Assess, Rebuild, Connect: Creating a New Life Beyond Addiction

assess | rebuild | connect

Copyright © 2018 by KiCam Projects

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

This book is not intended as a substitute for the medical advice and care of physicians and mental health professionals. The reader should regularly consult a physician and/or mental health professional in all matters related to medical and mental health care, including, but not limited to, the treatment of addictions. The author and publisher hereby disclaim all liability to any party for any causes of action arising from reliance upon the advice presented in this book.

Cover and book design by Mark Sullivan

ISBN 978-0-9991581-2-8 (paperback)

ISBN 978-0-9991581-3-5 (e-book)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018938217

Printed in the United States of America

Published by KiCam Projects

www.KiCamProjects.com

contents

Introduction

vii

Chapter One:

A Quick Overview

1

Chapter Two:

Rebuilding Trust

17

Chapter Three:

Living with Integrity

29

Chapter Four:

Navigating New Firsts

41

Chapter Five:

Avoiding Becoming Overwhelmed

55

Chapter Six:

Managing Family Dynamics

65

Chapter Seven:

Handling the Holidays

85

Chapter Eight:

Connecting to Your Passion

99

Chapter Nine:

Medical Care and the Importance of Healthy Thinking

113

Chapter Ten:

Aftercare Options

127

Chapter Eleven:

Frequently Asked Questions

131

Resources

139

Introduction

If you have picked up this book, we hope you are working toward maintaining your sobriety or helping a loved one maintain his or her sobriety. We believe that when it comes to addiction, knowledge is power, and our hope is that through this book, as well as the first two books in this series, we can create understanding about why people affected by addiction might act the way they do. We also hope to start a real conversation about the problems facing us nationwide related to addiction.

As you read through these pages, we believe they’ll help you start a conversation about addiction closer to home—with your loved ones, peers, significant other, and even in your community in general. Addiction is a life-or-death issue. Our intent is not to scare you, but rather to remind you that you can make a huge difference in your own life, in the lives of those close to you, and in the lives of your coworkers and neighbors who need support.

That all starts with understanding, which is why we wrote this book to address a number of concepts relevant to people in early recovery. We’ll explore how individuals in the post-treatment stage can cope with the many firsts they experience in their new lives of sobriety, as well as how they can rebuild trust, navigate family dynamics and communication, learn to live with integrity, find new passions unrelated to using, and manage medical issues in ways that are healthful both physically and emotionally.

Often, we encounter the misconception that once someone goes through a treatment program, he or she will be fixed. But in fact, sobriety is a long-term work in progress. Our hope for this book is that it will introduce you to concepts and topics you might not have considered and inspire you to explore some of the thought processes that occur in addiction. We hope you’ll be both encouraged and challenged to think and act in ways that foster successful, lifelong sobriety for yourself and those you love.

Our Program

ARC is an agency dedicated to change. We are a separate-gender drug and alcohol treatment program. We offer residential, intensive outpatient, and individual counseling services. Our program is a modified Therapeutic Community running the Hazelden clinical curriculum. We use the latest evidence-based practices and incorporate cognitive behavioral therapy, rational-emotive behavior therapy, and behavior therapy to maximize client gains in the program.

Our inpatient program is designed for an approximate one-hundred-eighty-day stay. Our staff includes drug and alcohol counselors, mental health counselors, nurses, and medical doctors.

ARC embraced the Therapeutic Community model due to its renowned success worldwide. The Therapeutic Community is recognized and endorsed by the United States federal government. Within the T.C., clients (called sisters, brothers, or the family collectively) come out of their denial and into acceptance regarding their substance abuse. Clients expose their thinking errors and learn how to look at people, places, and things differently. The T.C. is a residential hierarchy in which every resident has a job (for example, cleaning the kitchen, taking out the trash, inspecting the dorms, etc.). Clients engage in several hours of group therapy per day, in addition to individual counseling and case management.

We do not believe that one size fits all when it comes to treatment, and we do not believe we can simply hand clients answers. Instead, we help them find their own.

When a client has made sufficient evident clinical and personal progress at ARC, the client graduates and is referred for aftercare. We make sure our graduates feel comfortable and confident in themselves and in their aftercare plans.

Many of our clients go on to live successful lives free of substances, and we love hearing from these clients and celebrating their continued progress.

Our Staff

The staff at ARC comprises individuals who are certified or licensed in various disciplines. All clinical staff hold, at the minimum, certifications as chemical dependency counselors (CDCA) in the state of Ohio. Most staff are licensed as chemical dependency counselors (LCDC, Level 2 and Level 3), and others hold Licensed Independent Chemical Dependency Counselor (LICDC) designations. Multiple staff members hold the LICDC-CS, which is the clinical supervisory endorsement—the highest form of chemical dependency licensure in Ohio.

We have a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) who is certified in Ohio, and our medical coordinator is a Registered Nurse who holds a CDCA.

We come from various counseling backgrounds, from a variety of schools of thought. We draw from cognitive behavioral therapy, behavior therapy, rational-emotive behavior therapy, reality therapy, choice therapy, existential/gestalt therapy, and other diverse therapeutic orientations, which allows multiple techniques and interventions to be used.

Several members of our staff contributed to this book in order to provide multiple perspectives.

We are happy you picked up this book and hope it serves you in whatever ways you need. Though obviously our work focuses on treating drug and alcohol addiction, the topics discussed in these pages apply to virtually anyone and can help you or those you care about reach whatever goals you’re striving for!

chapter one

A Quick Overview

Just as you and your loved ones have been on a journey in sobriety, we at Adams Recovery Center have been on a journey of helping others achieve that goal. This book, the third in a series, represents just one step in our efforts to reach people whose lives are affected by addiction. In the two previous books, we touched on many topics related to addiction. Perhaps you read them a long time ago and need a refresher on some of the more significant points. Maybe you skipped the first two, finding this one more relevant to your current needs. Whatever the case, we’ll revisit some crucial concepts to make sure we are all on the same page before you continue reading. So, let’s get started.

Addiction: What It Is and What It Isn’t

Perhaps your thoughts are: Why are you defining addiction in a book about addiction? If you’re holding this book, you have a pretty clear understanding of addiction, right? Well, maybe. It’s startling how many different definitions of addiction there are, just like there are many different definitions of sobriety. If we are going to talk with you for an entire book, it’s probably a good idea to let you know how we view addiction.

We tend to accept the standard definition that addiction is a physical and mental dependence on something—in this case, a substance—which is used regardless of the consequences it brings. You rely on the substance. Feel like you can’t live without it. You need it. That leads us to determining whether the substance use is a problem.

In Accept, Reflect, Commit, we state that one question is enough to determine whether substance use is a problem: Is your use, in any way, having a negative impact on any aspect of your life?

We go on to discuss what can be done if the answer to this question is yes, and we make suggestions for what steps to take in order to address the problem. Since you’re reading this book, our hope is that you’ve gone through that process and are at least somewhat settled into a sober life. If this is the case, we are so happy for you. You’ve taken a huge step. Let’s offer a gentle reminder, though: Addiction is truly a life-long process. It’s not something that can be cured or forgotten once