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In my youth, I loved to use drink and use. Substances were the wonder-cure for a great many things. They were fun as hell; boosted confidence and belonging; enhanced creativity and performance; blasted stress, anxiety and depression out of the water (fingergun: ‘pew-pew’); and pretty much filled up that aching inner pit in my gut,…that existential black hole. They masked the looming sense that I was an alien who didn’t’ really belong in this life. I finally felt comfortable in my own skin!
But eventually, into adulthood, for some unknown reason, they turned on me. They ceased to be magical coping skills for life. Those effects waned and died. Simultaneously they created little messes that progressively became big messes. Eventually they took a giant crap on my entire life: on everything and everyone important to me. To top it off I reached a point where I couldn’t stop (or stay stopped), despite my best efforts and strongest willpower! Wtf!
Eventually through an integrative combo of professional evidence-based treatments and services, ongoing time-tested wisdom of grass-roots social support methods, culture and community, and science-based complementary health practices, I emerged from my dark night of the soul.
The sweetest surprise though, was that with time, this awarded me so much more than freedom from the suffering. I found a deeper life purpose, meaning, joy and vitality than I had ever known! Since then, both in and outside of grad school, I’ve continued to research and pull together all the practices, resources and treatment components shown to supercharge one’s recovery into one place to help myself, peers in the recovery community, and people I work with professionally as a psychologist, coach, and educator.
With every new holistic recovery element I add to my repertoire, I find life’s endless possibilities are in-reach. Perhaps the greatest discovery I found, was that the many paths and tools of recovery from addiction actually overlap and double as those that empower anyone (addicted or not) to succeed, thrive and live our best life. I’m honored to share these with others I feel akin to, on a similar path. There are many roads to freedom and thriving…Let’s get you the best transportation, road map and supplies to traverse yours brilliantly!