A Toast to Brain Health – 10 Strategies to Embrace the Holiday Season

  If you or a loved one are experiencing your first sober holiday season, I’ll bet I can predict the questions you are noodling. I can also assure you (nine years after my first dry yuletide) that most of your concerns are unfounded. I quit drinking in July, so I had time to get used […]

What is the One Gift Your Family Will Not Return?

The Season of Hope and Family Recovery This is the season of hope, joy, and the giving of gifts to honor that hope and joy.ย  A season of this type applies to all people who practice traditions of their culture or faith. I am the Family Program for Addiction Treatment facilitator at Sanford Behavioral Health. […]

Introducing Michigan’s One-Stop Shop Behavioral Health Campus

  One-Stop Shop for Behavioral Health Scroll down to 2-minute video What does it mean when we say Sanford Behavioral Health is a one-stop shop? It means we treat the whole person. Our integrative programs treat addiction, eating disorders, and related mental health conditions at the same time. Sanford’s multi-disciplinary team of experts communicates minute […]

people in a therapy group one-stop-shop

Disney World Can Wait – All Inclusive Ticket to Family Wellness

  Book Now: All Inclusive Ticket to Family Education & Wellness! The Family Program at Sanford Behavioral Health has been seven years in the making. Programs designed for our clients’ loved ones were created (and improved year-by-year) to include loved ones during treatment and beyond. Family wellness and involvement are essential components of a healthy […]

Families Recovering Together Against Addiction

The family program at Sanford Behavioral Health was created to include our patients and their loved ones in the treatment process and beyond. At Sanford Behavioral Health, family involvement is crucial to a healthy, long-term recovery. And during this time, we are offering our family programs on virtual platforms. Our recovering together program is focused […]

a woman smiles while hugging a man and a young child hugs the woman hugging the man showing a family recovering together

These 10 Excuses are the Enemy to Your Recovery. Do Any Apply to You?

  It’s the holidaysโ€”the 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 […]

Art Therapy: It’s Not What You Think

Art therapy has always been a part of Sanford Behavioral Health’s programming. One of the tenets of art therapists is to ask a group to โ€œshow me.โ€ Of course, when asking someone to โ€œshowโ€ something, they are asking them to show themselves. Sanford embraces creative expression as a viable and effective framework for treatment.ย  Because […]

art therapy

Letting Go in Family Recovery (Happy Thanksgiving!)

  Once again, itโ€™s the holiday season with a tradition of gathering and gift-giving to folks you care about! And Thanksgiving is the time we count our blessings and express gratitude – all part of the recovery process! At Sanford Behavioral Health, we care about our clients andย  Excursions readers and have a little practical […]

10 Tips for a Sober Holiday

  My family has a legend we talk about from my non-sober holidays past. Itโ€™s about the time โ€œMom,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 […]

a woman hands a gift to her friend while spending the sober holidays with a group of her friends

Dear Rae: No Alcohol for the Holidays? Iโ€™m Mad!

Dear Rae: I just got an email from my aunt saying our cousin (weโ€™ll call him Bill) is in early recovery from addiction, and to support him, she is not allowing any alcohol in her house for the holidays. I have to admit it makes me mad! My aunt is always the center of our […]

no alcohol for the holidays