Substance Use

Could this be you…?

I only drink a couple of beers on the weekend. The cops pulled me over, and I had just finished drinking the second one. I wasn’t drunk.

Hey, marijuana is legal in some states now.

These two people are in denial.

Denial is the way people with addictive behaviors convince themselves it is okay to continue using or even to increase and prolong their destructive patterns of drinking or using drugs.

The Recovery Community calls it “stinking thinking.”

Substance abuse professionals call it cognitive distortion or thinking errors.

This doesn’t have to be you.

We can help.

Because denial tends to be a stronghold of substance use disorder, we primarily use Motivational Interviewing and/or The Stages of Change treatment models.

These interventions help you move from deciding whether you have a problem to sober living.

In between the “just thinking about it” and true sobriety, you will move through several forks in the road. Two of them are putting practices in place to leave your old lifestyle behind and then actually walking away from old playmates, old playgrounds, and old playthings (drugs, alcohol…)⁽¹⁾.

Unfortunately, sometimes relapse or a return to drinking or using drugs happens; but, the good news is, it’s not the end of your recovery. We help you learn skills to overcome relapses as well.

We also encourage involvement with a recovery community, such as AA/NA or Celebrate Recovery.

Substance Use Disorder is a family challenge.

I feel like I’m not being a good mother, if I don’t bail him out of jail after his DUI.

We help families identify codependent behaviors – trying to “fix” the substance user.

They didn’t cause the addiction, they can’t control the addiction, and they can’t cure the addiction.

The most effective thing a family can do for the one they love is maintain their own healthy emotional boundaries.

Whether it’s alcohol misuse, opioid addiction, or other drugs, substance use disorder ravishes the lives of the user and the people around them.

Because of that, we encourage individuals who are seeking sober living to engage family (biological and/or chosen) and friends in their healing process.

¹Prochaska, J. and DiClemente, C. (1983). Stages and processes of self-change of smoking: Toward an integrative model of change. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 51(3), pp.390-395.