Blog Articles
Additional resources written by our PCS therapists.
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What Can Be Learned From Those Who Do Not Make It
Series Three: Blog Seventy-Eight Every blog post I have ever written addresses tools to help addicts avoid relapse, rebuild their lives and deepen intimacy with themselves and others. I have worked in the field of addiction recovery going on 28 years. There have been many inspirational success stories. There were… -
The Sweet Spot of Centered Living
Series Three: Blog Seventy-Seven Every day presents a new set of circumstances and issues in addict recovery. Some days go smooth without major conflict while other days are challenged with triggers, cravings and stress that create feelings of insecurity, impatience and overall struggle. There is no necessary rhyme or reason…. -
Daily Adjustment Strategies (D.A.S.)
Series Three: Blog Seventy-Six Recovery is never a static proposition. Once you decide that you have had enough chaos, heartache and hangover, it doesn’t all go away by attending a 12-step meeting. Rather than being “born again” once and for all, there is need for rebirth each and every day…. -
Facing Abandonment
Series Three: Blog Seventy-Five Addicts have many anxieties and fears. They grew up with holes in their souls with unmet childhood developmental needs from parents who failed to provide the fundamental emotional needs necessary. Some addicts suffered woeful negligence from physical, emotional and sexual abuse. For many their parents failed… -
Physically Together and Emotionally Apart
Series Three: Blog Seventy-Four Clients who are addicts in recovery and in a relationship often tell me that it is very difficult to physically be at home and emotionally connected with their partner. Like Carole King wrote in the song “So Far Away”— “Holding you again could only do me… -
The Beauty in Slowing Down
Emotions can be interesting… Fleeting yet intense, confusing yet our best teachers. When we are in tune with them they can be helpful, and when we are not we might miss something important or feel out of control. If you know me, I could get an award for compartmentalizing and… -
What is Epistemic Trust?
Epistemic trust is a term with which many may be unfamiliar. It began as a term used in sociology before being adopted into the vernacular of psychologists in more recent years. The most basic definition is “one’s trust in communicated knowledge.” However, it can be more specifically described as “the… -
Mindsets that Build Community
Series Three: Blog Seventy-Three Community is a place to grow and a sanctuary to be safe. It’s a place to build accountability and to seek guidance from mentors. Healthy community gives birth to individual and collective identity. It’s a place to learn rituals and to experience leadership. Most importantly it… -
What Happened? And How Do I Stop the Bleed?
Series Three: Blog Seventy-Three Alex has never been able to establish more than 30 days of sobriety. It’s not for a lack of effort. He goes to meetings, has a sponsor, completed the Steps, does service work and just got out of rehab for the second time. Still he is… -
Self Empowerment – Making Things Enough
Series 3: Blog 71 Addicts in recovery often struggle with knowing how to meet their needs in healthy ways. As a child, many developmental needs were left unmet because parents who never had their needs met fail to meet the child’s needs when they were young and vulnerable. They pass… -
The Making of a Sponsor
Series Three: Blog Seventy-One “Dear God, my spiritual awakening continues to unfold. The help I have received I shall pass on and give to others, both in and out of the Fellowship”— a 12th step prayer The 12th step is “having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these… -
When the Well is Dry
Series Three: Blog Seventy I watched a National Geographic program once that presented the nurture and development of wolves. In this program, the mother died unexpectedly. The four pups were not quite ready to strike out on their own. So they hovered next to the dead carcass, sucking on the… -
The Intense Side of Healing
I have been at Psychological Counseling Services (PCS) since 2012. One of the most difficult parts of being a therapist is meeting a client in their current crisis and as you join and get to know them better, you realize there is a treasure-trove of historical harms that desperately need… -
Why Tell the Story
Series Three: Blog Sixty-Nine There is an interesting phenomena when things happen that hurt. People don’t want to talk about it. When sexual abuse happens children become silent. It is common for a child to want to hide from the reality of abuse. They don’t tell anyone because they think… -
Five Tool Relapse Recovery Plan—Shame-Stalking and Refueling Your Visions
Series Three: Blog Sixty-Seven Relapse leaves an aftermath of hopeless discouragement and devastating defeat. Ringing in the ears of every addict who relapses is “I know I didn’t have to do it but somehow I just can’t stop!” Other addicts in recovery say, “I get it but there’s something about… -
Five Tool Recovery Plan- The Awareness Sweet Spot—Tool #4
Series Three: Blog Sixty-Six For people who play racquetball, the strategy is to position yourself on the court as to give you the best chance to manage most of the shots. Some people refer to this position as the sweet spot on the court. This space on the court creates… -
The Five-Tool Relapse Prevention Plan—Awareness is Everything
Series Three: Blog Sixty-Five John Kennedy Jr. was killed in July of 1999 when he was caught in a deadly graveyard spiral while flying his airplane at night over the Atlantic Ocean. The official report suggested that Kennedy fell victim to spatial disorientation while descending over the water at night…. -
A Five Tool Relapse Recovery Plan
Series Three: Blog Sixty-Four In baseball a 5-tool player is one who excels in hitting, fielding, speed, hitting for power and average. There are not many major league players who demonstrate these skills during any given season. This season Paul Goldschmidt of the St. Louis Cardinals is such a player…. -
New Days from Old Family Scripts
Series Three: Blog Sixty-Three Family scripts and experiences are carved in stone. Recovery requires significant long-term effort to disconnect the emotional wiring that sabotages relational intimacy caused by family dysfunction. Many of us have turned into ourselves, unable to connect to others. It was, at the time, a necessary choice… -
Connecting with Self and Others
Series Three: Blog Sixty-Two Recovery is about connecting with yourself and others. Most addicts learn to distract and disconnect from experiences that create discomfort. I remember the church I attended growing up. I was forced to attend twice on Sunday and prayer meeting on Wednesday night. Then there were revival…
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