that Livengrin Foundation’s Alumni Association host is Back to Livengrin Day, a showcase for those inside-and-outside the program that one can have fun in sobriety.
“Recovery is not a stark, dark set of rules to follow,” said Cooper. “We have a good time. The more active you are, the better you feel because you are helping people. Joining the Alumni Association is a better way of life. And if you’re ever worried about being bored, just follow me around. You’ll see how fun recovery can be.”
