So happy to have the team at Sydney Recovery Support working with us. They specialize in recovery coaching for drug and alcohol and have been around for a very long time working with some of the best in the business - I can honestly say that I know them to be the best in the business and I am personally looking forward to "learning by stealth"!!  Anyway, here is a big welcome and please have a look at their website if you are interested in coaching for AOD issues. Cheers, Aly
www.sydneyrecoverysupport.com.au

Dr. David Greenfield video game addiction treatment

Shame in a relapse can kill you.

When you relapse with shame you will use harder and you will use more.

There is no shame in lapses or full blown relapses - it is just part of this thing we call addiction. Heavy using often happens when there is a lot of shame around the relapse. The professional statistics show high overdose rates in those who are  fresh out of detox but what those figures cant tell us is that when someone first picks up, the desire is to wipe them self out so they don't feel the shame of what they are doing. Decreased tolerance levels are only half the story.
 The important thing to remember is that you will get clean if you keep trying. Forget about the judgements they are not relevant.  What you need to remember above all else is that you have to stay alive in order to give it another shot. Loose the SHAME and Use CAREFULLY.  A relapse can be turned around and your life will become your own again but only if you survive using!

Addiction Treatments

     Addiction treatments have come a long way in the past few years. It is not so long ago that we were electrocuting our clients to cure them from their disease! More recently our attempts to "break through their resistance" included confrontational and directive approaches which, in hindsight, can only be seen as directly oppositional to the techniques we now utilize. The breakthroughs in science with tools such as fMRI which image the living brain have supported the disease model of addiction in which 12 step facilitation is based and further research has informed techniques such as motivational therapy and interviewing and cognitive behavioural therapy. These three models of treatment are in the forefront of most current treatment services along with humanistic-existential therapies such as person centered and gestalt modalities.

In this article we will briefly look at each of these treatment options with a view of understanding and educating rather than prescribing specific treatment plans. It cannot be stressed enough that each individual treatment plan must take into consideration the client, their environment and                                                                                         the addiction of choice.

Motivational therapy is an appropriate start as when a client initially makes contact, they may be in various stages of change. These stages are known as

Contemplation - Acknowledgement of a problem but ambivalent to change)

Preparation - (preparing for change)

Action - (Changing behaviour)

Maintenance (Maintaining the desired behaviour change)

Relapse (Return to unwanted behaviours)

The idea behind motivational interviewing or therapy is to work with the particular stage in which your client is presenting. For example, if your client has been coerced by their family to seek help but is apparently a "happy user" it would be counterproductive to pursue a commitment to abstinence. This pre-contemplation stage is a point whereby a therapist would work to move their client from content with their current use to a point of acknowledgement that they may desire a change thus moving from one stage to the next and rather than breaking through resistance we work with the resistance.

CBT is an important tool for an individual who has progressed to an active desire to stay clean or possibly maintain moderation management. This modality works on the connections between feelings, thoughts and actions and teaches the client how to observe their own (and others) processes which lead to discomfort and the urged to use. This is known as the ABC - activating event, belief and consequence. A powerful tool for those struggling with an addiction that is extremely vulnerable to feelings of resentment, shame and isolation. CBT also teaches the skills of observing our negative self-talk (automatic negative thoughts) which may swing a successful recovery into crisis when not recognized.

Our final tool in this article is twelve step facilitation (NA, AA ) - a much maligned recovery support in some quarters yet the principles of 12 step programs are now supported by both science and most rehab facilities. The aspect of a higher power is not one of religion but individual spirituality (the human spirit) and this higher power may be god, an addict's family, their connection to nature or simply the power of the group in a meeting. This is a powerful tool and not one to be dismissed due to its origins. The sense of acceptance, belonging and support, particularly for those in early recovery is therapeutic in its own right and working the steps is not dissimilar to the process utilized in many counselling and rehab settings. Recovery can be a very lonely and frightening experience and even the most socially isolated and damaged in the recovery community heal within this environment of unconditional positive regard.

The humanistic and existential approaches to recovery are appropriate modalities to utilise when working with this client base and will be discussed independently of this article due to the large body of information to be addressed.

Aly Birmingham Geats

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6974793
www.sydneyrecovery support.com.au
www.counsellingnorthside.com.au

New years Resolutions 2016, Quitting and Motivation

I will not eat any more budgies

   Well here we are at the start of another new year and I am sure many of us have already started on our journey on the "New Years Resolution Torture Train".
   It is a good time to remind ourselves of the important aspect of motivation in behaviour change.  It is no easy task to change any behaviour that we use in our daily lives but if we don't have the correct motivational drivers we are almost setting ourselves up for failure.  Clever captions such as "Quit for Life" don't really cut it for me.
   A resolution with a motivator of "its the new year" will hardly stand up to the rigors of craving and habit but if we look more closely into why we have really chosen our particular behaviour change we will have a much better chance of success.
   I needed to give up smoking for many years and each NY I gathered up my ash trays and ventured into the world of "I AM A NON-SMOKER".... never worked. When I tried hypnotherapy I went straight home full of anxiety and craving and lit up a cigerette.
   I finally gave up when I saw my dear friend dying of lung cancer.  My new motivation came from the fear of leaving my children without a mother and I now had horrendous knowledge and knew what I had to do.  I gave up smoking and never went back- the vision of my precious friend always in my mind.
   Thankfully, we don't always have such powerful drivers but if we look at whats really important to us and find those very specific and very personal motivators we are half way there.

   Good luck to all who are on the 2016 train!