14 years ago, I didn’t think that I had a problem. It was my loved ones who needed help. Not me. Boy was I wrong. If you are new to recovery, this may come as a shock, but we all need recovery. But, what exactly does that look like? Let me share some thoughts, but […]
I am a decent cook. I used to be a good cook. Cooking has taught me many things. Growing up in the 70’s & 80’s, I ate my fair share of casseroles. Back then, I was not a fan. There were too many things mixed together. I wanted food that I could identify. My mother […]
I got a call from someone lost. I will call the person, Joe. Joe was at his bottom. He’d run out of ideas. He’d tried everything he could to help his loved one deal with their addiction. He’d exhausted every idea within HIS power and he came up short. So he reached out for help. […]
I talked about sober January last post to give you an overview. Now, let’s get into the nuts and bolts of what that looks like for us. What we need to find sobriety from is our emotions or feelings. If you want to ‘try on sobriety’ for the month of January to see if it […]
Chipping away at the stigma of addiction is near and dear to my heart but it wasn’t until I was asked to speak on the topic of engaging families and parishes into recovery where I gave any thought as to how or where to start dealing with such a big job. The stigma surrounding addiction, […]
Christmas is a loaded time of year. There are so many expectations attached to this holiday that even in the best of circumstances, it can be hard to make it through the season without a few disappointments. When our families have been affected by addiction or even when our families don’t do their individual work […]
The last two weeks, I’ve been building up to a talk that I initially gave to an audience at Guest House at their annual dinner that highlights the important work that they do with Roman Catholic priests and religious in recovery from drugs, alcohol or mental health issues. Then this week, I gave the same […]
When I learned that my family members suffered from an addiction to drugs and alcohol, I knew 2 things for sure: I knew that their addiction was a spiritual problem and I knew that I could not take this problem to my parish for support. This knowledge left me baffled about what to do next. […]
It’s been a very busy season. In October I was offered a unique opportunity. I was asked to be the keynote speaker for the Bishop’s Dinner honoring Guest House, a treatment center for Roman Catholic priest and religious. This year’s theme was, “Recovery as a Bridge: Engaging Families and Parishes into Recovery.” The morning of […]
A few years ago, I became aware of a parish who’d lost a high school student to overdose. While talking to parents in the area, I learned that this was the third death in a six-month period of time in their Catholic high school due to the effects of drugs and alcohol. I decided to […]