Seven types of mental illness contribute to the rising suicide rates that are so much in the news these days. For millions of people who use substances, to feel better, mental illness is also the underlying cause […]

Healthy boundaries are key to a healthy relationship
Sometimes we get into unhealthy patterns with the people in our family, friends, or even coworkers. Often what starts as good intentions turns into something […]

What are the traits of functional families? We’re glad you asked. According to family experts Friel and Friel, authors of Adult Children, The Secrets of Dysfunctional Families, healthy functional families have […]

Is addiction a disease? It depends on who you ask. Classifying addiction as a disease is most prevalent and most accurate. Yet this still remains controversial as so many are hurt by someone else’s addiction. Here […]

The 5 phases of compulsive spending take you through the highs of an actual addiction. And if you’re a compulsive spender, you’re not alone on this rollercoaster ride. The 5 phases of compulsive spending are what […]

Compulsive spending is not what happens when people indulge for occasions like birthdays, Christmas or other holidays. Problem spending is something that occurs year round. Relentless, buying with no real need or […]

If you are a compulsive spender, you know the highs and lows that accompany the 5 phases of spending: anticipation, preparation, shopping, spending, remorse.  You also know which phases are the most fun, and […]

Do you suffer from damaging shame?
You are not alone. Many people experience shame and bad feelings and let them negatively affect their lives. But, it is not necessary to live with it if you don’t want to […]

The denial cycle has a special meaning for families coping with substance use. We all have denial in our lives. Denial is a way to help us to cope with overwhelming problems, thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. At […]

Happy families have some characteristics in common, and these characteristics of healthy families are not present in families where there is narcissism, substance, alcohol, or behavior issues. You may be worried […]

Who gets addicted and who doesn’t? Teen addiction is fact of life for 15% of high schoolers, and it’s important to take any teen use of alcohol and drugs very seriously. But not all experimentation ends in […]

Do You Have Negative Self Talk?
The first thing we need to determine is, do you have that negative voice chattering away in your head? Self talk is that inner voice that often chatters to us about all types of […]

You can heal codependency, it’s true!
Codependency is sneaky and can begin with the best intentions. But, it always blurs into unhealthy behavior so let’s unpack this and learn more.

Healing from codependency […]

What’s the difference between guilt and shame? Shame lies. Basically, guilt is a healthy feeling and shame is an unhealthy feeling. Let’s take a closer look.
What Is Guilt?
When we’ve done something wrong, we f […]

Family addiction is complicated, and it isn’t isolated to one person who may be using. Addiction is passed on through generations and everybody is affected.  Intergenerational addiction studies examine how a […]

Guess what? We’re almost at one year of pandemic life! Seems hard to believe, but also why we need a recovery toolkit more than ever! With in-person meetings still unavailable in many places and with many of us […]

We live within a culture of chaos. A 24 hour news cycle flashes before us. Multi-tasking means epic to-do lists with fragments of completion time. We’re simultaneously running here, posting there, and making plans […]

Family substance use is so common almost every family has experienced it. Drinking has been on the rise since the Pandemic, but seniors have been drinking more out of loneliness for years. Parents are stressed and […]

Healthy detachment is a sweet and loving kiss goodbye to a toxic or debilitating relationship. But how to do it? So many people who are codependent or manipulated by narcissists have difficulty setting boundaries […]

We often think we need to protect kids and addiction shouldn’t be discussed. We think they’ll be too young or immature to understand this, but they probably already know what is happening. In fact, they’ve likely […]