God, grant me the Serenity to Accept the things I cannot change,The Courage to Change the things I can,and the Wisdom to know the Difference. Read More »

Addicts are quite uncomfortable in their struggle to re-establish some form of physiological and psychological balance without the drug. The most significant threat to your relationship will be if your partner proceeds with recovery without you being involved in a parallel recovery process. Both of you need people outside the relationship to assist and support you through this readjustment process. Read More »

Our own growth might be due to those who loved us enough to let us experience the sometimes painful consequences of our choices or mistakes. We can pass the loving detachment on to others. The following is a description of enabling, co-dependency and denial as key systemic behaviors that inadvertently support addiction.

Restoring trust is very difficult in the process of recovery. Most family members feel betrayed and violated by the practicing addict or alcoholic. Building trust is a process and comes very slowly. It takes only a moment to break or destroy trust but much time and work to rebuild it.  The following are some tools to learn the process of trust for the addict and the family in recovery.

Intervention is a powerful experience for both addicts and their families. It’s simultaneously the most difficult and most rewarding experience for a family to experience. Many families struggle with addiction for years and years before finding themselves at a point where they’re willing to change the nature of their relationships to the addict in their family. When the hurt for the family gets too deep, and it seems nothing can be done for their loved one, then it’s time to turn to intervention as the solution.

Eating disorders and disordered eating are commonly experienced by female athletes, but sorely under recognized by coaches, teachers, parents, therapists and physicians. There are several core features of the illness of eating disorders, which may be particularly exacerbated in the athletic arena for females.

Do you wish you could mediate but your thoughts are too loud? You sit in the perfect lotus position, breathing through your nose, eyes closed, and obsessively thinking, “Am I doing this right?” “Will I ever reach Nirvana?” Striving for stillness, you ultimately end up frustrated. Don’t fret you attention deficient Buddhas in boot camp, the following is a style of meditation just for you.

Even though many of us from NALGAP and other organizations have been doing trainings all over the country on LGBT issues, we continue to hear stories of clients who say they could not “come out” in their treatment programs because it did not feel safe or counselors continue to say “you’re not here to talk about being gay, you’re here to deal with your addiction.” 

The importance of sober living after completion of primary treatment is imperative to the success of continuous sobriety. A good sober living environment will force you to grow as you must deal with many personalities. Concepts like surrender, patience, tolerance, compassion and acceptance are put to the test on a daily basis. The longer one stays in a safe, structured, supportive environment, the better the odds are of success.

I was nervous testing for HIV in 2005 – and a little embarrassed about it. I had become complacent around some known risks, and felt that certainly I should know better. When my results came, I was negative – still negative. What the counselor told me then shocked me – “You have Hepatitis C.” I hadn’t shot drugs for over twenty years...