women's addiction treatment

Women’s Addiction Treatment – Take the Tour

  Sanford House at Cherry Street for Women is a residential treatment facility in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Founders, David and Rae Green, recognized the need for gender specific addiction treatment in 2014. To this end, they restored a historic home in Heritage Hill to serve as their base. And since that time, Sanford House at […]

Drink Like a Man – The Science of Women and Alcohol

Women and Alcohol I spent a lot of time in The Bahamas, on a small island called Staniel Cay. I will admit I was not a saint while living there. The collective, benign tolerance to extreme drinking was certainly a factor in my misuse of alcohol. But I was often shocked by the drunken antics […]

Women and Alcohol

Girl Restarted – What It’s Like to be Out of Rehab and Back to College

  Apartness is such a common thread in the stories of alcoholics and addicts. It seems to plague us; the feeling of being an utter misfit, of not belonging and having to pump ourselves full of booze just to feel a part of things. I don’t ever remember feeling comfortable anywhere. I was squirmy and […]

alone bench

Hangovers, Sober Mum and Cupcakes – the Best of the Sanford Blog…

In case you didn’t see them, these are the three most popular articles we have posted on the Sanford House Blog in the past three months:         Hangovers: Why Doesn’t the Morning After Deter the Night Before? May 3, 2016 by Marilyn Spiller My favorite part about being sober is the morning. Especially […]

house

What is Recovery? We Asked the Experts – Women in Rehab.

  There is no “correct” answer to the question, “What is recovery?”. In fact, the definition of addiction recovery is so subjective, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) uses 10 Guiding Principles of Recovery  and a “working definition”. It reminds me of the pirate Barbossa, in The Pirates of the Caribbean. When […]

we can do it women

Mummies’ Night Out – Booze Soaked World

  I went out with a bunch of girlfriends last night. A big group of us mummies hitting the town for dinner and a comedy show. Pretty unusual for me to be out and about in town – let alone on a Wednesday night! – but yes it definitely happened.   Walking through town I […]

New Zealand

Crying in Rehab – The Emotional Thaw

It’s springtime in Michigan. Early yet – the trees are budding, but there is still snow on the ground in places where the sun doesn’t reach. We all tiptoe around, hoping it isn’t a false spring, but knowing there will probably be at least one more “surprise” snow storm between the Ides of March and […]

crocus yellow