Blog

Where did Grief Awareness Day Come From? I wanted to mention that today, August 30, 2024 is Grief Awareness Day. Grief is an experience after a loss that has mental, emotional, and physical components. It’s important to recognize when you are in grief and to be mindfully and intentionally aware. National Grief Awareness Day, also known as National Bereavement Day,...[ read more ]

People, Places, and Things A support network is not synonymous with romantic relationships. Our problems, and our solutions, are usually found in relationships. Whether at work, home, or community, our sources of joy and stress include people. Relationships and their quality have a direct impact on the quality of substance use disorder recovery.  Romantic love is a complicated topic in...[ read more ]

Substance Use Disorder is Like Other Illnesses I’d like to discuss relapse prevention using the analogy of disease or illness immunity. I’m going to show how substance use disorder and alcohol use disorder function like other illnesses and how the concept of immunity applies to recovery from substance use disorder. In recent content, we discussed how a substance use disorder...[ read more ]

Uncle Apparently my life’s role is to provide information, support, and guidance for people who are taking charge of their substance use ** issue. It seems that It’s especially for people who are hoping to put together a plan that is based on current research and not cliche concepts or cookie cutter advice. I wanted to give an explanation as...[ read more ]

Yea, that’s how I felt when the addiction research industry started - and continued - to talk about trauma.  (Now that I think about it, The Brady Bunch is a good reference for this blog post. Those kids were YOUNG when their respective parents died. They had an understood “don’t ask, don’t tell” rule about talking about their grief and...[ read more ]

Party Time! In an older blog post titled “What Do I Do At Parties,” written to support persons in early recovery** navigate social settings in which there will be alcohol, I wrote the following paragraph:   “Finally, let’s be honest about the “how can I have fun without alcohol?” The answer to that is as varied and individual as there...[ read more ]

I believe in an intentional gratitude practice. There is science behind it. Since dropping down to “just” one job setting (my business for self/private practice), I have been working on developing a more consistent a.m. and p.m. routine which includes a gratitude practice. I am a certified Appreciative Living Leader; a way of structuring a spiritual and personal development practice...[ read more ]

But, What Do I Do At Parties? One of the first questions I get asked early and often in working with clients who are trying to change their relationship with alcohol is “But what about parties?” Here are some of the forms that question takes: What do I do when someone offers a drink? What do I say when someone...[ read more ]

"Age of First Use?" What the Hell Does THAT Mean? Go to any intake or assessment for drug and alcohol use**, and one of the questions you’ll be asked is “What was your age of first use?” The question might seem trivial. Because it’s when your use got problematic that is the concern, right?  Yes. Right. And no. The age...[ read more ]

A Happy and Sober Holiday Season 2020 Version Last year I wrote a series of posts that I called “Your Definitive Guide to a Happy Sober Holiday Season.” It accurately described many of the challenges persons in recovery** can face during the holiday season. Click here for the blog post on an accurate assessment of recovery status. Click here for...[ read more ]