All Things Substance

Triggers and cravings are a huge key to what helps addiction develop. It's not just the reward pathways that drive addiction progression. Today we'll talk about how triggers and cravings impact this process.

Adding substance use to your scope of practice means that you will want to have a source for good information. How do you know who to trust? Why am I the right person for you to talk with and listen to? Today I'll share what the last 20 years of my career has taught me.

The 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous have brought many into recovery and saved lives all over the world. Most people know that there are 12 Steps, but they don't know what the Steps are and most haven't heard of the 12 Traditions. Today we'll be covering exactly what these pillars of recovery are and how they work together to create a plan of recovery.

Recovery meetings can be a giant help to people as they move through recovery from all kinds of things. Today we'll talk about the benefits of recovery meetings, the spiritual aspect to meetings and what clients can expect when they attend a meeting.

Brian was 18 when he first suspected that he had a problem with gambling. Surely 18 years old was too young to have an addiction right? He spent the next several years trying to win his way out of the hole of debt he was in. He found out that it's true what they say, the house always wins. Today we'll hear Brian's story of recovery from gambling addiction.

To quote George Michael: "Sex is natural, sex is good…" Sex is a vital part of who we are as humans and how we interact with each other. Part of recovery is building a healthy life in all areas, including building a healthy sex life. In today's episode, we'll talk about things to consider when working with people in recovery.

Addiction and love? I got a chance to sit down with Andrea Owen, fellow podcaster and woman in recovery. We talk a bit about addiction from the perspective of brain science, why people do what they do when they are addicted and the concept of love "addiction."I wanted to share this interview with you during Valentines Week.

She was looking for love to mend the broken heart she had. For a long while alcohol and drugs were covering that pain until the "cure" became worse than the original pain. Hear her story of overcoming addiction and learning to show up for herself in all ways.

Vicarious trauma is inevitable for therapists. We have signed up to hear hard things and to help hold those traumatic experiences. So how do we truly take care of ourselves? How do we avoid burnout? Self-care alone doesn't always work. Check out the upcoming workshop to help support you as you do this work.

Addiction Myth: People have to hit rock bottom before they can get sober. It's a really good thing that this isn't true. If people had to find the very bottom before they could get clean, there would be so much more misery. Today we'll talk about why it matters that we debunk this myth.