Recovery
I specialize in working with people who are in recovery from any form of addiction:
Chemical Addiction is, of course, addiction to a chemical substance such as alcohol, nicotine, opiates, cocaine, and other licit and illicit drugs;
Process Addiction is an addiction to a behavior or lifestyle, such as workaholism, extreme sports, gambling, relationship or sexual addiction, and so on;
Systemic Addiction, also called an addictive personality, is an addiction-like pattern of self-defeating beliefs, ways of thinking and habits;
Codependency, sometimes called addiction to others or addiction to martyrdom, has addiction-like signs, symptoms and consequences resulting from enmeshment with other people.
Recovery can be very challenging because the energetic, emotional wounds that led to addiction in the first place rise to the surface when the addictive behavior is stopped. They want to be healed, and can’t be if they remain buried or denied. So the recovering person finds him- or herself in the predicament of having to heal the very hurts, fears and other feelings and thoughts that we (I’m a recovering person myself) used our addiction to avoid.
The good news is that is doable, and millions of people have found success in healing their past and creating a meaningful and joyful life for themselves. Usually, whatever program or process we used to begin our recovery provides the tools and support needed to sustain our recovery.
However, we are always growing, evolving, changing. We develop dreams for a depth and breadth of life that expands as we grow. Yet simultaneously, our old emotional reactions, thought processes, beliefs and behavior patterns, which are a part of us, periodically come up again for an even deeper degree of healing. We may feel lost or confused, like we hit a plateau or a rut, a desert or a swamp. At those times we may need a fresh perspective on how to move forward. It does not necessarily mean we are doing something wrong, that we are not “working our program,” or that we are engaged in “stinking thinking.” It is easy to get caught up in the fantasy that if we “practice these principles in all our affairs,” or rationally dispute all irrational thoughts, our pre-addiction wounds won’t get triggered by life experiences. Yet as we continue in recovery, sometimes we get too used to a certain way of seeing, hearing, thinking and reacting – we may get to a point where we can’t see the forest for the trees. We evolve, and we need fresh viewpoints and inspiration that support and nurture our evolution – not instead of the program that saved us, but in addition to it.
That’s why, after a decade of working in substance abuse treatment and with families of addicted persons, I turned my attention to Recovery Coaching and developed a process called RECOVERY ON TARGET: How to Improve Your AIM. AIM stands for:
Awareness
Intention
Mastery
and the purpose is to become more conscious of what is and is not working for your recovery and your life, to become inspired to make the changes that will take your recovery where you want to go in your life, and to become impeccable in your ability to build the life you desire.
If you have read this far, you are ready, or at least curious, to explore how Recovery Coaching may be able to help you take the next step into a joyful, meaningful, successful life. Below is a free Self-Assessment Form in PDF format to determine how coaching could help you.
Click Here for a free, no-obligation consultation.
