What Your Old Friends Won’t Tell You After Drug Rehab RecoveryBy Promises AustinFebruary 27, 2012Thinking about your fresh start in recovery may find you fondly reminiscing about the good old days, the times you caroused and partied with your “old friends” before getting serious and getting clean. But there’s an insidious danger in falling prey to these kinds of thoughts. And there’s definitely a big red stop sign that…
How Guilt and Shame Can Derail Your Recovery RecoveryBy Promises AustinFebruary 23, 2012Gut-wrenching guilt and shame over your past, if carried with you and allowed to remain, can seriously jeopardize your recovery prospects. When coupled with the recurring cravings and urges to use again, you’re liable to be hit with a double whammy. What can you do? Are you destined to lug around this useless baggage for…
Important Things to Leave Behind in Recovery RecoveryBy Promises AustinFebruary 18, 2012When you enter recovery, it should be a joyous time in your life. After all, you’ve come through drug or alcohol rehab more or less unscathed, at least from the standpoint that you’re now clean and sober and have some idea of the path you’ll be taking from here on out in recovery. The key…
Five Stages of Surrender Within the Twelve Steps Personal ResourcesBy Promises AustinFebruary 14, 2012“The Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous,” created by A.A. founders Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith, has had a major spiritual influence on the lives of millions of people. Everyone can use the concepts in these steps as guidelines to living their own lives. The references to alcohol and alcoholics in steps one and 12 can be substituted…
Do You Really Need a Sponsor in Recovery? RecoveryBy Promises AustinFebruary 14, 2012If you’ve successfully completed rehab and are now in recovery, the first thing you should do is congratulate yourself on a significant achievement. You are now clean and sober and that’s the key driver toward maintaining your sobriety going forward. But if you are like most newcomers to recovery, this is an entirely new lifestyle…
10 Signs that Your Loved One Needs Addiction Treatment Family ResourcesBy Promises AustinFebruary 7, 2012There are several different types of addictions, including drug addiction, alcoholism, and gambling addiction to name a few. Each type requires specialized addiction treatment in order to help addicts overcome their addictive behavior and lead a more constructive and enjoyable life. While the symptoms may vary to some degree from one individual to the next,…
5 Common Obstacles to Successful Alcohol Rehabilitation Alcohol AbuseBy Promises AustinFebruary 6, 2012Just ask anyone who’s gone through alcohol rehabilitation what is was like. You’ll be hard pressed to find anyone who will tell you that it was easy. Those who stick with it and stay sober will most likely tell you that going to rehab was one of the best decisions they ever made. Without treatment,…
An Interview with Betsy Spier, Executive Director at Promises West L.A. Staff StoriesBy Promises AustinFebruary 4, 2012Working at Promises is like “coming home” for Betsy Spier. She first stepped foot on Promises’ driveway in 1993 as a marriage and family therapy intern, where she met founder Richard Rogg and instantly had an “amazing feeling about the place.” In the past 20 years, she has worked in a variety of treatment settings,…
