The Meadows "Heart Award" was presented on Wednesday, February 7 at the NYC luncheon and it was a great success. For those that couldn’t attend, read more about what Tian Dayton and the recipient, Anita Ronis had to say about the award.
Tian Dayton’s words about the award:
“To be of service can be a beautiful way to live your life.
To see service as a sort of honor,
To feel that you contribute something to this world.
To wake up in the morning and not have the only question on your mind be “how can I amuse myself today” but to feel a sense of a larger purpose.
To believe in life, to have faith in people and to strive to leave the world a little better than you found it is ,or should be, what drives us our work.
We’re in an especially unique field. Many of us come here because of very personal struggles to overcome addiction, having lived with addiction and it’s long term affects.
We have experienced first hand, losing those we love to a force that takes them over and far away from us, from themselves and from life. And we have also experienced first hand the beauty, peace, and purpose of recovery, of good, orderly direction. So we are motivated not only by this wish to help, but a deep need to be of service because we recognize that it is part of our own continued healing. We recognize that we cannot keep what we do not give away. And the freedom that we’ve discovered in laying down our burdens becomes the fuel for what we do.
So many within our ranks exemplify this kind of heart…just look around the room and see it shining through the faces here.
Now, as our field becomes big business, heart is all the more important.
We should not lose what brought us here and keeps us coming back.
The Meadows wishes to recognize this powerful force in our field, a field that is comprised of people who have both deeply personal reasons to be here alongside a growing sense of professionalism. We would like to recognize that combination of professionalism and spirit.
This year’s heart award goes to Anita Ronis who brings excellence to all she does from her days of being Freedom Institutes CEO to her ever brimming over private practice. Anita is a lifelong learner who keeps current with the field, constantly studying and incorporating what is new and effective; she is always a willing resource for best people and best practices and most of all…she has the heart that our field needs.”
Anita Ronis’s Acceptance speech:
“Thank you, Tian
I’m so grateful! Tian, you were one of my earliest mentors and teachers.
You opened the door to experiential therapies for me with your books, lectures and those wonderful Friday training groups.
And the Meadows is where I attended a workshop for five steamy 107 degrees days in June more than 10 years ago to learn more about treating trauma and addiction including my own.
Today I am very blessed to be able to work so closely with the many wonderful hearts here in this room today. The connections we make with our patients are not only based on the skills and knowledge we get from our years of schooling and the many workshops we attend but from the empathy, compassion and love and we bring into these relationships.
It is especially comforting to know that with all of the chaos and upheaval in the world today, we are able to work in a field where love, compassion, integrity, and peace are at the foundation of what we do.
We work in an environment where warmth, kindness, love and having a heart are actually celebrated and honored.
All of us here, through our own hearts, with love and compassion are helping to make this chaotic world just a little bit better...
one patient at a time...one session at a time
Thank you so much!”
*Pictured are Anita Ronis, Peter Stavropoulos, Director of Business Development East Region, and Dr. Tian Dayton.