I Was Not a Human Being
I think the title of this sums up my active addiction pretty well, so I’m going to fast forward right into my treatment experiences. Plus, if you’ve ever seen an episode of Cops, you pretty much know how that whole forward goes anyway. I was sent to a drug and alcohol treatment center for the first time when I was 15. I had been drinking for six years already by that time and had no intention of stopping. The program was five days a week of IOP mixed in with school curriculum. I drank afterwards every day and mixed some [...]
Addiction Treatment Should be Collaborative, not Competitive
By Andrew Woolwine, M.S., Client Services Representative at Transformations Helplessness. Working as a treatment provider and professional in the addiction and mental health field, many of our clients who admit into treatment feel just that - helpless. There is a distinct difference between helplessness and powerlessness. Helplessness is the feeling there is no options or choice. Powerlessness is specific. In our field, it’s specific to addiction, not about a lack of willpower. There are some things we can control and other things we cannot. As an addiction treatment provider, we help counsel and treat people struggling with substance dependence. Every single [...]
Remembering to Breathe
By: Keith Berger, Coordinator of Family Integrated Services at Transformations Treatment Center Breathe. It's the first thing we do when we get here and begin our human experience. One deep breath - inhale, exhale - and we're off and crawling... then walking... then running. It can be argued that everything begins with breath. Breathe. Studies show that the average human being takes somewhere between 600-800 million breaths per lifetime. Anything we do that many times in our lives must be important! Breathe. It's the last thing we do as we leave this life. One final inhalation and exhalation and then... [...]
Growing Up in an Alcoholic Home
One of the most significant misconceptions alcoholics/ drug addicts seem to have is that their substance use doesn’t affect anyone around them. Growing up in an alcoholic home has influenced me in more ways than I’d care to admit. If you were to research the effects of parental alcoholism on children, I most likely fall into every category; Anxiety, fear, inability to relax, low self-esteem, burying my feelings, abandonment issues, etc. Being an adult child of an alcoholic, I have realized I will never outgrow the effects of my parents drinking. I will undoubtedly have the above effects for the rest [...]
Why do I have Insomnia?
Insomnia is a persistent disorder that can make it hard to fall asleep, hard to stay asleep or both, despite the opportunity for adequate sleep. With insomnia, you usually awaken feeling unrefreshed, which takes a toll on your ability to function during the day. Insomnia can sap not only your energy level and mood but also your health, work performance and quality of life. Many adults experience insomnia at some point, but some people have long-term (chronic) insomnia that can be the result of insufficient sleep hormones that do not allow the brain to effectively shut down at night. Common [...]
Just One More
My name is Troy and I am an alcoholic. On May 5th, 2018 I celebrated 3 years of sobriety and, for me, this was no easy task. I had never been able to put together any significant time without those demons calling me back into the bottle. It is a time to reflect, though, on not just how hard it was to get here but what it was like before. I have made most of the amends I can, save one, my son. Kind of hard to make amends when you don’t really have any significant contact. It wasn’t always [...]