It is absolutely true that alcoholism and addiction can affect anyone. This disease does not acknowledge gender, wealth, race, or creed. It does not care who we are or where we’re from – it can wreak havoc on anyone. So, why is Jaywalker Lodge all-male?
We aren’t simply an all-male lodge. At Jaywalker, we have focused our expertise to help only adult males. This is primarily because we were built by adult men who found lasting sobriety and joyful lives after many failed attempts, so those with similar experiences are the ones we are most suited to help. There are many diverse options for help in recovery, just as there are many diverse people seeking recovery.
A good life in recovery is available to all who want it and are willing to work for it. We hope that everyone, regardless of their personal details, can find and achieve the sobriety they long for. Jaywalker Lodge may not be the right place for everybody, but we are the exact right place for adult males who haven’t been able to make it work anywhere else.
Unique Needs for Men Who Relapse
Our mission statement and practices were specifically chosen to enhance our strengths. Everyone experiences addiction differently, though all alcoholics and addicts share many common thoughts, feelings, and experiences that bind us together on the road to recovery. Jaywalker Lodge, however, was designed to fit a certain need.
Many young men enter recovery, experience how great it is, but then find themselves relapsing over and over again, despite their deepest desires to stop. They simply cannot. They continue to live like the parable of the Jaywalker in the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous.
Hence, our name and who we help. We treat relapse. If you are an adult male who is sober but shaky, we are your people. We’ve been there. Young men find themselves bouncing off and on the road of recovery for a host of reasons. At Jaywalker Lodge, we are particularly equipped to help them overcome those reasons and finally engage in long-term sobriety. Many young men dealing with substance abuse and chemical dependency aren’t afraid of dying in their disease.
They are, however, often very afraid of disappearing in recovery. This is a unique problem – and it is the problem we go after the hardest. We teach men to see the truth behind this fear, and show them how recovery can actually bring them back to themselves. We help them forge the identity they’ve always longed to express, and we teach them how to live the life they’re always wanted to live – one that is uniquely, expressively their own and full of abundance, joy, and meaning.
A Safe Environment
All who deal with addiction suffer some similar events and emotions, but they experience them differently and have to deal with different consequences and roadblocks along the way. Our specificity allows us to be more effective. It isn’t just about “distractions,” because life is full of distractions.
It’s about learning to accept and participate in an intimate community of sober men. At Jaywalker Lodge, our men have a place to be completely open and a safe environment where they can be totally honest, without pretense or protecting their “image.” We foster intimacy, trust, and honesty in our all-male community.
Men as a whole, not just in recovery, typically suffer from lacking the ability to participate in such a community. Most men feel societal pressure to “suffer in silence” or deal with it “like a man” (meaning alone, which often harms them). Jaywalker Lodge does away with all of that. We build up the individual and teach them how to engage in relationships with healthy peers. This has a positive impact on all the other relationships in their lives, whatever nature they may be.
A Targeted Approach
The reasons why people begin using, their typical life experiences, their go-to coping mechanisms, defense strategies, and fears differ from person to person. But the differences become glaring the more details you alter. Helping a wider range of people at one time can sometimes dilute the effectiveness of treatments, having to adjust what could be ultra-targeted to become more all-encompassing. At Jaywalker Lodge, we don’t do that. There is someplace for everybody, and we are one of those places dealing with certain somebodies.
In our active disease, there are things common to us all. Our recovery is the same – the 12-Steps work for everyone and anyone who will work them. However, many of the issues and experiences confronted in the 12-Steps and the Jaywalker methods of treatment differ with each individual, though there is always a relatable experience to tie us all to the solution.
Sticking to the group of people we know best allows us to better work through the blocks, hang-ups, fears, and struggles that prevent long-term recovery. We have felt them, we have overcome them, and now we want to best help the ones we can help best.
It isn’t about exclusion at Jaywalker Lodge. It’s about including the ones who try the hardest to exclude themselves. The way we run our lodge is what allows our amazing blend of treatments to work so well. What we do can be done in other ways for other types of people, but being specific is what lets the laser-focused healing really work its wonders.
If you or someone you know is an adult male who is struggling to achieve lasting sobriety, Jaywalker Lodge may be the place that makes the difference. We focus on reaching the men who haven’t been reached by anyone or anything else. We know them because we were them. With access to the tools and treatments that worked for us, we can help you create a happy life in recovery. Call us today at (866) 529-9255.
