Recovery
When Is It Ok To Be Around Friends And Family That Are Drinking Responsibly?
After leaving the relatively safe confines of a rehab facility, addiction recovery patients will eventually have to confront two realities. The first being that alcohol consumption is a socially acceptable habit that many individuals in society can imbibe responsibly, and the second being that it may be near impossible to altogether avoid the influence of…
Best Winter Activities Around Boulder
Choice House facilities are located in the Boulder County, Colorado area between the city of Louisville and the Rocky Mountain National Park. The great state of Colorado is known for its wide variety of outdoor activities available to its visitors and residents no matter the season. People travel from all over the country to participate…
Non-Alcoholic Drinks And Foods To Avoid When In Recovery
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) outlines four stages of recovery for patients with addictive behavioral disorders who also have subsequent substance misuse issues. These include: Withdrawal Early Abstinence Protracted Abstinence Adjustment/Resolution These stages are in no way an exact representation of every patient’s psychological and physical experience undergone in addiction recovery.…
Gratitude as a Path to Sobriety
Gratitude is one of the essential pillars of the addiction recovery process. From Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) to Smart Recovery, gratitude remains a universally recommended practice in the addiction treatment community and an important phase of all 12-Step programs. Being thankful may seem like a simple and unimportant piece to the addiction recovery puzzle – a…
Defining Trauma and Its Relationship to Substance Misuse
More often than not, diagnosed cases of substance misuse and addictive disorders are accompanied by co-occurring mental health disorders. According to a report from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAHMSA), an early 1990s study showed that 50 to 75 percent of addiction recovery patients had been diagnosed with some form of a…
What Are the Alternative Pathways to Recovery Aside from AA?
Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) has become the de facto treatment program for addiction recovery in America. The nonprofit, volunteer organization’s peer-based meeting groups and 12-step program are universally accepted in the addiction recovery community as effective methods for achieving initial sobriety as well as maintaining long term abstinence from substance abuse. There are no hard statistics…
Socializing Without Substance Misuse
Mixing socialization with the imbibing of some form of mind-altering substances is a common practice among Americans to help alleviate social anxiety and supposedly elevate the overall mood and public discourse of a social interaction. A variety of illicit drugs are also utilized for a similar purpose, but alcohol is the most popular and legal…
How Do I Tell the Difference Between Support and Enabling?
When a loved one – be it a significant other, a family member, or even just a friend – is in trouble, the natural reaction is to lend a helping hand and provide some form of assistance. At the very least, the desire to help generally persists even when given no opportunity to tangibly provide…
Let’s Talk About Addiction Recovery… or Maybe Not — Talking to Employers About Addiction Recovery Treatment
Individuals with addictive behavioral disorders who are still actively misusing illicit substances often spend a large amount of time and effort deceiving others, as well as themselves. Lies about finding ways to obtain illicit substances or hiding their substance misuse from employers or loved ones can consume a large portion of their daily routines. Although…