Testing is complete!

We have now successfully worked with clients using the different formats we have available: by conference call; by internet audio/video using Doxy (better than Skype and HIPPA compliant); by office visits and by using mixtures. For example, this past week’s client came to the Calabasas office and we connected with Mary Ellen via Doxy for the Monday – Wednesday sessions then wrapped up the Thursday session vis conference call. A week’s rain inspired some of that innovation but all the possibilities are available to you too.

What does all of this mean for you?

  • First, you can access our highly successful services from anywhere;
  • Second, there is no need to use travel time or expense;
  • Third, the program can be a bit more condensed with no loss of substance or face time as many routine paperwork items can be completed outside of face time;
  • Fourth, the cost is reduced by at least 35% – 50% 0r more: No travel, hotels, rental cars or missed work and we have reduced our fees by 30% from $12,500 to $9,500.
  • Fifth, your confidentiality is even more assured!

We know this has been a tough year and with the rains and fires here and snow and ice across the Midwest and east it’s easy to just say forget about it. Maybe after the Super Bowl or Groundhog Day. Maybe, maybe, maybe…

And, of course, that’s what most of us do most of the time. Meanwhile, we are losing days out of our finite allotment and failing to get the most out of the days we are drinking away.

We always wonder why people hesitate to at least discover what life without the nagging guilt and wondering what life without a drinking focus might be like. Or the silly excuses people come up with why they can’t.

For an example: a woman called who was in some legal and marital trouble related to her drinking. “But,” she wailed, “I can’t imagine not being able to drink a toast at my daughter’s wedding reception!”

“How old is your daughter?” I said.

“5,” she said.

“Lady,” I said, “at the rate you are going you won’t be alive by the time she marries if she ever does, and even if you are you’re unlikely to be invited.”

Of course, given her irrational argument, she screamed that of course, I was a man so how could I possibly understand, and hung up.

But to one degree or another, usually not as extreme, we all have these excuses to put off the discomfort that attends any life-changing event. Even when we know we’re only deceiving ourselves, and not even doing that very well.

Most people who modify or end their drinking manage it with a bit of short term help which provides some clarity, prioritization, accountability, and some new coping skills. Throw in a little absolution, goodwill, good humor, and empathy, and you have all it takes to wade through a few weeks and/or a couple of months of the discomfort that attends any life change, and you have the recipe for a successful transition from where you are to where you’d like to be.

After all, if you don’t like life without a lot of self-medication, you can always go back – just like I could decide to return to cigarettes and Januarys with the temperature at -60 and 2 hours of daylight.

Alcohol is an excellent anti-anxiety drug.

The best ever found. And these are anxious time, politically, environmentally, and, when you’re drinking is a concern, personally. Combined it’s easy to see why anyone keeps on drinking.

But, as we frequently note, alcohol’s quick fix, is only that – a quick fix that leaves us more anxious and depressed than before we went for another evening’s chardonnay, vodka, scotch or whatever.

The not-quite-so-quick-fix for anxiety is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) which is less something you do with a therapist and more a skill you learn and internalize. In this regard it’s more like the processes you learn from a gym trainer or physical therapist and, soon, you don’t need them anymore because you have mastered the mental techniques.

This is also how you learn to manage boredom, loneliness, lack of motivation, dysthymia, and other conditions which need addressed, not medicated.

These, and numerous other conditions unique to you is what we address with you. Our role is to assist you in developing skills, activities, routines, and habits which make both self-medication and us unnecessary.

Or would you prefer a lifetime of powerless inducing and depressing meeting which, like alcohol, are simply a way of avoiding life? If that’s the case an AA meeting in your neighborhood will welcome you with open arms and closed options.