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  • N.H. Ranks High In Prescriptions For Addictive Painkillers

    New Hampshire doctors are among the nation’s most prolific prescribers of Oxycontin and other opioids, according to a government report released Tuesday that analyzed the state-by-state use of highly addictive painkillers.1pillst

    The study by the Centers for Disease Control ranked the Granite State third, behind Maine and Delaware, for per-capita prescriptions of Oxycontin, fentanyl and other long-acting opioids in 2012, even as the state ranked relatively low – 39th – for overall opioid prescribing. Read more HERE

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  • Coloring Page Bedlington Terrier

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  • believe in ourselves

    “We do not believe in ourselves until someone reveals that deep inside us something is valuable, worth listening to, worthy of our trust, sacred to our touch. Once we believe in ourselves we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight or any experience that reveals the human spirit.” E.E. Cummings

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  • Music Therapy

    Most everyone enjoys listening to music. Some of us play music as well. Music has a therapeutic effect and can be used to enhance or even change how we feel. According to the American Music Therapy Association: Music Therapy is an established health profession in which music is used within a therapeutic relationship to address physical, emotional, cognitive, and social needs of individuals. After assessing the strengths and needs of each client, the qualified music therapist provides the indicated treatment including creating, music_notessinging, moving to, and/or listening to music. Through musical involvement in the therapeutic context, clients’ abilities are strengthened and transferred to other areas of their lives. Music therapy also provides avenues for communication that can be helpful to those who find it difficult to express themselves in words. Research in music therapy supports its effectiveness in many areas such as: overall physical rehabilitation and facilitating movement, increasing people’s motivation to become engaged in their treatment, providing emotional support for clients and their families, and providing an outlet for expression of feelings.

    As a Creative Arts Therapist I use music to support individuals and groups when they are engaged in a therapeutic process. Whether it’s movement, art or guided meditation the music enhances focus for the participants. I often hear people report that the music helped them to get in touch with feelings and/or explore them on a deeper level.

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  • Rough Road/Path photos

    I have been involved in facilitating groups for decades. One of the tools I use for groups of adults, teens, or children are photos. I use photos as a way for folks to become familiar and used to talking and sharing in a group. As a way to indirectly share something of themselves by talking about an image/photo. As a way to begin a conversation about larger issues or deeper issues.
    One set of photos I use are Rough Road/Path photos with alcohol addicts and heroin addicts in the beginning of recovery. I spread the photos out on a table and ask the group (usually 10 to 15 men) to pick out one photo that represents their journey in the week or weeks before they came into rehab. Once everyone has chosen a photo I ask them to (one at a time) hold up the photo, describe the photo and why they chose it. The descriptions and stories they tell come from them, their experiences and begin the process of revealing a bit about their lives.

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  • Coloring Page Balinese Cat

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  • authentic

    The most authentic thing about us is our capacity to create, to overcome, to endure, to transform, to love and to be greater than our suffering.  Ben Okri

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  • Vincent Walsh – Neuroscience and Creativity

     

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  • First Step handout

    A worksheet that I have used with folks.

     

    First Step Worksheet: Acceptance

    “We admitted we are powerless over our addiction, that our lives had become unmanageable.”

    The first thing is to admit powerlessness, or, in other words, to say “I can’t control my use of drugs/alcohol, or the consequences of my use of drugs/ alcohol.”

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    • How have drugs placed your life, or the lives of others, in jeopardy?

    What family/personal problems have you had? What legal problems have you had? What work problems have you had?

    • How have you lost self-respect due to your drug use?

    • How have you tried to control your use of drugs?

    • What types of physical abuse have happened to you, or others, as a result of your drug use?

    • Are you happy with yourself about your alcohol/drug use?

    It is important to honestly look at how the consequences of our drug use have affected us.  This is “connecting the dots”.  When I use, this is what happens.  Looking back over your using history:

    • What health problems have you had?

    • What sexual problems have you had?

    • What financial problems have you had?

    Remember that “loss of control” (powerlessness) and problems (un-manageability) are symptoms of the disease of drug/alcohol dependence.  In order to recover, people have admitted their limitations and accepted that the solution is to be open to support from others (NA/AA) and to stay away from the first use, one day at a time!

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  • Coloring Page Mandala

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