In what should be one of her most intimate performances to date, singer/songwriter Sarah Smith will be performing and speaking to a breakfast gathering for Windsor’s House of Sophrosyne this Friday (June 10) from 8:30 to 11 am at St. Clair Centre for the Arts.
“When I tell the story of my personal journey, it’s a very vulnerable place to be in, but it’s a celebratory one, because I am in recovery,” Sarah explained to 519 Magazine. “I have gotten through fighting some demons to get here.”
Sarah is known as an artist that can play as many as 300 shows per year. Her latest EP, 2021’s Sarah Smith & The Lovers of London, is a collection of six songs co-written by Sarah and Noelle Frances, along with six other London-based artists: Sarah MacDougall, Doug Varty, Richard Gracious, Saidat, Addison Johnson and Jenn Marino. It’s one of the 15 albums and singles she’s released since 2005.
A documentary team recently followed Sarah and her crew during her performances on The Melissa Etheridge Cruise in November 2021. The film was released on YouTube at the end of May.
A comment left under the documentary, from user Tyler_From_YouTube, describes the film and Sarah’s openness about her recovery:
“CONGRATULATIONS on your SOBRIETY! Thank you for taking the time to talk about it publicly. I believe, because of that, you will help give many others hope and inspiration. There were so many things said about you in the documentary that I 100% agree with.”
“I will be performing some songs that I wrote through my recovery journey, and throughout the history of my life, telling my story of where I came from, what happened, and where I am today,” she said. “Sophrosyne helps so many women that are struggling to find hope in their own personal journeys. There are so many success stories that have come out of there from women with new outlooks on life and new tools on how to live better.”
The House of Sophrosyne is a charitable organization that has been active in Windsor-Essex for 40 years, providing programs and services to women and their families who are battling substance misuse. The organization offers community and residential programs to help women struggling with substance abuse and takes in female clients for five weeks at a time.
“Sometimes we struggle with trusting other genders and sometimes we’ve gone through abuse in relationships that can cause trauma and a lot of addiction,” she revealed. “As many of us know, mental health issues do come from trauma. The idea is to step away from any of those triggers and traumas, to lean on each other as sisters, and to just learn how to be in safe, secure and confident in your own skin. It’s all about finding your strength and confidence within, as a woman, so that you can move forward in the world from there.”
The House of Sophrosyne’s stated philosophy is to empower women’s lives with wisdom and balance.
“It is a safe space for women, and I think if you remove a lot of the outside triggers, it helps you to really deal with your inside self – you can’t blame anybody but yourself,” Sarah clarified. “The only way you can recover is when you finally learn that it is a problem within yourself.”
Tickets for this Friday’s Addiction Recovery Breakfast can be purchased for $55 each or $400 for a table of eight. More information about House of Sophrosyne can be found on their website (sophrosyne.ca) and Sarah Smith can be found online at sarahsmithmusic.com.
