Huntsville woman co-author of book about recovering addicts

By Kristin Edwards

When Carla Harper moved to Huntsville in 1997, she intended to work as a treatment counselor in a five-year grant program.

Ten years later, she has accomplished much more than that with the help of Suzanne Ferreira — a friend and colleague she met along the way,

After working together for years, Ferreira and Harper recently published a book which combines their respective areas of expertise entitled “Recovering: A Meditation Book for Persons Recovering from Addictions and Emotional Problems.”



A fruitful partnership

Before they began working on their book, Harper and Ferreira worked together on two different grant projects.

Ferreira, a licensed professional counselor and marriage and family therapist, began working with persons with emotional problems and addictions in 1990.

Harper, a licensed chemical dependency and addiction counselor, began her work with both groups in 1988.

“(Ferreira) and I met when we worked on a five-year grant program,” Harper said. “We were colleagues for a while, and then we both ended up losing our jobs.

“After that, she opened her own practice, and I sub-leased a little office with her.”

During the time they worked together, Ferreira and Harper came to the conclusion that the culmination of everything they had learned separately would be a true support to people everywhere.

“Ferreira and I decided there really needed to be information out there to help people with addictions and emotional problems,” Harper said. “There are tons of meditation books out there, but when we looked through the book stores, we didn’t find one that addressed both issues simultaneously.

“That was why we decided to write a book for persons suffering from both addictions and emotional problems.”

Since both women were working while writing the book, Harper said they decided on a specific day to meet and the rest of their work was initially done independently.

“When we decided to work on the book, we committed to making no appointments on Fridays, and those were our ‘writers’ work days,’” she said. “When we were in the beginning stages, we both committed to bringing 10 pieces to read to each other for the following Friday, and we stuck to that.”

Harper said she and Ferreira eventually had to formulate a list of ideas to work from since they kept writing on the same concepts unintentionally.

“Sometimes, we ended up having the same pieces, and when we’d read them out loud and realize what we’d done, we just stared at each in amazement,” Harper said.

Harper said, in the process of writing the book, she and Ferreira got permission to make references to Alcoholics Anonymous ideology.

“We included the 12-step program in our book so even those people who don’t use that program will understand what we’re talking about when we do a meditation on one of those steps,” she said. “We have referred clients to the 12-step program in the past, and we thought it would be beneficial to be able to connect to those ideas in our publication.”

After they finished the initial manuscript, Harper said she and Ferreira began the process of looking for a publisher.

“We talked to about four or five publishers, and we toyed with the idea of self-publishing the book because we felt the information needed to be out there, but then a friend told me about PublishAmerica,” Harper said. “We looked them up, they asked for our manuscript, and pretty soon they had sent us a proof.”



Working over distance

During the process of finding a publisher for the book, Harper said Ferreira made the decision to move to Kansas, where she had lived previously before working in Texas.

“Ferreira made the decision to move back to her home roots when we were in the process of getting published,” Harper said. “We continued coordinating the work by e-mail and over the phone, and PublishAmerica also sent a copy of the proof to both of our residences.

“It was quite a chore getting through that proof, but we each had a copy of the original draft which we were able to compare to the newer one.”

In September, Harper said Ferreira returned to Texas to hold a workshop at the Spectrum Annual Alcohol and Drug Study Conference, held by the Houston chapter of the Texas Association of Addiction Professionals.

“We did an hour and a half workshop together based on the book,” Harper said. “While she was here, we also sent the final draft to PublishAmerica, and then she went back to Kansas.”

In the future, Harper said the pair plans to organize book signings and other events related to the book.

“This is the first time either of us has ever published a book, and we’re just thrilled about that,” she said. “We’re a team — we did this together and we really want it to be seen that way.”

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