The Lost Ones Project

🕯 The Lost Ones Project — A Story-Gathering Circle

An invitation for people who are still in the middle of the mess.

There are plenty of places that tell stories about recovery, success, and “turning your life around.”

This is not one of those places.

The Lost Ones Project is a small, quiet gathering for people who are struggling right now — with addiction, mental health, housing instability, grief, trauma, or simply trying to survive a life that hasn’t given you many clean edges.

This project exists to make space for stories that rarely get told.

Not polished.
Not inspirational.
Not wrapped in redemption.

Just honest.

I am a local writer creating a long-form storytelling project focused on people who live in the in-between — the ones who don’t fit neatly into success narratives, recovery slogans, or tidy before-and-after arcs.

If you join this gathering, you are not expected to perform, fix yourself, or make your story sound hopeful.

You are only invited to be real.

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🪑 What this gathering will be like

This will be a small, calm, and respectful group.

We will sit together and talk.

Some people may choose to speak.
Some may simply listen.
Silence is allowed.

I will gently guide the conversation with open-ended questions about:
• your life now
• where you came from
• what you’ve lost
• what you carry
• what keeps you going (even when you don’t feel strong)
• what you wish people understood about your life

You decide what you share.

There is no pressure to tell everything.
There is no pressure to tell anything.

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✍️ About the writing

With your permission, I will later write your story as part of The Lost Ones Project — an ongoing online collection of real lives and real experiences.

Your story can be:
• fully anonymous
• written using a pseudonym
• edited with your input before anything is published

Nothing will be shared without your clear consent.

You will never be surprised by how your words are used.

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🛑 Important to know

This is not therapy.
This is not a recovery meeting.
This is not a religious or spiritual group.

I am not a counselor or clinician.

I am a writer who has lived through addiction, mental illness, and a long, complicated recovery — and who understands how often people like us disappear from public stories.

This space is meant to be gentle, grounded, and emotionally safe — but it is not meant to replace professional support.

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🖤 Who this gathering is for

This invitation is especially for:
• people living with addiction or in early or unstable recovery
• people struggling with mental illness
• people who are unhoused or housing-insecure
• people who feel like they never quite “got back on their feet”
• people whose stories don’t have clean endings

You do not need a redemption arc.
You do not need to be doing well.
You do not need to be okay.

You only need to be willing to sit in a room and be human.

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🔒 Privacy & safety

This is a confidential space.

What is shared in the room stays in the room.

No recording will happen during the gathering.

If you choose to participate in the writing portion later, that will be done separately and privately.

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🌙 Why this project exists

Because people who are still struggling deserve to be seen.

Because stories don’t only matter after they turn out well.

Because surviving is already a story.

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And just so you know — you don’t have to share your story to belong here.
If you simply want to sit with us, listen, have a cup of coffee, and not be written about at all… you are still very welcome.

Welcome to The Lost Ones Project