VIDEO – STAY SOBER –
Dec. 18, 2025 – For those struggling with sobriety, the holiday season can be triggering, but experts say you do not have to face those struggles alone. The holidays can be a stressful time for anyone, with parties, families, and perhaps even loneliness. But for those in recovery, the experts say it can also be a tipping point.
Dec. 18, 2025 – For those struggling with sobriety, the holiday season can be triggering, but experts say you do not have to face those struggles alone.
The holidays can be a stressful time for anyone, with parties, families, and perhaps even loneliness. But for those in recovery, the experts say it can also be a tipping point.
“It’s a time of companionship and a lot of people don’t have none of that,” said Daniel Bibbee, a recovery coach at the Turning Point in Springfield who has been sober for more than three years. “You are being reminded everywhere you go or all the things you don’t have because of what your addiction did to you and it teeters you on the fence of why don’t I just go back to using.”
“We put an expectation on ourselves that the holidays need to look a certain way, that we need to be in the spirit, that we need to be surrounded by people,” said Turning Point’s Astrid Hoyt. But she says when life doesn’t happen that way, there are places you can turn, like the Vermont Helplink, a tool for those looking for help with substance use.
