Directive!

That’s the one word that is most commonly used to describe how we work with you and it’s pretty accurate. It’s also used appreciatively, not as a criticism.

Yes, when you’re unable to figure out how to correct your alcohol abuse on your own, you come to us for help in getting from where you are now to where you want to be. You want answers, not lengthy probing excursions that can take months or years to nudge you into “discovering” the answers on your own.

Historically that’s what I did 30 years ago – spent a couple of years teasing out my own solution in what would have taken 5 days had the kind of help we offer been available. That’s also why I began to research the type of program we’ve created together – so you don’t have to waste the amount of time and effort I did.

Consequently, we operate on a different model, one that is more commonly associated with consultants, life coaches, and gym trainers rather than most psychologists and therapists.

We start with were you are – we won’t waste valuable and limited time mucking around in the past – and we’ll help you design a multi-faceted program that is specifically built around your strengths, interests, abilities and considerations.

Medical issues? Marital strife? In a professional quandary? Depressed? Frustrated? Unhappy, unhappy, unhappy?

Don’t have a clue where to begin?

Together we’ll spend five days defining, sorting, prioritizing, and developing a personalized “road map” to get you from where you are to where you want to be.

We’ll equip you with the right tools whether it’s CBT, motivational enhancement, assertiveness training, exercise routines, dietary considerations, and/or medical supports like Naltrexone.

Then we’ll spend months supporting you as you make the changes in your day-to-day life that will put an end to alcohol problems and the real underlying problems you have been medicating instead of addressing and correcting.

All of this with mutual good will, good humor, respect, and experience. All done personally, quietly, effectively, and efficiently without shame, stigma, labels, losers, cults, or the other demeaning and dehumanizing trapping of “rehab.”

Here’s our better offer: 5 days to get a grip, 3 more months to get a life. 

Toxic Families?

We’re always looking for underlying factors that the majority of our clients’ share. After all, if we can look at these from a variety of perspectives, then we can learn from you how to provide ever more options to future clients.

What are the conditions many of you have in common:

  • Passivity in personal relationships;
  • Precocious maturity;
  • Assuming responsibilities beyond your carrying capacity;
  • Toxic families!

Over the years we’ve pretty well covered the first three topics but we’ve been a little remiss in addressing the fourth. It’s probably time to stop dancing around another “frequent flyer issue.”

So, many of us come from extremely dysfunctional families. No, not necessarily alcohol abusing families – more commonly ones that were, and are, emotionally and psychologically assaultive.

As children, many of us counted up the day until our 18th birthdays and escape.

Most of us learned passivity as the best defense against attracting the attention of dangerous parents, siblings, and assorted relatives. We kept our heads down to prevent losing them.

Then we escaped – or so we thought.

But neither time nor distance erased the habits – especially passivity – which protected us as children, but which doomed us in our adult personal relationships.

Most of us also achieved professional success which drew the envy and ire of siblings and others who elected to denigrate and/or exploit us. We also tended to find (or be found by) spouses who assumed the abusive roles we thought we’d left behind.

The reach of our original families is long indeed and learning to assertively resist the multiple assaults is where our focus on assertiveness training comes in. You learned to manage yourself professionally, let us help you transfer these same skills to your personal life.

Toxic family? Let’s not just escape physically, but emotionally and psychologically as well!