Avoiding topics of conversation is super normal for people. We work hard to help our clients talk about the hard things and to face the things that need to come to light. There’s an area that we might not be asking about that could make a huge difference in our work.

Are you avoiding talking about substance use?

What is recovery? Recovery really is, at its core, the process of change. It is a living and active process through which people make long lasting changes in their lives. There isn’t an end date or a destination. There are stages to it though and everyone goes through it differently from another person. In today’s episode, we’ll talk about all of this and more.

What Real Recovery is Like

Stages of addiction can help us understand how severe someone’s use is and if you need to refer out. What’s the difference between dependence and addiction? When does normal use move to risky use? On today’s episode we’ll talk about the 6 stages of addiction.

Stages of Addiction-Where are you clients in these stages?

Triggers and cravings are a huge key to what helps addiction develop. It’s not just the reward pathways that drive addiction progression. Today we’ll talk about how triggers and cravings impact this process.

Managing Triggers is a Vital Recovery Skill

Some therapists worry that adding substance use to their scope of practice will expose them to more risk and liability.  Our licenses are super important to us and we want to protect ourselves. Today we are going to be talking about what risk there is, if any, when we take on substance use clients. 

Liability and Risk When Treating Substance Use

The 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous have brought many into recovery and saved lives all over the world. Most people know that there are 12 Steps, but they don’t know what the Steps are and most haven’t heard of the 12 Traditions. Today we’ll be covering exactly what these pillars of recovery are and how they work together to create a plan of recovery. 

A Snapshot of the 12 Steps of AA

Recovery meetings can be a giant help to people as they move through recovery from all kinds of things. Today we’ll talk about the benefits of recovery meetings, the spiritual aspect to meetings and what clients can expect when they attend a meeting.

Recovery Meeting Basics-What, Why and Behind the Scenes

Sex is a vital part of who we are as humans. When people are using substances, sex becomes entwined with their use. So what happens when a person has to navigate sexual experiences without the use of substances? It can be tricky to navigate and today we’ll talk about the things that should be addressed and considered. 

Sex and Recovery

Addiction and love? I got a chance to sit down with Andrea Owen (our January recovery story) on her podcast Make Some Noise. During that conversation she talks a bit about her own recovery journey and the concept of love addiction. We talked about addiction from the perspective of brain science and what love addiction means. 

Addiction and love-Andrea Owen interviews Betsy

It was all about love. That’s what Dufflyn was looking for from the time she was a small girl all the way into her 40’s. She consistently was seeking to fill a need and find a place to belong. For a long while alcohol and drugs were the answer. Recovery was a process and today we’ll hear her story of finding peace and freedom.

Looking for love in all the wrong places: A Recovery Story

Welcome to the All Things Substance podcast, the place for therapists to hear about substance use from a mental health perspective. I’m your host, Betsy Byler, and I’m a licensed therapist, clinical supervisor, and a substance abuse counselor. It is my mission to help my fellow therapists gain the skills and confidence needed to add substance use to their scope of practice. So join me each week as we talk about All Things Substance. You can visit me at https://www.betsybyler.com