From binge drinking to a glass of wine with dinner.
Alcoholic beverages are plenty when you go out. But there's a new push to make not drinking normal.
And Kris Kelly's appetite for change is personal.
“I am a woman in long-term recovery. I came into recovery ten years ago. I had bouts of recovery over 25 years, from age 12 to 35,” she said.
Her recovery includes a path of highs and lows.
“It can be really lonely especially for younger folks. I was 35. I had a six-year-old. I had a partner, and what I wanted was a small intimate world. If I was in my 20's it could've been a lot lonelier,” she said. “I would get fatigued refusing the wine at every turn. So, I thought, ‘How can we create more spaces for people in recovery that are safe and for people newer in recovery that might need that.”
So she and her friend, Anne Spaeth, hope to fill that need.
Together, the friends came up with Sunday Sober Supper.
On Sept. 22, The Lynhall will host its first alcohol-free dinner, a four-course meal prepared by chef Carrie McCabe-Johnston of Nightingale. Her son Jakob will craft nonalcoholic beverage pairings for each dish, using various infusions, juices and zero-proof spirits.
Spaeth and Kelly said the doors are open to people in recovery, folks unable to drink alcohol due to health issues and to those who are just "sober-curious."
The women say part of normalizing recovery includes hosting parties with non-alcoholic beverages.
“What I am really excited about is the non-proof offerings coming onto menus that make you feel like you are experiencing the same thing as somebody with a full proof,” Spaeth said.
The Sunday Sober Suppers are an extension of The Lynhall's Nourish series, a program helping people living with mental health issues.
Tickets for the sober suppers are $65. Additional dates are planned for October and November.
You can find more information, here.
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