- Military Funding
- Recovering
- Wisdom
- Bridges
Institute of Chemical Dependency Studies (ICDS) approved for Funding of Military Spouse Education
Have you ever thought about Counseling as a profession, if so now is the time to act.
We are honored to be a part of this new education inniative that supports the spouses of our military in their pursuit of professional growth. The Institute of Chemical Dependency Studies has recently received approval to offer Chemical Dependency/Substance Abuse Counselor training to military spouses through the U.S. Department of Defense. Funds are available right now to cover educational expenses for this rapidly growing field of counseling.
The Department of Defense will cover educational expenses up to $6000.00 for military spouses. Persons interested or seeking additional information (including completing an application) about this program should contact the Military One Source office at 800-342-9647 and ask for a counselor with the Military Spouse Career Advancement Account Program. For specific information about this training go to www.cdstudies.com.
Read more...Recovering from Addiction with a Continuum of Care
Andrew T. Martin
I often interact with family members of addicts that feel disappointed and angry because the addict appears not to take their recovery effort seriously. Society at large also shares this form of opinion when it comes to understanding alcoholics and addicts. People are often confused as to why an addict/alcoholic is unable to go the doctor, get a medication and therapy through drug rehab, and be cured. After all, addicts simply have a problem that needs fixing, right?
Unfortunately, addiction is not nearly as simple as a broken bone, or even chronic disease such as diabetes. Chemical dependency (addiction and alcoholism) is defined as a ‘chronic and progressive’ disease. This means the disease can be halted but it cannot be cured. It also means that, left untreated, the disease worsens until eventual death. I know this sounds severe, and it is: addiction is something everyone needs to take very seriously as lives are at stake.
While it can be a challenge to convince an addict that he/she has a problem with alcohol/drug abuse, this is relatively simple when compared to convincing an addict in treatment that he/she must continue their treatment for a very long period of time
Read more...Wisdom from the Mouths of Babes
Journeys of Heartache and Grace
“Life changes fast. Life changes in the instant. You sit down to dinner and life as you know it ends.” This quote comes from best-selling author Joan Didion in her memoir The Year of Magical Thinking, which chronicles the unexpected deaths of her husband and daughter in a short period of time. The quote is a vivid reminder of the uncertainty of life amidst the sheer reality that everyone dies.
While scholars remind us that although we intellectually know we will all die eventually, that particular time in our lives and the lives of those we love is often the most difficult and challenging. Communication scholars like Dr. Mark Knapp from The University of Texas and others suggest that the need for communicating with a person who is known to be dying is one of life’s most difficult communication challenges. It represents a particular sphere of communication that many do not want to think about, although most would like to have instant expertise when faced with such an encounter (Miller and Knapp, 1986).
In 1999 I became interested in end-of-life issues from a communication perspective after the deaths of my own mother and grandmother just 12 days apart. The death of my amazing mother was expected after her 17-year intermittent battle with cancer
Read more...Bridges to Recovery
Despite a successful career as an executive with a major computer corporation, I began my own struggle with addiction. After seeking treatment, I realized that my purpose was to help others in the same position that I was in and made it my life’s work. In the following years, I realized that the most difficult part of the recovery process, for me and for many of the people I’ve worked with, was the transition from treatment back to everyday living.
Industry studies, discussions with colleagues and reflection upon my own experiences set me on the path to discover why the transition process can be so difficult. Despite the quality of traditional treatment and continuum of care programs, between 40% and 60% of people relapse after drug treatment, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
Relapse rates within traditional continuum of care programs are high because of the many challenges that a person faces following treatment. This is due to a number of factors including lack of structure and accountability, fear or anxiety about combating addiction alone, difficulty opening up in public or feeling intimidated about addressing issues in certain settings, time constraints for meetings or counseling and even traveling
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Addictions Treatment Professional’s Educational Bill of Rights  
Preamble:Consumers of addictions treatment services have the right to be treated by qualified practitioners. Qualified practitioners are those who have engaged in a development process that upon completion certifies them as competent to practice. Research based standards are the rules that define both competence development and professional practice. All addictions treatment professionals have a right to field specific standardized competencies that define competence and illustrate a process for professional development. All addictions treatment professionals have a right to clearly defined professional development processes that provide opportunities for objective assessment of requisite knowledge, skills, and attitudes. All addictions treatment professionals have a right to be mentored by qualified addictions treatment practitioners. The term qualified indicates that they have completed a process that certifies them as competent instructors
The Four Absolutes: Killers or Key?
