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Trust: The Key Element in Supervision
If you were to think about positive qualities of clinical supervisors you’ve had, high on the list of strengths likely would be their trustworthiness. Mahatma Gandhi said, “The moment there is suspicion about a person’s motives, everything he does becomes tainted.” T ...
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Embracing the Joy of Recovery
As we approach the joyous holiday season, it seems appropriate to focus this column on experiencing the joy of recovery. As always, please feel free to share this with your clients or anyone else who may benefit from the message. In his landmark book Passages Through Recovery, Terence Gorski ...
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The Mind-Body Connection
While yoga evolved many centuries ago in India as a spiritual practice, it is has gained popularity all over the world as a source of emotional and physical exercise. Words like harmony, balance and healing are often referred to in the practice of yoga, so it is easy to understand its broad appe ...
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More Research on Self-Help Groups
For what it’s worth, the days of saying we don’t have research on self-help groups is about gone. Folks who still spout that line have not kept up with the volumes of data coming out of that arena. In reality, researchers have gathered good information about how self-help group atten ...
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Transformational Leadership: Helping Solve The Leadership Puzzle
Recently, the History Channel aired a segment on its new show, Shockwave, about the Oceanos cruise ship capsizing at sea. The Captain and crew abandoned ship first, taking two lifeboats — one for them and one for their luggage. Afterward, the captain claimed he left the ship to coordinate ...
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Moving Toward the Light
I am currently collaborating with a friend to help him write an autobiographical piece. He has been blind since shortly after birth, is an extremely talented musician, and is one of the most sensitive and caring persons I have ever met. He bears the scars from an abusive childhood and has ...
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Paying It Forward ? Inspired by a Counselor
The first time I saw a counselor was 30 years ago, after the man I was living with ran away with the bookkeeper at his firm. I thought I’d never stop blubbering. It’s easy now for me to see how a lack of self-esteem made me think my life was over, and why I chose a distant and ...
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A Visit From Our Old Friend ? Denial
Tradition has held that denial is THE universal factor found in most, if not all, addiction clients. Yet, several years ago this column cited research indicating that denial was not the prevalent factor so often attributed to our clients. In recent years more data has emerged that again con ...
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A Day Without Pain
Millions suffer from it. The direct cost of it exceeds $130 billion. And it’s believed to be a common cause of suicide. “It” sounds like addiction, but these numbers actually pertain to chronic pain, the subject of a new release penned by Dr. Mel Pohl, with help from veteran jou ...
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Implementing a Clinical Supervision System
Over the past 32 years I have trained tens of thousands of clinical supervisors and wanta-be supervisors. As valuable as that training might be, the real test of whether an organization has a quality system for clinical supervision is not at the phase of training supervisors but at the implement ...
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NLP -- Reprogramming the Brain
Generally, at some point in the treatment of persons with addiction, there is usually some discussion focused on identifying and examining the root of the addictive disease, or what might have triggered its onset. For instance, counselors might be interested in whether the client has a fami ...
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Walking with the Great Spirit
To my way of thinking, one of the greatest gifts of recovery lies in the invitation to form a deep and abiding relationship with a higher power of our own choosing. As I have shared in previous columns, my own spiritual quest has entailed a blended path to spirituality, drawing upon teachin ...
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Implementing a Clinical Supervision System
Over the past 32 years I have trained tens of thousands of clinical supervisors and wanta-be supervisors. As valuable as that training might be, the real test of whether an organization has a quality system for clinical supervision is not at the phase of training supervisors but at the implement ...
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In Spite of What We Read in the Tabloids, Miracles Happen
I feel a bit frustrated when I hear yet another story of a debauched celebrity who, dodging the fallout of a well-publicized behavioral meltdown, runs to one of the boutique rehabs that dot the hills above Malibu, Calif., eager to repair a damaged and possibly career-threatening media image. Mea ...
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Prevention Strategies You Can Really Use, Part II
Researchers at the Treatment Research Institute in Philadelphia looked at 100 prevention programs and identified 10 key principles of what makes for an exemplary prevention program. The first five principles were covered in last month’s column. This column covers the remaining five princip ...
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What I?d Like to Know
We don’t have an abundance of empirical research on clinical supervision. Most of what is written, including my work, is anecdotal, based on excellent experience but lacking in solid data. There are two journals that publish research in supervision, the Clinical Supervisor, and Counselor E ...
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More on Bringing Lives into Balance
I am revisiting the subject of my previous column titled “Bringing Our Lives Into Balance” as I’m convinced that those of us working in the addictions field need all the help we can get in creating balance in our lives. A wholesome sense of balance is essential to maintaining s ...
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Prevention Strategies You Really Can Use, Part One
Until now this column has never reported research on drug and alcohol prevention. However, some recent research warrants notice. The research material reviewed is extensive enough that it requires two parts. Most importantly, it provides a list of 10 principles that, if followed, will help brin ...
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The Language of Addiction and Recovery
There is the The Language of Love (Smalley and Trent, Pocket Books, NY, NY, 1988), The Language of Letting Go, (Beattie, Hazelden Foundation, 1999) and, I propose, the “Language of Addiction and Recovery.” This is an important consideration, since we use words and concepts to discuss ...
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Relationships from Addiction to Authenticity
In their book, Relationships from Addiction to Authenticity, authors Claudine Pletcher and Sally Bartomeolli, PhD — both recovering co-sex addicts — bring readers inside the tumultuous cycle of co-sex addiction. First and foremost, this is a book for women who are co-sex add ...
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