Emil O. founded Emil’s Recovery Village from his personal experience and history with overcoming his own addiction. Emil has established the villages principles based on the belief that logotherapy, a respected philosophical approach, can serve as an effective treatment modality for guiding individuals on the path to recovery from substance use.
Individuals grappling with addiction often adopt an anxious/avoidant stance towards life, navigate through a pessimistic outlook, and may find it challenging to align their actions with their core values.
When contemplating the journey towards recovery and healing, a common fear surfaces – ‘What if I stay the same?’ Ultimately, the decision to change rests entirely with you. As you integrate the skills acquired during your treatment into your daily life, it’s essential to explore profound approaches, such as logotherapy, which can serve as a guiding light on your transformative path.
Victor Frankl was born in Vienna, Austria in 1905. His father Gabriel Frankl, despite never finishing his studies in medical school, held a series of positions with the Austrian government, working primarily with the department of child protection and youth welfare. Gabriel instilled in his son the importance of being intensely rational and having a firm sense of social justice, and Frankl became something of a perfectionist. Growing up Frankl was always eager to learn and would often ask questions, so much so that a family friend came up with a nickname for him, “The Thinker”. Even in high school Frankl was developing a keen interest in existential philosophy and psychology. Throughout his teenage years he maintained some correspondence with Sigmund Freud (letters that were later destroyed by the Gestapo when Frankl was deported to his first concentration camp). When Frankl was just 19, Freud submitted one of Frankl’s papers for publication in the International Journal of Psychoanalysis.
Frankl then proceeded to develop his own school of psychotherapy known as Logotherapy. The word logos is Greek for “meaning”, and this third Viennese school of psychotherapy focuses on the meaning of human existence and man’s search for such a meaning. Logotherapy focuses on person’s will-to-meaning, in contrast to Freud’s will-to-pleasure (the drive to satisfy the desires of the hidden needs and desires, the pleasure principle) or Adler’s will-to-power (the drive to overcome inferiority and attain superiority). The will-to-meaning is the primary source of one’s motivation in life, according to Frankl. Suggesting that it is not a secondary rationalization of instinctual drives, and that values are not simply defense mechanisms.
“Live as though you’re living a second time and as though the first time you lived, you did it wrong, and now you’re trying to do things right.”
The main idea behind this is, getting it right this time. In the present moment, that’s all it’s about. We show you a unique path that everyone seems to be talking about, but so few are actually doing, which is to be present in one own’s life.
This is the time to stop whatever it is that you don’t like about yourself, this is the time to change. What our residents need the most is that second chance, and we provide it. We hear you, and we’re here to guide you, out of resentment about the past, or your fears regarding the future. Step by step we’ll show you how to live in the present moment. The meaning life has for you, there is no dress rehearsal, this is it. Everyday, every hour, and every breath should be recognized, and valued. From our personal experience when one has their ‘why’ in life, it’s not even hard to maintain their ‘how’ in living sober. A door from their past closes, and new doors open. As if a chapter from their life has ended and all that’s left to do is grow from the moment they step into our village.
So, why wait? Leave us your contact information, and we’ll handle it from there.
