It Was Always There
True or false: Addiction destroys the skills and strengths a person was born with.
What is FALSE? Addiction covers them, buries them, and makes them hard to access — but it does not destroy them. The things you were good at before are still there.
True or false: Addiction only takes away things — it never touches the good parts of who you are.
FALSE? Addiction reaches into all of it — including strengths and talents. It can turn creativity into chaos, empathy into manipulation, determination into obsession.
Name one strength that people in recovery commonly discover they have — one that they developed because of what they went through
Full points for any specific, honest answer: empathy for people who are struggling, the ability to spot when someone is not okay, resilience, knowing how to ask for help, not taking small good things for granted, or the ability to be honest about hard things.
Personal share — full points for naming the thing and the moment of rediscovery. These moments are often some of the most significant in recovery.
Personal share — full points for naming something specific and honest. It can be very ordinary: showing up on time, remembering conversations
name one thing you are genuinely good at. Just say it.
Personal share — full points for naming it without a qualifier.
Name one skill or strength that people are often surprised to discover they still have when they get into recovery
Full points for any honest, specific answer: creativity, the ability to connect with people, humour, empathy,
Name one way addiction gets in the way of a skill or talent
ANSWER
Full points for any specific, honest answer: inconsistency makes creative work impossible to finish, relationships built on manipulation poison genuine connection, energy goes to using rather than building, shame makes it impossible to share something you made or did.
True or false: The things you went through in addiction cannot be turned into something useful.
FALSE, Lived experience of addiction and recovery is one of the most powerful tools in peer support, advocacy, parenting, community work, and many other areas
Name a goal — big or small — that your recovery has made possible that would not have been possible in active addiction
Personal share — full points for naming a specific goal and an honest assessment of where they are with it.
True or false: Saying you are good at something is the same as bragging.
FALSE, Bragging is saying you are better than others. Claiming a strength is honest self-knowledge.
True or false: If your addiction started young, or took over before you had time to figure out what you were good at — there is nothing worth claiming now.
What is FALSE? Strengths are not only the ones you had time to develop. Surviving addiction takes enormous strength. Getting into recovery takes courage
Name a time addiction used one of your strengths against you — where something you are genuinely good at was turned into part of the problem
Common examples: being persuasive in ways that manipulated people, being resourceful in ways that sustained using, being determined about the wrong things.
Name one thing you know — from having lived it — that a person who has never experienced addiction simply cannot fully understand. What does that knowledge give you?
full points for naming the specific knowledge and what it allows the person to do or offer.
True or false: You have to wait until you have been in recovery for a long time before you can start using your strengths to help other people.
FALSE, There is no waiting period on usefulness. A person with three months sober has something to offer someone with three days
Name a strength that someone else in this room has — something you have noticed about them.
Personal share — full points for naming the person and the specific strength, said directly to them.
Name a strength or skill you had as a child or young person — before any of this started. Something you were known for, or just something you loved doing.
Personal share — full points for naming something specific. This
True or false: If addiction damaged a skill or talent, it is gone for good. Recovery cannot bring it back.
FALSE, The brain heals in recovery. Skills that went dormant come back, sometimes slowly and sometimes with surprising speed
Name a skill you built during your addiction — something you got good at just to survive
Personal share- full points for naming a specific skill and how it is being used now. This reframe is important
Name one person — inside or outside this room — who has benefited from a strength or skill of yours in recovery.
Personal share — full points for naming the person, the specific
Name a time someone told you that you were good at something — and you did not believe them. Looking back now, were they right?
Personal share — full points for naming what was said, whether they believed it then, and whether they believe it now
Name the strength that kept you alive through your addiction — the thing that was still functioning even when everything else was falling apart
Personal share-full points for honesty.
Resourcefulness, stubbornness, loyalty, the ability to keep going
Name the version of yourself — with a specific skill or strength fully alive — that addiction interrupted.
full points for naming the specific version and the specific possibility. This is not about grief for what was lost — it is about what is still possible.
Name the most surprising thing that survived your addiction — something you honestly thought was gone that turned out to still be there.
Personal share — full points for naming the thing and the moment of rediscovery. These moments are often some of the most significant in recovery.
Name what your life looks like when the strength you are most proud of is fully alive
Personal share — full points for a specific, detailed description. The more concrete, the better. This
Name one way you are already using a strength or skill in your recovery
Personal share — full points for naming it specifically