Choose the recovery shelf for the question you have today

The right book can be the one that answers the question keeping you stuck today. You may want a number to call, a practical reading tool, or help thinking about work. The Mile Marker Library lets you begin with that question.

Read by shelf

Alder Creek Editions describes The Mile Marker Library as free, practical books for recovery and the parts of life recovery touches. Books are numbered in the order the publisher expects people to need them. The page also says you can read them in any order.

Each cover names its shelf in words as well as color. That gives you two ways to recognize a part of the library. You can choose by subject even if a cover color is difficult to distinguish or you are browsing a simple text list.

The four shelves have different purposes. Right Now concerns the first days and calls to make when something is happening now. Daily Practice concerns life after those first days. Rebuilding covers housing, money, work, and court. People Around You is intended for the people standing beside someone in recovery.

Start with the shelf that matches your present question. You can return to another shelf when that question changes. A book number gives the series an order without creating a reading assignment you must finish before seeking help.

Use Right Now when the question is immediate

Book 1 is Don't Panic: The First Hours After You Stop, by Stephen Deason. Its complete printable PDF is free. The library describes Book 1 as the book for the night you stop.

Seek medical guidance for questions about stopping drinking or using, withdrawal, or changes to treatment. Call 911 for an emergency. Call or text 988 for crisis support. A reading choice can happen alongside contact with a person qualified to help with your situation.

The Journal's Make the next hour smaller gives the existing practical guide for that early moment. Go there for its sequence of seeking medical help, involving support, and identifying the next action.

Choose a practical tool when that fits the day

Tools You Can Use on Your Own, by Stephen Deason and Melissa Deason, is Book 5. Its subtitle is A Guide to Self-Directed Recovery. Alder Creek Editions makes the printable PDF available free.

That title can be a useful place to look when you want a recovery reading tool. You can also take questions from reading to a clinician, counselor, or another person involved in your recovery. The book page identifies it as general information and directs treatment questions to a qualified health care provider.

For help using the book around an occasion involving alcohol, read Choose a recovery tool you will actually use. The Journal provides that practical event preparation. Use its instructions when the occasion fits your circumstances.

You can read a short section and return later. If reading on a phone is tiring, ask someone you trust whether they can help you obtain a printable copy. Choose a format that lets you find the same page again. You can take that page into a support conversation when you want to discuss it.

Come back for the parts of life that change

An immediate question can give way to a housing or employment question. The library's Rebuilding shelf gives those subjects a place. You can move to it while continuing the support and care already helping you.

If you are reading beside someone else, ask which question they want to address. People Around You gives supporters their own shelf. It also makes room for a supporter to read without directing every choice the person in recovery makes.

Free downloads can be found on individual book pages. Choose the free printable option for the book you want and use the edition that is easiest for you to read.

Open the recovery links on I need help, choose today's shelf, and download the free book that matches your question.