Eating Disorders and the Holiday Feast
Expert Guidance on Navigating the Holidays: Forget About the โClean Plate Clubโ Thanks to The Lakeshore West Michiganย for their informed interview with Sanford Comprehensive Treatment for Eating Disorder’s Gail Hall, LMSW, DCSW, CEDS-S. During the holidays, those recovering from an eating disorder may find family meals stressfulโlikewise, the holiday traditions around food. Gail Hall […]
These 10 Excuses are the Enemy to Your Recovery. Do Any Apply to You?
It’s the holidaysโthe time for pageants at church and school, office parties, and family responsibilities. As a person in recovery, I can remember this time of year while in active addiction. On top of the crushing TO DO list of everyday holiday tasks, there was the exhausting schedule of drinking, planning to drink, and […]
10 Tips for a Sober Holiday
My family has a legend we talk about from my non-sober holidays past. Itโs about the time โMom,โ with a bottle of chardonnay coursing through her system, put hot stuffing into a Pyrex bowl. And while the rest of the Thanksgiving meal was sliced, mashed, and dolloped into serving dishes, I attempted to keep […]
Living Sober for My Kids
I had one of those classic โcouldnโt do this if I was still boozingโ parenting moments the other day. Our nine-year-old had a friend over for a sleepover late in the evening. At around 9:30 p.m., we were interrupted in the living room by a little boy in tears saying, โI want to go home!โ […]
The Effects of Alcohol on the Whole Body
Whenever I think of the ill effects of alcohol and drugs on the body, I think of the 1980s Partnership for a Drug-Free America campaign with the egg. This is your brain (hold up a pristine egg). This is drugs (grease bubbling in a frying pan). And this is your brain on drugs (crack […]
Clinical Therapist Advice – Work With a Team Before Going Solo
I started my career as a therapist in the Intern Program at Sanford Behavioral Health in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It was called “Sanford House” in early 2018, and we were managing outpatient addiction treatment in the carriage house at Sanford House at Cherry Street for Women. I was fortunate enough to shadow an amazing […]
Michigan Autumn is Good for Your Mental Health
I was speaking to a colleague of mine yesterday. She asked if I had any ideas for inspirational thoughts on the monitors at Sanford West Behavioral Health Campus. As the Sanford Marketing Director, my answer to questions of this sort is always, “Yes.” I had been thinking about the mental health benefits of a […]
Hiking and Addiction Recovery – Nature’s Dynamic Duo
September boasts both Michigan Trails Week and National Recovery Month. I could not let the month end without comment, because the combination of hiking and addiction recovery is brimming with mental health benefits! More than that, Michigan outdoors has been a lifesaver in my own recovery story. My glowing accounts of dune scaling and […]
What is Recovery Awareness?
September is Recovery Awareness Month, and at Sanford Behavioral Health, recoveryย is a word we hear all the time. One of the tenets of our mission is to support and educate those who are in recovery, their families and communities, but what does recovery awareness mean? The dictionary defines recovery as a return to a […]
Avoiding Clinician Burnout With Self-Care
When I was a newly graduated counselor, over thirty years ago, I took my first job in an outpatient alcohol and drug treatment center. I didn’t know about clinician burnout, but I remember my feelings of anxiety upon seeing my first clients. At the time, I wondered, โWhat treatment modality should I apply?โ I […]
