Introduction Living with mental health challenges can feel like navigating through a storm, especially when substance use enters the picture. Co-occurring disorders – the presence of both a mental health condition and substance use disorder – affect...
12-Step recovery programs focus on taking a newcomer through a series of steps so they can experience a spiritual awakening and develop a relationship with a higher power of their own understanding as a means of achieving and maintaining sobriety. The 12-Step recovery...
Early recovery is a time when our emotions return and may even be heightened for a period of time. We spent so much time deadening our emotional natures with drugs and alcohol, that it is only natural that we will begin to feel a strong resurgence of emotion in...
We used drugs and alcohol as a way of coping with the discomfort of the outside world. Rarely could we enter into any social situation without being under the influence of substances. We felt safe and protected in a cloud of intoxication. Eventually, however, we found...
People often quote the phrase, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” The insanity of addiction and alcoholism, however, can be somewhat different. Many of us were fully aware of the consequences of our using. Whether...
