How are you celebrating LGBTQIA+ Pride Month?

I celebrate by trying to things that support the community. I also try LGBTQ businesses in

“America needs our help politically because they are trying to eradicate LGBTQIA+ people out of existence. Love will always win when holding your pride high! Celebrating my queerness all year round. Fighting the fight and showing up for my communities!”

“Pride is for everyone, and I will be embracing who I am, wholesomely. Expressing gratitude to the powerful leaders in our history that have shaped and inspired our community. Serving as a champion for tolerance, acceptance, and understanding to create inclusion and belonging. Allyship and advocacy in honoring one’s own identity, sexuality, and heart at all times.” to go to any local the LGBTQ to support the any way I can.

Pride means accepting your authentic self and that is especially true, now more than ever. Many cities hold Pride parades, festivals, and other events to celebrate LGBTQ+ culture and raise awareness . In Palm Beach County, we are very lucky; there is so much to do during the month of June to celebrate LGBTQ+ pride in a welcoming and affirming environment. I’m especially looking forward to enjoying Compass’ Annual Stonewall Ball on June 24th as Compass will be celebrating its 35th birthday in a fabulous way in the theme “Back to Our Future.” Think of it as gay prom for adults!

As a cisgender lesbian woman, I always try to educate myself about LGBTQ+ history, culture, and issues. What’s most important to me is learning about the different intersectionalities we live in and acknowledging the experiences of LGBTQ+ people of color, transgender individuals, and those with different abilities. Showing your support as an ally needs to be so much more than displaying Pride flags or wearing symbols on your t-shirt. It’s about putting aside our differences, finding our commonalities and showing up (and standing up) for each other when we need it the most.

The most important thing to remember is Pride month is about celebrating and supporting the LGBTQ+ community, promoting equality and prioritizing inclusivity for all. If you choose the events, activities and people that align with your personal values and interests, you will see the joy in the communities we live in and acceptance of you-just the way you are.

I am proud to be an ally of the LGBT community and plan on celebrating Pride this month by attending the Pride on the Block event during the weekend of June 2 in West Palm Beach.

I was raised in Palm Beach County and am proud to stand for our inclusive values of love and acceptance and hope everyone will come out and celebrate with the community.

PETER CRUISE WEST PALM BEACH @PETER_CRUISE_WPB

JULIE SEAVER EAST LAKE WORTH BEACH @JULIEASEAVER

To have your voice heard from your corner of the neighborhood, send an email to thewell@bewellpbc.org with “Corner Talk and north, central, south, east or west” in the subject line.

By Recovery Church Movement | www.recovery.church/ | @recoverychurchmove

For people under 50, overdose is the leading cause of death in America and around 300 Americans die from it daily.

That is the equivalent of two 737 aircraft crashing every day and everyone onboard dying.

It is truly a sad and alarming statistic.

Something must be done to change this.

But this begs the question: What can be done to prevent thousands of people from losing their lives each year to addiction?

The twelve-step fellowships (Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, Cocaine Anonymous, etc.) emphasize unequivocally that the alcoholic or addict’s life must be surrendered to a Higher Power and a “spiritual experience” must occur.

The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous describes a spiritual experience as a “personality change sufficient to bring about recovery from alcoholism.” It also says that it “manifests itself in many different forms.” This means that the experience is unique for each person.

Many people turn to God while others find freedom by creating their own version of a Higher Power.

For those who walk this journey with Jesus, this change is often referred to as being “born again.” When a new addict or alcoholic begins this recovery journey, many come with a straightforward goal to just stop using. They simply want the insanity to end. However, most never dream that staying sober would mean they only need to “change one thing, and that one thing is everything.”

The whole program of recovery is about removing us from the center of the story. This is where the Recovery Church Movement comes into the picture.

Recovery Church Movement (RCM) is a network of churches reaching and training those in early recovery to grow in their faith and healing.

RCM is a bridge between the 12-Step Fellowships and the Church. At Recovery Church, they refer to this “removing ourselves from the center of the story” process as 12 Steps, One Goal.

The goal of recovery is not just to stop using drugs and alcohol. While this may be a great benefit, it is not the goal.

Step Twelve: “Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics and to practice these principles in all our affairs.”

The result of these steps is a spiritual awakening that is lived out and shared with others. The goal of Recovery Church - and one might argue most twelve-step fellowships - is for God’s people to return to Him.

The journey isn’t about us. It’s about Him.

Recovery Church has weekly services that allow the addict and alcoholic to hear a powerful message that connects recovery and faith. This message is accompanied by a magnetic community whose common goal is to continue to grow together and help the newcomer along the way. Oftentimes, this is accomplished through sponsorship and discipleship. This constant accountability and desire to further one’s recovery and faith have proven successful.

Each of our Recovery Churches are witnessing people find a path of recovery and begin helping others do the same.

There are over 45 Recovery Churches, in 18 states, with 25 locations in Florida alone.

In attendance are thousands of addicts and alcoholics whose lives have been restored from a “seemingly hopeless state of mind and body.”

The founders of twelve-step programs like Alcoholics Anonymous focused heavily on a spiritual experience. They taught that this spiritual awakening was of the utmost importance for long-term recovery. They encouraged those on the journey of recovery to “Be quick to see where religious people are right. Make use of what they offer” (p. 87, Alcoholics Anonymous).

Recovery Church Movement has found a way to continue to bridge the gap between the church world and the twelvestep fellowships. We are seeing people achieve long-term recovery, with families and lives restored.

Whether you are a believer in Jesus or not, there is something to this spiritual component of recovery that should not be ignored, and Recovery Church is a safe, welcoming community for people to explore theirs.

The Depth is a space for faithbased leaders and individuals to share their thoughts, guidance, encouragement, what they’re witnessing, and more. To contribute, send your article ideas to thewell@ bewellpbc.org with “The Depth” in the subject line.