Blog

The holiday is called Thanksgiving. Seems straightforward enough. It is a day for giving thanks for all of the blessings in our lives. But for many people, the holiday hardly brings up feelings of thankfulness. Our gratitude can get blocked out by the stress of family gatherings, a huge meal to prepare and clean up,...Read More

Narratives Do you have some favorite stories about your life that you like to tell? Maybe you like to relive a moment of athletic triumph from high school. Perhaps you like to recount the time you met a celebrity in an elevator and got to talk to her for 12 floors. Or maybe you love...Read More

It is so easy to let our minds wander. And when they wander, they often take us on journeys we would rather avoid. Our mind might dwell on past mistakes or disappointments; our thoughts might get tangled up in worry about the future; or our mind might simply drift away from the present moment while...Read More

Think about a brand new computer. It comes from the factory set up to accomplish certain tasks. The user can adjust how the machine approaches those tasks (and even change the tasks themselves) by changing something about the computer. You could, for example, add new software—the programs of instructions that allow computers to provide everything...Read More

Forging a Path Imagine that you are standing on one side of an enormous field. You need to get all the way across to reach your destination—and later, you will need to return to where you are now. There are no sidewalks in sight. So you just start walking across. Now imagine that you walk...Read More

Trauma and Substance Use The connection between trauma and increased risk of substance abuse disorders is well documented. As a result, most treatment centers and medical professionals in the addiction field can be described as “trauma informed:” their treatment philosophy and methodology takes into account the experiences that might be undergirding a person’s struggles with...Read More

Teamwork Consider the five players on a basketball team. On every play—offense or defense—what one player does affects all five players. If you aren’t in position to rebound a missed shot, your team might lose the ball. If you don’t guard the person you are assigned to guard on defense, the other team might get...Read More

Nutrition’s Role in Overall Health Good nutritional choices are seldom a priority for someone wrestling with a substance abuse disorder such as opioid or alcohol addiction. But once the journey toward lasting sobriety has begun, nutrition can play a key role in helping to limit the risk of relapse and in reversing some of the...Read More

Family Whether you are close or estranged or somewhere in between, your family may loom large in the early days of your recovery. There may come a moment when you have to decide how much you want to share with your immediate and extended family members about your recovery journey. On the one hand, the...Read More