Mie Kaneda is one of our magnificent CD counselors and licensed CADCs  who also happens to be a California native. Mie is a remarkable ball of energy and service: she has a background in gymnastics as well as personal training. She currently spends her time at our residential facility but can also be found at our outpatient facility working with clients  or training folks at Burn 60. Mie is facilitates groups in addition to meeting with individual clients and also helped start the Teen Love group aimed to support teens struggling with love addiction.  Mie loves to use movement with the …

Lianne Domingo is our stupendous Logistics Coordinator, making sure all of our facilities have their I’s dotted and their T’s crossed, and also well-stocked with everything we need. One of the things I adore about Lianne is her infectious personality and sense of humor. She can make the mundane fun and she brings light and laughter into everything she does, even if it’s simply loading the printer with paper. Throughout the years, Lianne has worn many hats at Visions, and as a result, she understands the deep inner workings of what makes us tick. She is the ultimate problem solver …

Roxie Fuller is a remarkable Mental Health Recovery Mentor who brings a sense of calm compassion and kindness to everyone she engages with. Roxie has the innate ability to carry a sense of serenity with her wherever she goes, regardless of circumstance. There’s something truly wonderful about Roxie: her quiet calm, the gleam in her eye, and her subtle, yet hilarious, sense of humor. Roxie is really a gem of a human being. We are grateful to have someone of this caliber as part of the Visions team. The staff wholeheartedly agrees with me:   Roxie is the sweetest old …

Addiction and mental health are deeply woven into the fabric of our culture. Rather than stigmatizing those suffering from the confines of their minds and addictions of their bodies, it’s clear we need to provide wider ranges of treatment for recovery. Over the Visions has broadened our treatment base, continued to step away from the prohibitive nature of limited thinking, and are continuing to encompass the whole person in treatment. I just read an article that talked about the use of antiquated treatment methods circa 1950, and I was pleasantly reminded of how forward we are in our treatment programs. …

After the initial revelation of finding ourselves on a path to recovery, we have to get into action. Our first course of action is to find a sponsor: someone capable of leading us on the path toward taking responsibility for our actions. In the world outside of recovery, sponsors are those who vouch for you or who act as your benefactor. In recovery, however, a sponsor’s role is quite different. Their role isn’t to vouch for you but rather to guide you through the 12 steps. In more apt terms, your sponsor is more like a mentor. When looking for …

Recently I was asked, “What’s the difference between forgiveness and compassion?” Unearthed from a discussion about childhood trauma, recovery, and parents, the discussion had evolved to spirituality and Buddhist practice and the ways in which we can make space for the trauma and hurt of our pasts. There is an answer, of course, but I often find that questions such as these are best answered via experiential stories. Both forgiveness and compassion require that we practice some level of self-acceptance; in order to be forgiving or able to show compassion to others, we have to be able to provide ourselves …

Making the decision to send your child to teen rehab is emotionally complex. It takes great courage to pick up the phone and ask for help when your family is in crisis. Harder yet is the process of following through and accepting the help you are given. A suffering teen, who is spiraling quickly down the rabbit hole of addiction and mental health isn’t exactly a pillar of willingness; parents are sure to be confronted with resentment and resistance. The truth is, a teen who is in trouble more than likely won’t look at going to a teen rehab as …

Adolescent substance abuse tends to rise in the summer months of June and July. Notably, this period correlates with a time where adolescents have more idle hours, less parental supervision, and looser schedules with less responsibility. Summertime, has always been that time of teen freedom. Unfortunately, it also is prime time for experimentation and adolescent substance abuse. According to a report recently released by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), “approximately 11,000 adolescents use alcohol for the first time, 5,000 try their first cigarette, and 4,500 begin using marijuana” during the months of June and July. Yes, …

I came across a beautiful article written by Ed and Deb Shapiro, authors of “Be the Change” in which they call for a “Revolution in Kindness.” Their article expressed the need for compassion and kindness and asks us to change our actions. It really made me think about recovery and how we so often come into the rooms bereft of problem-solving skills, angry, and hurting, and lashing out. Most of us come in as the antithesis of kind. The change we experience in recovery is profound as we learn to transform our programmed responses to people, places, and things. Truly, …