It's not easy to hear the stories of pain and suffering day in and day out. We chose this path because we have a passion for helping others, but that doesn't mean it's always smooth sailing. In fact, the longer we do this work, the harder it can become. That's why we're here to talk about how we can avoid burnout, find joy in our work, and build resilience as therapists.
Screening for substance use allows you to provide comprehensive care to your clients. By assessing their substance use patterns, you gain valuable insights into how their substance use may be contributing to their mental health challenges. This holistic approach enables you to tailor treatment plans to account for how they are using substances in their lives. But how do we start? Today we’ll talk about this topic as we prepare for the main event, Braving the Course, coming up 1 week from today!...
As we continue talking about the intersection of trauma and substance use work, in today’s episode Jenny is going to be sharing an important skill with us that is designed to help us not just survive the work we do. It’s built to help us be resilient and to be able to do what we love without burning out.
Want to treat trauma and substance use with confidence? We've got you covered! Today we’re joining together in this episode to talk about the intersection between substance use and trauma. We are so excited to bring our live event Braving the Course to you this August. This is part 1 of 4 podcast episodes to get us ready for Braving the Course, which will give you the tangible skills to thrive while working with trauma and substance use.
Gambling addiction brings to mind a certain image for many of us. There are so many ways gambling exists and scams people out of their money. I wanted to find out about gambling assessment and treatment. So I had the chance to interview a fellow therapist who happens to specialize in gambling addiction and I want to share it with you.
If you google “substance use CEU”, there are a ton of results. How do you even know where to start and what to pick? I’m about to make a bold statement, I know what you need to know to work with substance use and I can teach it to you in 6 weeks. I’m so excited to announce Charting the Course, my 6 week live taught course to give you what you need to feel confident and competent in addressing client substance use. Check out today’s episode to hear all about it.
Secondary gain is a powerful thing. It impacts behavior in ways that we wouldn’t think of, but when it comes to substance use it’s an important factor in making long lasting change. Today, we’ll talk about the concept of secondary gain.
People change because they want to or because they have to. When neither of those things are true, change isn’t going to happen. For substance use, the “readiness to change” may be the single biggest factor in someone making long-lasting change in their relationship with their substance of choice.
Just say no. You should just quit. So and so just stopped doing it, so can you. Some people believe that willpower should be all someone needs to overcome addiction. Willpower is a part of how people make change and make new habits. But willpower isn’t enough to overcome addiction.
In the addiction treatment world, abstinence and harm reduction can often be seen as contrary to each other. We need both models available in order to truly help clients. Our goal is to meet clients where they are and help walk with them to building a life worth living sober.
Why should mental health therapists assess substance use? Is that really in our scope? My answer is a resounding, Yes. In this episode I go through ten reasons why assessing for substance use is vital to our work and to our client’s well-being.
Therapists and psychiatrists want the same thing: for our clients to be well. We don’t always get the chance to work together. I wanted to see what we could do to bridge the gap between us. I interviewed a psychiatrist friend of mine, Dr. Jess Beachkofsky, about what it's like to be a psychiatrist, what she’s focusing on during her appointments and how we can help.
Why should mental health therapists assess substance use? Is that really in our scope? My answer is a resounding, Yes. In this episode I go through ten reasons why assessing for substance use is vital to our work and to our client’s well-being.
If you google “substance use CEU”, there are a ton of results. How do you even know where to start and what to pick? I’m about to make a bold statement, I know what you need to know to work with substance use and I can teach it to you in 6 weeks. I’m so excited to announce Charting the Course, my 6 week live taught course to give you what you need to feel confident and competent in addressing client substance use. Check out today’s episode to hear all about it.
Some therapists worry that adding substance use to their scope of practice will expose them to more risk and liability. Our licenses are super important to us and we want to protect ourselves. Today we are going to be talking about what risk there is, if any, when we take on substance use clients.
Do you feel equipped to work with substance use? I’m curious about this because many therapists don’t feel skilled enough. It makes me wonder what skills therapists think they need to be “ready” to do it. You likely have all the skills you need. Check out this episode on what skills you need to work with substance use.
I’ve been suggesting that regular mental health therapists can work with substance use. But what does that mean? Doesn’t treatment have to be some specific techniques, length of time and process? What is treatment really like? Let’s take a closer look.
Avoiding topics of conversation is super normal for people. We work hard to help our clients talk about the hard things and to face the things that need to come to light. There’s an area that we might not be asking about that could make a huge difference in our work.
What is recovery? Recovery really is, at its core, the process of change. It is a living and active process through which people make long lasting changes in their lives. There isn’t an end date or a destination. There are stages to it though and everyone goes through it differently from another person. In today’s episode, we’ll talk about all of this and more.
Stages of addiction can help us understand how severe someone’s use is and if you need to refer out. What’s the difference between dependence and addiction? When does normal use move to risky use? On today’s episode we’ll talk about the 6 stages of addiction.
Triggers and cravings are a huge key to what helps addiction develop. It’s not just the reward pathways that drive addiction progression. Today we’ll talk about how triggers and cravings impact this process.
Adding substance use to your scope of practice means that you will want to have a source for good information. How do you know who to trust? Why am I the right person for you to talk with and listen to? Today I’ll share what the last 20 years of my career has taught me.
The 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous have brought many into recovery and saved lives all over the world. Most people know that there are 12 Steps, but they don’t know what the Steps are and most haven’t heard of the 12 Traditions. Today we’ll be covering exactly what these pillars of recovery are and how they work together to create a plan of recovery.
Recovery meetings can be a giant help to people as they move through recovery from all kinds of things. Today we’ll talk about the benefits of recovery meetings, the spiritual aspect to meetings and what clients can expect when they attend a meeting.
Brian was 18 when he first suspected that he had a problem with gambling. Surely 18 years old was too young to have an addiction right? He spent the next several years trying to win his way out of the hole of debt he was in. He found out that it's true what they say, the house always wins. Today we’ll hear Brian’s story of recovery from gambling addiction.
To quote George Michael: “Sex is natural, sex is good…” Sex is a vital part of who we are as humans and how we interact with each other. Part of recovery is building a healthy life in all areas, including building a healthy sex life. In today’s episode, we’ll talk about things to consider when working with people in recovery.
Addiction and love? I got a chance to sit down with Andrea Owen, fellow podcaster and woman in recovery. We talk a bit about addiction from the perspective of brain science, why people do what they do when they are addicted and the concept of love “addiction.”I wanted to share this interview with you during Valentines Week.
She was looking for love to mend the broken heart she had. For a long while alcohol and drugs were covering that pain until the “cure” became worse than the original pain. Hear her story of overcoming addiction and learning to show up for herself in all ways.
Vicarious trauma is inevitable for therapists. We have signed up to hear hard things and to help hold those traumatic experiences. So how do we truly take care of ourselves? How do we avoid burnout? Self-care alone doesn't always work. Check out the upcoming workshop to help support you as you do this work.
Addiction Myth: People have to hit rock bottom before they can get sober. It’s a really good thing that this isn’t true. If people had to find the very bottom before they could get clean, there would be so much more misery. Today we’ll talk about why it matters that we debunk this myth.
