12|2025
About this time every year, we like to take a closer look at the unique challenge of staying holiday sober. Sobriety is not just wishful thinking – it’s a daily commitment to making good, healthy choices over bad, destructive ones. Staying holiday sober takes extra effort on the part of the addict… and we are… Read more »
11|2025
Ah, the holidays. That magical time of year when families gather to demonstrate exactly why you started drinking in the first place. But here you are—sober, brave, and possibly reconsidering whether witness protection is still an option. Don’t worry, friend. You’ve got this. And if you don’t quite believe that yet, here’s your survival guide… Read more »
11|2025
Learn the difference between focus, concentration, and attention to understand how they affect our ability to complete tasks and accomplish goals. Opening Question: – Have you ever tried to write an important email to your boss or professor, only to get distracted by a friend and forget what you were going to write? – Examples: … Read more »
11|2025
What is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and How Does It Help with Anxiety? Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is widely regarded as one of the most effective and scientifically validated treatments for anxiety disorders. With decades of research supporting its efficacy, CBT has revolutionized mental health treatment by focusing on practical, actionable strategies to help individuals… Read more »
09|2025
As a family therapist, one of the most common phrases I hear from clients is “I’m sorry.” It is often uttered with the intention of diffusing tension, shifting the conversation, or appeasing a partner. However, many of these apologies lack the depth and sincerity required to truly heal wounds and foster emotional connection. In fact,… Read more »
08|2025
As an Executive Director overseeing an Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP) designed for individuals with both mental health and substance use disorders, it’s vital to recognize the complexity and interconnectedness of these dual challenges. Individuals often grapple with overlapping struggles, making it difficult for both them and healthcare professionals to determine whether they are dealing with… Read more »
05|2025
Breaking stigmas, unveiling truths, and empowering women to rise through recovery. The Gendered Face of Addiction Addiction may be universal in reach, but its impact is anything but uniform. For women, substance use disorders often carry a different weight—a tangled intersection of biology, trauma, societal pressure, and deep-rooted stigma. Recovery, too, plays out differently, with… Read more »
11|2022
Make preparations in advance. Recovering addicts need to assemble a “recovery kit” they can take with them before joining their families for holiday celebrations. This kit would include contact information for the recovering person’s sponsor and therapist. People in recovery that may be traveling out of town need to bring reading material, whether it is… Read more »
10|2020
Drop the word “exercise,” throw out the term “physical education” and stop cowering when you hear “dance.” Replace those dreary and loaded terms with the sheer joy and the simple pleasure of moving your body. No matter your size, your shape, the flesh that jiggles, the bones that stick out, the maleness or femaleness of… Read more »
09|2020
Anxiety is different than fear but it is related to it. Fear is a feeling of tension that is associated with a known source of danger. Anxiety is also a feeling of tension, but in this case, the danger or the threat of danger is unknown. Anxiety is often anticipatory — worrying about the future…. Read more »
