March 18, 2012 Newsletter

Assessing you…

Treatment facilities across the U.S. and Canada have only two assessments outcomes. You are, to them, an “alcoholic” who is either “in recovery” or “in denial”.

To them there is no such thing as someone who actually doesn’t have a problem; or who is abusing alcohol, not dependent; or someone who might be able to moderate; or someone who is medicating an actual medical condition that needs addressed.

Of course this also means that you need 30, 60, or — preferably — 90 days of useless treatment. Followed by the admonitions “don’t drink, go to AA,” a process which is more apt to increase your drinking than curb it.

The alternative, obviously, is to actually be assessed, a process that should evaluate you using real criteria like the DSM-IVR, but which also assesses your strengths, interests, circumstances, history, and preferred outcomes.

That’s what we do. All of it. We do the most comprehensive and individual assessments in the country. And we do it so you’ll recover – not be “in recovery” and back through the treatment mills’ revolving doors.

If you want a bit more information you can click on the link, or give us a call.

Alcohol Abuse, Alcoholism, and 12 Step Programs That Can’t Tell the Difference

Let’s Add “In Recovery” to the Treatment Vocabulary Scrap Heap!

What does “in recovery” mean? It can really be defined as “unwilling to give up alcohol as the defining focus of my life.”

More accurately, “unwilling to get a life;”

Or – “wanting to keep an excuse readily at hand for going back to drinking;”

Or “intent on avoiding intimacy;”

Or it’s a threat, as in “don’t be messing with my recovery!” which translates into “if you suggest I grow up it’ll be your fault when I go back to drinking!”

We’re pretty sure you get that picture.

And what does it means when treatment programs advertise that “100% of our staff is in recovery!”? It really means their staff isn’t going to help you leave alcohol abuse behind – just the opposite.

People who define themselves as “in recovery” aren’t ever going to recover. They’re still hiding from life with another form of alcohol focus, in-recovery-ism.

Bottom line? It’s just another excuse to drink; avoid; and refuse responsibility; and all of the opportunities that life offers.

But you are capable of freeing yourself from alcohol abuse and dependence while building, or enhancing, a real life.

Recovered – not recovering. Why choose less when you can have more?