Fr. Bill Wigmore Several ago, I took a short business trip to Washington, D.C. I hadn’t been to the nation’s capitol in many years, so I tacked an extra day onto the end of my stay. The day wasn’t added to visit the tombs of dead presidents or unknown soldiers; but to visit with James Houck, a man who sobered up the day after Bill Wilson took his last drink, way back in 1934. He lived in a retirement home in nearby Maryland. James was fast approaching 100 years old and I wanted to ask him a few questions before he passed on to that Big Meeting in the Sky. I’d met the man several times before as he traveled the country with Wally P. from Tucson, Arizona. Whenever they were nearby, I would always go to hear Jim speak, because he was nearly older than God and I’d figured this would surely be my last chance to see him before he died. Of course, then Jim would show up again next year looking even healthier than before
The Twelve Steps - Step VII
“Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings” Doing the StepThe focus on this step is humility. I must find a way to humble myself so I can begin to be honest with myself and begin the recovery process. I must take the action needed to face the fact that I have created much pain in my life and others. Steps Four and Five moved my focus from the outside to the inside. For the first time I had to start looking at how I think and act. It was a wake up call for me. Now I need to start the process of living life from the inside out. In Step Six I said O.K. I’m ready. Step Seven is taking the action. What do I do? I must first determine what I’m really willing to do to change. I must convince myself that I need to change by giving examples of how my character defects have caused problems for me and those around me. I must learn to take small steps by identifying the character defect that is causing me the most pain right now. Am I willing to give up this defect? What would I gain or lose by giving it up? I must be specific. I must then explain what I’m willing to do to change. Just what am I willing to give up? What positive attitude would I replace it with? What do I feel when I think of surrendering to my Higher Power and trusting my defects will be removed
From the Heart - We Have to Let You Go
Alan Cohen I have a new favorite cartoon. It’s a rendering by James True (www.jtrue.com) that’s both humorous and profound. The cartoon shows a tomato stalk with several tomatoes growing on it, at various stages of development. One tomato is large and ripe. The tomato stalk says to the ripe tomato, “We have to let you go.” The title of the cartoon is Layoffs at the Plant. The profound nature of the cartoon is that the large tomato is ripe to be picked. Of course the plant has to let it go because it has no further purpose on the stalk. If it stays it will rot and die. If it leaves, it will serve its next purpose. The cartoon is a fabulous metaphor for why and when we need to be let go from a job, relationship, living situation, or any station of life. Life is not cruelly kicking you out of a place you still need to be
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What is the Law of Attraction?
Rev. Leo Booth Over the past twenty years there seems to have been a growing interest in what might loosely be called New Age or Metaphysics. It is the philosophy that has moved beyond any one religion and is wishing to celebrate the concept of divinity within the human being; it is taking the idea of ‘the kingdom within us’ to a new level, telling us that we have the power to create a better life, a better world. I have personally been touched by this philosophy. Maybe twenty years ago or so, I became aware of the Unity church when I was invited to speak at The Church of Today in Warren, Michigan, as a guest of the Reverend Jack Boland, and I was immediately impressed by the positive readings, music, sermon and general atmosphere of the congregation. What was this spiritual ingredient that I was experiencing at this church
Anger Busting - Dealing with Anger Anxiety
Dear AngerManagementSeminar.com: I grew up in a very angry family. My dad had a hair-trigger temper that could go off for no reason that was ever apparent to me. He never hit me but his words could land on top of me like a ton of bricks. My mom tried to stay calm around us kids, but at night I could hear them screaming at each other after we went to bed. As a result, I don’t like anger, I don’t like being around angry people and I worry constantly that I one of these days I am going to lose it and become just like my dad. Can you help me do something now, before it is too late? Stressed in San Antonio Dear Stressed: I am sorry to hear about your family life when you were growing up. Emotional abuse is every bit as destructive as physical abuse
NAADAC to Host Discussion on National Credentialing Standards
National Boards to Meet This Summer
Donovan Kuehn In a move toward transparency and to simplify the professional life for addiction services professionals, NAADAC, the Association for Addiction Professionals, is holding a discussion on national credential standards this summer. NAADAC has invited two representatives from each nationally established and recognized addictions disorders certifying board to attend the discussions on certification standards, testing processes and other issues relevant to the addiction treatment industry. The meeting will be held in conjunction with the “Sowing the Seeds of Recovery” annual conference and will take place at the Grand America Hotel in Salt Lake City, Utah, on August 18, 2009. The purpose of the meeting will be to foster relations between the various certifying entities in hopes of working together to best serve the addictions disorders profession in today’s changing environment
Recovery Stories
I grew up in a home where alcoholism was the dominate factor in all our affairs. How I resent it robbing me of ever realizing the depth of my mother’s relationship with our higher power, whom we called God, the joy of my father’s sense of humor, and the intensity of my parents love for my siblings and myself. The rage, insanity and addiction consumed every aspect of their attention and behavior - depriving them of the energy, courage or understanding of modeling or showering us with the love and affection they felt so strongly. Only after my father’s death was I told that he grieved when he found I was born with glaucoma, which would leave me blinded in one eye for life and then again when he was told by the doctor that a medical procedure had not yet been developed which would allow him to donate his own eye to me. What a selfless, loving, compassionate man. Yet, I never knew. Later, my mother passed on. In sorting through her important papers, we found the letter she wrote God during labor for my sister
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