New Year’s Eve is a fantastic celebration for a teen who is in recovery. Every year that a teen completes sober is a celebration of many hours, days, weeks, and months spent in recovery. New Year’s Eve celebrations are exciting and exhilarating in sobriety, but they can be triggering and challenging as well. Renown for…
Details
We live in a society of more. When our teen is recovering from drug and alcohol addiction, their concept of more is different from anyone else’s. Addiction is a disease of more. Drugs and alcohol alter brain chemistry in such a way that the brain develops an obsession of craving. As addiction progresses, the brain…
Details
Sending a beloved teen to treatment for drug and alcohol addiction is one of the most difficult, but best decisions we can make for ourselves, our child, and our families. When our teen comes home, there are certain behaviors we have to learn to relinquish in support of their fostering independence and autonomy in recovery.…
Details
What are we supposed to say, as parents, to our adolescents and teenagers who are recovering from drug and alcohol addiction to let them know what a great job they are doing? Some of us might start with just that sentiment, you’re doing a great job. Some of us might go for the trophy statement,…
Details
We might know that our child is a bully because we experience the bullying personally or with other immediate members of the family. Some of us receive phone calls from schools, coaches, and organizations. Others may not realize that some behaviors are indicative of bullying and though a child may not be “bullying” in the…
Details
You could be right. You could be wrong. Knowing the best thing to do when it comes to parenting a teen in recovery from drug and alcohol addiction doesn’t have to be a challenge. Here are four suggested ways to provide positive encouragement. Don’t inhibit them from taking healthy risks: Risk-taking is a common characteristic…
Details
Vulnerability is hard for most people. Being emotionally raw and open is challenging for most people. Most people go through their lives at a hindered level of emotional intimacy with themselves and with others. Part of the reason is that people are under the impression emotional vulnerability is a form of weakness and weakness is…
Details
Recent research has found that a single exposure to cocaine creates the phenomenon of craving in the brain. Scientists used brain imaging studies to test the activity of the reward system in the brains of people who had either no exposure to cocaine or a single exposure to cocaine. Just one experiment with the drug…
Details
Passive aggression is not about one person taking out their emotions on another person. Most often, passive aggression is really the result of one person not letting out their emotions at all and consequently taking that out on another person. Parents of adolescents and teens in recovery should be wary of passive aggressive behavior as…
Details
Shame is more than humiliation. Humiliation can sting for a second, ache with the strain of a belly laugh, and even haunt for a day or two until it passes. Shame is defined as the painful feeling of humiliation or distress which is caused by the consciousness of doing something wrong. Often, we don’t know…
Details