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 […]
These 10 Excuses are the Enemy to Your Recovery. Do Any Apply to You?
It’s the holidays—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 “show me.” Of course, when asking someone to “show” something, they are asking them to show themselves. Sanford embraces creative expression as a viable and effective framework for treatment. Because […]
Dear Rae: No Alcohol for the Holidays? I’m Mad!
Dear Rae: I just got an email from my aunt saying our cousin (we’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 […]
ARFID – Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder
Avoidant restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) is avoidance of food/nutrition. Still, the avoidance is based on fear of choking or vomiting triggered by smells and textures, not anxiety about weight gain. It results in a loss of weight or a failure to gain weight at the rate expected along the developmental trajectory for a […]
Avoiding the Whack-a-Mole Eating Disorder Game
I’ve never liked the carnival game whack-a-mole. Bashing heads with a cartoon hammer while an endless succession of new rodents appears. It is too stressful and unpredictable. But I could relate when a friend in recovery said they thought eating disorders, popping up during addiction treatment, reminded them of playing whack-a-mole. Because just when […]
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 […]
Behavioral Health Professional’s Day – Free CEUs
Join us for a full day of presentations and networking at Sanford Behavioral Health’s Professional’s Day. Behavioral Health Professional’s Day is an in-person event in Midland, Michigan. Five experts will speak on topics such as the common characteristics central to eating and substance use disorders; suicide prevention; the PIES model; and recovery efforts at […]
