Father’s Day came and went, but I was struck by the aftermath of the day, nonetheless, when my son sat in the midst of his anger and disappointment after his own father didn’t show up for him. When my son said, “Not only did my dad not show up, he only spent 2 minutes with me on the phone,” I felt his deflation. I felt the letdown and longing for a father that would never be. And I had a visceral memory of what that was like. However, as a parent, my role isn’t to project my past onto my …

‘Tis New Year’s Eve and I have to say, 2012 has been amazing. We celebrated 10 years of service, continued our diligent efforts of care and expanded upon our mental health track, got a facelift at our Brentwood facility, and expanded our programs. We are blessed to have a team of people who are imbibed with the love and passion it takes to work in the field of recovery. Visions is a family, pure and simple, and whose primary purpose is to be of service to one another. Over the past year, we have celebrated many of our team in …

It’s the end of the year, and for recovering addicts, alcoholics, and those suffering from mental health issues, it can be a frightening time. We place on onslaught of expectations on others and ourselves as we seek perfection and immediate change via resolutions and hyped up promised to ourselves. In many ways, this can be a set up for failure, especially for the addict/alcoholic who has to do everythingallatonce. You know, who else wants to join a gym and work out every day for 3 hours with a trainer 7 days a week while also giving up meat and going …

It’s Thanksgiving, you’re sober and this year, and maybe you’ve decided to take the leap and cook the whole shebang yourself. Like most addicts and alcoholics, asking for help isn’t always your forte, so you forge along on your own, forgetting that this holiday is typically one of family, unity, gratitude, and (are you ready?) TOGETHERNESS! It’s that holiday when “team cooking” is just part of the deal. It is also the one where you essentially “go back to the scene of the crime” – the place where many of us started our traumatic paths. This year, let’s find some …

It’s Halloween…and you’re sober! What?! That’s right, you are sober! Your life has changed dramatically since last Halloween. You are more aware, you are living a clean life, you have different social circles,  you are starting to feel better in your skin. But for some reason, this dastardly holiday baffles you and freezes you in your tracks.  It’s ok. It’s happened to all of us. Gone are the days when you have to be high to dress up or drunk to have fun. Gone are the days when the key component in your social adventures was 80 proof .  You …

What’s this? The 4th of July lands on a Wednesday? This might mean less opportunity for teen substance abuse or experimentation, or it might mean a murky Thursday morning. I’m hoping for the former. This got me thinking. At our outpatient treatment facility, one of the groups we hold for our adolescents in recovery includes “sober fun” as a way to get our teens to embrace the idea of having fun in recovery. We all know one of the scariest things about getting sober as an adolescent is the fear of being alienated socially by friends.  Most of the time, …

Summertime seems to be that time of year when the common perception amongst many kids is: ultimate freedom. This perception sticks for some time, too, at least until adulthood or a regular job sets in. Think about it: There isn’t a school schedule to adhere to, there’s no homework to do, and no deadlines to meet. In many ways, summer can be the impetus for social free-for-alls: late nights, experimentation with alcohol and/or drugs. What can we do to preemptively halt the madness in its tracks? We can start with providing some semblance of order in our kids’ lives. While …

We’re barreling toward Father’s Day faster than ever, and I was struck by the quintessential Hallmark perspective of things, which celebrates the idealized dad and not necessarily reality. Not all of us have the exemplary dad on the receiving end of a card, which might beg the question, “Do I send one anyway?” While those who have a wonderful father in their corner aren’t stuck in a canyon of hurt feelings around this holiday, I thought it was more valuable to address the kids whose dads are in absentia.   The other day, I was in a car with 3 …

One of the greatest gifts of recovery is having learned the many ways in which we can care for ourselves. We typically come to recovery via hard emotional and/or physical bottoms. In other words, we have often lost our asses in the process of trying to stay afloat. So, when we get to a place where we are being taken care of, we soon discover we are also learning to take care of ourselves. When holidays are bestowed upon us, there is a great opportunity to invoke a sense of self-care. In the past, holidays often meant alcohol-filled parties or …

This has been an interesting year, one which has represented some pretty phenomenal growth in the mental health fields and in recovery. We’ve seen a heightened awareness regarding mental health, and been fortunate in our own recovery community as we’ve opened new programs and refined our mental-health track. The ardent efforts to end the  stigma surrounding mental health issues have expanded to a multitude of social media outlets, with memes making mental-health issues easily searchable and accessible to those suffering and those in the field of providing care. Being a part of this has been encouraging. It’s been quite a …