By: Tom Pecca, MA, CAS, CSAT, CTT Therapist – The Refuge – A Healing Place “Robin Williams has taken his own life!” I received that text last week and, at first I thought it was just one more internet hoax like so many others. When I started to see the news reports roll in and, … 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
What is it like to carry the secret of trauma for many years and maybe even decades? This is the reality that trauma therapists around the world and especially at The Refuge face daily. Many of our clients show up for treatment in crisis as a result of bearing the emotions associated with many years … Read More
I was leaving Sedona, not on a fast train, but on a 10 passenger shuttle to the Phoenix airport and as I entered I realized what bad planning I had created. This was a 2 hour ride and the seats were filled from other hotels and 3 people including myself who were in a really … Read More
It feels like I have lived on an airplane for the last 2 months. I know that’s a real issue when the TSA folks greet me with, “Hello Ms. Crane, I love the new color you have added to your hair.” I have added a strip of pink….ok so I seek attention!! And yes when … Read More
When you Unravel the Trauma Story You Understand the Addiction/Behavioral Story and you can Create the Recovery Story Trauma is visceral, Sensory, cellular. It’s a Soul Wound that impacts the very core of who we are, what we believe about the world and our place in it. We experience trauma with all of our senses; … Read More
Sometimes I look over and see just a hint of a wistful breath, coming from her mouth, a longing in her eyes to be connected, to be loved, to be part of, to be like the others. Sometimes I can feel the yearning for her tribe, to be protected and taught how to BE. An … Read More
Let’s celebrate the New Year and welcome 2014 and all of its mystery and possibilities and honor the lessons of 2013. One of the most common statements by family members and clients is, ” My life was wonderful and perfect, there is no trauma or causes, there is no reason for my despair, addiction, unhappy … Read More
I want to share a story about an angry young man, late 20s, extremely bright and educated, with a history of chronic relapse, legal problems, alienation from family and friends and extreme loneliness. Drugs of choice meth, cocaine, and Adderall which had been prescribed to him as a child of 7 years old. We were … Read More
