The District of Columbia has a childhood trauma problem. As DC MAP (Mental Health Access in Pediatrics) reported in September, “nearly 23 percent of children aged 0-17 experience two or more adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) or traumas” in DC, which can have a lasting impact on their overall health outcomes and well-being. “ACEs can also […]
It’s a familiar picture these days: people are struggling to make appointments with primary care physicians and specialists, “with doctors saying demand is higher than ever at a time when an increasing number of providers are leaving the field.” The problem is “leaving patients sicker and in need of more intensive care down the road,” […]
“We alcoholics are men and women who have lost the ability to control our drinking,” we read in chapter three of Alcohol Anonymous’ Big Book. One such man is Joshua Cagney, the co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of New Paradigm Recovery. Traditional AA members will tell you that active addiction offers only three possible outcomes: […]
“Trauma is a pervasive fact of modern life,” Peter Levine wrote in his 1997 book Waking The Tiger: Healing Trauma. “Most of us have been traumatized, not just soldiers or victims of abuse or attack. Both the sources and consequences of trauma are wide-ranging and often hidden from our awareness.” For Levine, the key to […]
Every day, excessive alcohol use kills more than 380 people in America. New data published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in October show that alcohol misuse was responsible for more than 140,000 deaths in the United States each year during 2015–2019. By comparison, the annual number of drug overdose fatalities for those years […]
In his influential 2009 book In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction, Hungarian-Canadian physician and author Gabor Maté argued that most addictions are primarily driven by unprocessed trauma rather than stem from moral turpitude or lack of willpower. In his new book, The Myth of Normal, Maté widens the scope to a […]
Washington, DC and its surrounding metro areas are home to a diverse workforce of government and military contractors, government employees, private-sector executives, lawyers, and other professionals whose work lives can be exceptionally demanding. Whether self-driven to climb the organizational ladder or simply doing what it takes to maintain high-paying jobs that support the high cost […]
For individuals new in recovery, it’s not just the “bad times” that can be triggering. Positive activities can be equally hard to navigate while maintaining recovery from addiction and alcoholism. For individuals who are new in recovery, a summer vacation might be a relaxing time to get away from it all, but it can also […]
A recovery house is a residential housing facility for individuals in recovery from drug or alcohol addiction; it is a place for people in recovery to live in groups in a drug-free, supportive setting. While many residents of recovery houses may be attending outpatient rehabs during the day or may have recently graduated from an […]
In twelve step programs like Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous, experienced members often suggest that newcomers write a “gratitude list” daily to help with their recovery. Sponsors or others in mentorship roles might suggest writing a list of five to ten things for which you are grateful every night; other suggestions might be to come […]
