In my work as a therapist, I witness gut-wrenching pain on a daily basis. I sit with clients as they unpack horrendous stories of abuse and trauma and hopelessness and despair. Ask a room full of addicts if they endorse a history of trauma, and most everyone will raise their hands. Human pain knows no bounds- few of us ... Read More
Sobriety & Friendships: Is Your Squad Helping or Hurting You?
When the character of a man is not clear to you, look at his friends. I once worked with a client who shared that her greatest fear of sobriety was losing all her friends. She had built a squad of sorts- a team of people who, in her opinion, had her back no matter what. She lived by these principles of fierce loyalty- ... Read More
5 Healthy Habits Worth Adopting in Sobriety
Sobriety isn’t just about the abstinence from mood-altering substances. That’s too simplistic. Sobriety embodies the evolving mind-body approach that people take to heal their well-being. In my work assisting clients throughout their sobriety stages, I have found that a few habits stand out as being pivotal to one’s ... Read More
Sobriety, Rebirth, and the Daily Weather
“If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.”- Anne Bradstreet. When most of us think about spring, we think about flowers and rebirth and sunshine and new beginnings. A promise of hope dangles in front of us, and it’s a ... Read More
Why Hope Always Matters in Sobriety
When I first began working in the addiction field, sobriety almost seemed like this mathematical formula. We had withdrawal timelines, psychiatric diagnoses, length of treatment episodes, and insurance authorizations. It seemed like a perfect equation for explaining the calamity taking our unsuspecting country by a ... Read More
Why Hope Always Matters in Sobriety
When I first began working in the addiction field, sobriety almost seemed like this mathematical formula. We had withdrawal timelines, psychiatric diagnoses, length of treatment episodes, and insurance authorizations. It seemed like a perfect equation for explaining the calamity taking our unsuspecting country by a ... Read More
Can I Still Drink Around My Sober Partner?
He shifted uncomfortably in his seat, avoiding eye contact with his wife, the woman sitting less than a foot away from him, holding sixty days of sobriety after a multi-year spree of frenzied alcohol-induced chaos. It was our first couples therapy session. They had both cried and pointed fingers at one another, ... Read More