Utica NY- February is American Heart Month. According to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), people are more successful at meeting health goals when we work on them with others. NHLBI launched the #OurHearts movement to inspire us to protect and strengthen our hearts with the support of others. People who have close relationships at home, work, or in their community tend to be healthier and live longer. Another one of the heart-healthy lifestyle tips is Eat a nutritious diet.
Center for Family Life & Recovery in collaboration with Your Bargain Grocer offered a Free Crock Pot Cooking Series to people who have previously participated in a substance use of mental health service. “By shopping, creating and executing nutritious recipes for the family to enjoy, we were able to grow life skills with the continued focus on the four pillars of recovery which are Home, Health, Community and purpose,” says Ambi Daniels, Family support navigator at Center for Family Life & Recovery.
Recovery Advocate, Michelle Engelbrecht, facilitates a weekly class which encourages socialization, fun, healthy eating on a budget, and the art of creating heartwarming recipes the whole family will enjoy. This project was made possible in part by support from the American Heart Association Mohawk Valley Community Impact Grant. Targeting low-income participants impacted by substance use disorders and mental health, the goal is to teach the individuals how to shop for and make healthy and affordable meals for their families while practicing in fun, social engagement. Working on foundational recovery and heart health through nutrition, wellness will also be tackled by social engagement.
Recovery is about skills and practice. Center for Family Life & Recovery wants to impact Recovery by creating a venue to practice healthy, budget-conscious shopping, cooking, eating, and socialization. Healthy eating is one of the most underrated Recovery Skills when it comes to substance use disorders.
Center for Family Life and Recovery, Inc. is proud to be the area’s leading expert for prevention services, mental and behavioral health, and community and family recovery services. Together with our community partners, we continue spreading the message of help and hope to our area and those with whom we work.
o spread kindness our Prevention team has been working hard to implement kindness affirmations in the schools we work in, our CFLR office, and throughout social media. We all know times are tough for many people and you never know who just needs a kind act or word. I promise you that any effort put into being kind to someone else, you will not regret. Regardless of race, culture, ethnicity, beliefs, etc, everyone deserves, and could use, an act of kindness these days.
Let us be kind to ourselves. Let us remember we are doing what we can, the best we can at this moment. Let us remember we judge ourselves so much more harshly than others do. Let us remember we are all incredibly, wonderfully perfectly imperfect. Let us remember to love ourselves as those perfectly imperfect beings. We all have so much to offer this agency and our community and most importantly ourselves.
