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

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

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” So says Romeo as he considers Juliet—the woman he loves whose family is in constant conflict with his own—in Shakespeare’s play about star-crossed lovers. The young doomed lover is suggesting that it isn’t words or names that...Read More

Sound Advice Flight attendants always give passengers an important piece of advice when sharing emergency procedures: make sure you are wearing your own oxygen mask before you try to help others. After all, you’ll be no help to anyone if you collapse from a lack of oxygen, right? The same thing is true when you’re...Read More

The Statistics Opioid addiction is one of the fastest and most devastating of all substance use disorders today. The National Institute on Drug Abuse reports that 130 people die every day in the United States as a result of opioid use. Do you have an addiction to pain meds? Are you worried your loved one...Read More

Almost no one has a perfect childhood. Even those with loving parents, financial security, and other positive factors in their lives are likely to experience a variety of negative situations, ranging from the minor to the truly traumatic. For some, a traumatic experience or combination of traumas can have a lasting negative impact on their...Read More

One of the most challenging parts of getting help is telling your employer that you need time off for treatment, but that conversation will probably go much more smoothly than you think. It’s Time You’ve taken all the online tests and you’ve listened to what family and friends have to say. You know you have...Read More