The Effects of Addiction on Family and Friends
Addiction is often called a family disease because its impact extends far beyond the person struggling with substance abuse. When a loved one is battling a substance use disorder (SUD), it creates emotional, physical, psychological, and financial strain on their entire support system. Parents, siblings, children, and close friends all feel the ripple effects of […]
Is Alcohol Detox at Home Safe?
For those struggling with alcohol addiction, the thought of seeking professional help can be intimidating. Because of this, they may want to try detoxing from alcohol at home. But is alcohol detox at home safe? The answer is complex and depends on a number of factors. Many so-called home alcohol detox remedies are not reliable […]
12-Step Programs: AA and NA
Programs of Recovery Programs of recovery provide a community and support system for people battling addiction or for those close to them. These programs help keep you accountable in recovery and offer peer support and resources to help you navigate situations that challenge your sobriety. Two of the most well-known programs of recovery are Alcoholics […]
How Manifestation Helps Sobriety
For the longest time, I dismissed manifestation as another snake-oil internet scam. I grew up in a strict Christian household that never sat right with my mind. In turn, I assumed that any belief system requiring trust and a routine is cult-esque and malicious. A born skeptic, I marked manifestation as a money-making scheme. When […]
The Importance of Healthy Boundaries in Recovery
When people talk about creating boundaries within their relationships, what exactly does that mean? Often, people incorrectly associate boundaries as mental and emotional blocks that keep a person from expressing themselves fully— that’s not a boundary, that’s a barrier. Boundaries enable healthy, long-lasting relationships. Boundaries are paramount to recovery because they help you create a […]
PAARI: The Police Assisted Addiction and Recovery Initiative
What do you mean cops want to help us? It’s true folks, there are cops and even chiefs of police who really want to help addicts and alcoholics instead of putting them in jail. P.A.A.R.I. is a community policing movement to create non-arrest pathways to treatment and recovery. In other words, instead of arresting you, […]
Never Be Ashamed of Your Story
Did you ever think that your story could help someone else? I’ll bet you right now someone has a similar story. It might not be exactly the same as yours, but the similarities will vastly outweigh the differences. When you get honest with yourself and start to open up, most of us are full of […]
Resilience & Recovery from Substance Abuse
Resilience is the ability to bear up against and bounce back quickly from tough or difficult situations. Babies, children and teens are generally more resilient than their parents realize. And although recovery from substance use/misuse hinges on the ability to stay: Focused Motivated Patient Resilient Younger, more resilient, more impatient substance users/misusers innately tend to […]
If Other People Have a Problem with Your Program, It’s Their Problem
One of the biggest obstacles in recovery, is interacting with people who do not understand what recovery is, what it means, and why you are in it. The ignorance around recovery, and the fact that it’s a topic often shied away from, causes mass misunderstanding. One of the problems may stem from the fact that […]
Medication-Assistance: Why We Choose Naltrexone over Methadone
Naltrexone is a fairly new addition to the medical portfolio of medication-assisted treatment compared to Methadone. Methadone was frequently used to detoxify heroin addicts in the 1960s. It rapidly became a substitute addiction for heroin. Typically, methadone was dispensed in methadone clinics with very little, if any, co-delivered recovery-sensitive cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and/or self-help […]
