Fending Off Cravings

fending off cravings

While in recovery, it is natural to experience cravings. You may have a desire to use again at random moments. This is part of the recovery process. Substance use disorder is a physiologic illness where your body feels compelled to give in to cravings. So understand that it’s the illness talking. These cravings can come […]

March Madness: The Game of Basketball As a Metaphor for Therapy

March Madness

Typically during this time of year, we gear up for the famous National Collegiate Athletic Association’s (NCAA) basketball tournament: March Madness. The tournament this year will take place entirely in Indiana from the dates of March 18 through April 3-5. Players, coaches, and staff will all be routinely tested for coronavirus. There will be no […]

Adapting to Daylight Savings

daylight savings

Daylight savings is coming up tomorrow, March 14. You will be turning your clocks ahead one hour in a “spring forward” fashion. For many, this means more hours of light during the day and may represent a reprieve from a flare-up of seasonal affective disorder. This winter brought its fair share of obstacles. From navigating […]

Storytelling to Heal from Trauma

storytelling to heal from trauma

Telling your story can make all the difference. After having experienced trauma, however, it can be difficult to vocalize, organize, and summarize what you went through. It takes time to craft your narrative. It is helpful to remember that you get to decide how to tell your story. You ultimately determine how to interpret the […]

Biopsychosocial Understanding of Self

The biopsychosocial-spiritual-cultural model helps mental health professionals understand clients as they exist in their environments. So what does that mean for you as the client? How do you understand yourself in these different areas? How do they define you and how do you define them? Biological This component has everything to do with your physical […]

Leaning on Friendship

leaning on friendship

Sometimes in life, our job or our romantic relationships are not bringing us the satisfaction we seek. This is when friendship becomes fundamental. Friendship is a form of intimacy that is often overlooked and under-discussed. Our friends, however, carry us through the most tumultuous of times. Consistency Friendships can be some of the most consistent […]

Why Your Social Network Matters

your support network

Do you feel well connected to your community? Do you feel isolated sometimes? Both of these questions play into the overarching idea of a social network. A social network is the fabric of support surrounding you during a crisis. Who you interact with matters. Overlapping Network This is the type of network built upon crisscrossing […]

Empowerment in Practice

Empowerment theory encourages groups of people to band together to overcome adversity. There are three tenants of cognitive empowerment, according to Gutiérrez in “Understanding the empowerment process: Does consciousness make a difference?” They include identifying similar others, redistributing self-blame for past events, and developing a sense of personal freedom. This directly applies to recovery. To […]