New magazine aims to show Mainers there's life after addiction recovery
Photo/ Renee Cordes
Carolyn Delaney is the founder and publisher of Journey, a newly launched magazine for the recovery community in Maine.
A new magazine called Journey aims to help Mainers recovering from destructive addictions get their lives back on track.
The publication is the brainchild of Carolyn Delaney, who worked in the IT field for a decade before pivoting into publishing.
She says Journey’s mission is to “amplify hope” for an estimated 107,000 Mainers, or one out of 10 people, in recovery. That includes Delaney, who has been sober since 1993.
Journey is supported by advertising, and Delaney says she's in the process of raising additional capital.
While the magazine is mainly for people who have overcome alcohol, drug and other forms of addiction, it also seeks to enlighten employers about the value of bringing those individuals into the workforce.
“My message to employers,” Delaney told Mainebiz, “is that the recovery community represents an untapped population of people eager for a chance to build their lives or change careers.”
She added that “when given the opportunity to contribute, we can often exceed expectations.”
Each issue revolves around a theme, starting with employment in the first edition, and mental, emotional, spiritual and physical fitness in the second.
Issue No. 3, for July and August, will focus on learning and education, including an article on brain science that Delaney is very excited about.
She said the goal is to focus on people rather than issues, which is also highlighted on the covers.
The magazine has a print run of 10,000 and is distributed with help from 25 to 30 volunteers, mainly south of Bath as well as a handful of targeted cities including Bangor, Houlton, Machias and Augusta.
Publication's growing reach
To reach the right audience, free copies are distributed at healthcare and correctional facilities (including for probation, parole and pre-release), as well as car dealerships, banks for their waiting areas, police departments and day spas.
Content is also posted online, and an annual print subscription costs $35.
Delaney, who does not draw a salary for her full-time role as publisher and CEO, works out of an office at Think Tank Coworking in Portland alongside her husband Brian, who takes pictures for the magazine.
She oversees a paid staff of five, including an editor, a social media person, creative director, a sales executive and sales manager.
Journey’s creative director is freelance graphic designer Michael Geneseo, who says what impressed him most about Journey from the start is its broad view of recovery.
“For those of us outside the recovery community, the conversation tends to be pretty one-dimensional,” he said. “But Journey understands that people living with addiction, people living with recovery, they still have a life to live."
He added: “What Carolyn is doing here with Journey struck me immediately as an opportunity to be part of a solution and help spread hope and the tools for success to people we may never know."
Plans are to have Journey become a monthly by November, when the number of printed copies may get bumped up to 20,000.
Longer term, Delaney said, the goal is to be statewide.
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