Thanksgiving and Gratitude in Hard Times

Gratitude – it is often an illusive feeling, let alone concept to practice – especially when times are difficult. Yet consciously looking for that which one can be grateful can be life changing – especially for those living with the family disease of addiction. The following is a guest post by Darlene Lancer, a Licensed…

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National Drunk and Drugged Driving Prevention Month

National Drunk and Drugged Driving Prevention Month is celebrated annually in December. What can you do in the next few weeks to support the intent of this very important national celebration month? For many, it’s impossible to understand why such a proclamation and celebration month is necessary. For many, it’s a surprise to know how…

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Recovery Coaching Explained

As Cathy Taughinbaugh explains, recovery coaching can be fore the addicted person or the family members, such as parents, who love them. Cathy Taughinbaugh is a Life and Recovery Coach, former teacher and mother of a crystal meth addict who has been in recovery for over 7 years. She writes on addiction, recovery and treatment…

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How Prescription Medications Can Lead to Harder Drugs

Prescription medications — just because they are medication prescribed by a doctor does not necessarily make them safe. The following is a guest post by Art Coburn, founder of HeroinAddictionHelpGuide.com. Art is a recovering addict and his goal is to “help others and let them know that they too can get clean and sober.” He…

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Courage to Change the Things I Can

Lisa Frederiksen shares her thoughts on the Serenity Prayer

COURAGE to change the things I can. This is the 2nd line of the Serenity prayer. Unfortunately, for decades, I interpreted “courage” to mean having the guts, the drive, the stick-to-it-ness to keep at it until I got the things not in keeping with how I felt they should be – changed. As you can…

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Shame: The Core of Addiction and Codependency

Shame is a crippling emotion for codependents and addict | alcoholics.  It is at the core of their role in the family disease of addiction, and it is what can keep them from getting the help they need to change their lives. The following is a guest post by Darlene Lancer, a Licensed Marriage and…

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21st Century Brain Research – Empowering!

21st Century Brain Research – you won’t believe it! I had the incredible opportunity to attend a roundtable, titled: “GRAY MATTERS, Your brain, your life, and brain science in the 21st century,” at Stanford University on October 6, 2012. I’ve included the link to the taped show below – the discussion starts at 9:02. But…

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Forgiveness – So Important to Recovery, But How?

Forgiveness is such an important step to moving forward in one’s recovery from addiction or secondhand drinking (codependency). But sometimes the pain, shame, blame and stigma of what was done or said when the disease was active makes it a difficult to imagine, let alone do. The following is a guest post by Sandy Brewer,…

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