When I work with younger people in their journey of recovery, one of the first roadblocks I encounter is combating their very destructive ideas about what fun and excitement looks like. I once had a mentor of mine describe insanity as changing our goals to meet our behaviors! To most individuals, running from police, getting … Read More
An addict can come to The Refuge and spend months, maybe even years, and do every assignment, attend every group and process their past trauma until their lips fall off, but they will still need to work hard at their recovery every day, starting the moment they leave our property. In my experience, it seems that once … Read More
I recently had the opportunity to train an amazing group of professionals at a hospital in eastern Oregon, and it had me driving right through the town where I grew up! I decided to take a little detour through the main drag (about a 5-minute endeavor) to enjoy a little nostalgia. When you drive through my … Read More
“Friendship is born at that moment when one man says to another: “What! You too? I thought that no one but myself . . .” C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves I have years of education, months of additional and specialized training and my own personal experiences in recovery from addiction and childhood trauma, but to some clients, I’m just … Read More
There is one thing the media and sports fans love: A comeback story. We’ve all seen the pieces: dramatic music, flashes of childhood pictures, a high school coach or two talking about “raw talent!” Fast forward to times of trouble, flashes of news clippings reporting an athlete’s DUI, public misconduct, violent behavior or all-around misbehaving. … Read More
Trauma can alter our entire being and the way we view our selves and the world around us. This is not a new concept, and perhaps Ancient Talmudic words illustrate this best: “We do not see things as they are, we see them as we are.” Many trauma survivors are still stuck in the past, … Read More
It’s hard to understand addiction sometimes. It’s really hard to understand when it’s someone you care for and they are looking back at you, clearly intoxicated by whatever their favorite form of controlled dissociation is (drugs, alcohol, sex, food/not eating food, gambling), and they are again lying, again manipulating and again doing all the things … Read More
A few weeks ago I was preparing to present for the first time at a national conference in Nashville. In an effort to distract myself from the fear of public speaking, I took the first day of the conference to hear a speaker I have always admired as a pioneer in the field: Bessel Van … Read More
Symptoms of PTSD can be devastating and treating individuals with PTSD can often be difficult. For example, getting a trauma survivor to discuss past traumatic events can sometimes feel impossible as just talking about these haunting stories can lead to complete and total dissociation and detachment. The pre-frontal cortex goes off-line. Thus, you will have a client … Read More
A speaker told this story during the third module of my training to become a Certified Trauma Therapist. The story, which I hope to be fictitious, is one I led groups on once I did in fact become a trauma therapist. The way in which I would tell it went like this: A client once … Read More
