Blursday is a term that’s being tossed around on social media right now to describe the merging of minutes, hours and days since COVID-19 shut so much of the world down. Before the pandemic, it was a term that described a drunk or hungover day, according to Urban Dictionary. You can probably see the similarities. […]
Read MoreI began my work as a substance abuse counselor during my Masters level internship in 2001. I’d been around alcoholism my whole life, and had you asked me way back then, I would have told you that yes, maybe there was a relationship between alcohol and trauma. My father, after all, was a 4-time Vietnam […]
Read MoreSomething happened in London in the early- to mid-18th century. It was called the Gin Craze. It represents a moment in time, perhaps a first moment, that illustrates how the wider social context plays a key role in substance use disorders. London’s reaction to the Gin Craze and those impacted is also an early picture […]
Read MoreGray-area drinking is a new catch phrase that you might find as you search the internet. The term describes that space between very casual, periodic drinking, and heavy binge or daily drinking. Essentially, it was coined to provide a category for those folks whose drinking may not look outwardly problematic (i.e. they haven’t gotten into […]
Read MoreTrauma is a loaded word, and we can talk about it in several different contexts, but for the next few minutes, let’s talk about trauma as it relates to what’s going on right now with the COVID-19 pandemic and how this experience could complicate addiction and recovery. One way of looking at trauma is this: […]
Read MoreIn our last post, we talked about the importance of staying connected even as we started moving toward social distancing measures. Time has passed, and many cities and states are observing Shelter at Home Orders, more social settings and events have been shut down, and we are being encouraged to stay at home and stay […]
Read MoreCommunity and Connection are critical in early recovery from addictions of all kinds. Getting clean and staying clean can be difficult for several reasons; it can also feel lonely when the people that are closest to us – in the environment and in our hearts – may not completely understand what we’re going through. Worse, […]
Read More“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step” The Tao te Ching Finally! Step 3. I won’t say this is the most important part of Transformation. It’s not. Walking forward without Awareness and Acceptance just doesn’t work very well when what we’re looking for is deep change — Step 1 and Step 2 […]
Read More“The first step toward change is awareness. The second step is acceptance.” Nathaniel Brandon “And acceptance is the answer to all my problems today” (The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous. “Acceptance doesn’t mean resignation; it means understanding that something is what it is…” Michael J. Fox It took me a long time to get right […]
Read More“The first step toward change is awareness.” Nathaniel Brandon “To become different from what we are, we must have some awareness of what we are.” Eric Hoffer “Awareness is the first step in healing.” Dean Ornish Here’s the truth. If we can’t see something, we can’t do anything about it. We’ll just keep doing the […]
Read More
