Managing Anger in Recovery
Anger management is just one skill that you will learn to hone in recovery. Addiction recovery, especially early recovery, is a time of heightened emotions, some or even many of which you may have covered up in the past with the use of drugs or alcohol. Now, in sobriety, you must learn to cope with […]
How Good Nutrition Affects Recovery
In active addiction, healthy diet and nutrition habits are often neglected. Because prolonged and heavy drug and alcohol use can drain the body of essential vitamins and energy, many people in early recovery are also recovering from poor nutrition and enter detox malnourished and dehydrated. One study found that 88 percent of heavy drug and […]
Opioid Addiction: From Prescription Painkillers to Heroin
Many people who abuse prescription pills will make the switch from prescription painkillers to heroin. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), almost 80 percent of heroin users reported having misused prescription opioids prior to using heroin. One study by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration found that people who abuse legal […]
5 Ways to Maintain Motivation for Sobriety
Maintaining the motivation for staying sober is one of the most difficult parts of recovery and something that never really goes away, though it will likely become easier with time. Cravings are a part of recovery, and any number of factors— stress, mental health, work, relationships— can impact your ability to resist them. Some people […]
September is Suicide Prevention Awareness Month
Every year, over 41,000 people die from suicide, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In 2016 alone, nearly 45,000 lives were lost to suicide, and since 1999, suicide rates have gone up over 30 percent in half the states in America (CDC). September is National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, […]
Connecting Intention & Action in Addiction Recovery
One of the most difficult parts of addiction recovery is handling the disconnect between intentions and actions. You may have no intention whatsoever of using or drinking because you know the consequences, but you find yourself spending your paycheck on drugs or alcohol and relapsing. How did you get here when you so much did […]
International Overdose Awareness Day
Today, August 31, is International Overdose Awareness Day (IOAD). IOAD is dedicated to raising awareness about overdose and fighting addiction stigmas, as well as remembering loved ones who have passed away from overdose or suffered permanent injury. The event was initiated in 2001 and has been coordinated by the Penington Institute, a non-profit public health […]
Identifying Triggers to Prevent Relapse
Addiction is a chronic, relapsing brain disease, and relapse is a part of recovery. Accepting this reality can be difficult, but it’s important that those in recovery are able to see that relapse is a setback, not a failure, and does not mean that sobriety is not possible. Knowing your triggers and being able to […]
7 Things to Look for in a Sponsor
Recovery newcomers may not have heard the phrase “working the steps” or may not understand what exactly that means. In the addiction community, the “steps” referred to are the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous (Narcotics Anonymous uses the same 12 steps). Your sponsor helps to guide and support you through the steps, meant to provide […]
New Data Suggests Opioid Overdose May Be on the Decline
Preliminary estimates released this month from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggest that deaths from opioid overdose may be falling, despite a ten percent increase in overdose death rates in 2017. A record number of Americans died from opioid overdose last year, according to the CDC data, and the 72,000 deaths number […]
