Professional Help for Long Term Recovery from Addictions through Therapy
Often people who are tortured with addiction, either their own addiction or the addiction of a loved one, feel there is nothing they can do about it or they may simply not know where to go for assistance.
There are usually underlying causes for addictive behaviour. Those causes have physical, psychological, and spiritual components.
Though addiction often starts as a way to self medicate or mask unpleasant feelings, it often results in excessive worry, anxiety, panic attacks, depression, a number of physical side effects, poor job performance, family problems and financial difficulties. Counselling can assist you in making the desired changes to live a happier life, good for you and good for others.
How Barbara Works in Therapy
Developing a trusting counselling relationship with mutual respect and rapport is fundamental to facilitating your desired changes. My role as a counsellor is to listen very carefully to what you have to say, assist you in identifying the changes you wish to make, and work with you to develop a plan to implement those changes. I provide a counselling environment that is confidential and comfortable. You will feel safe and well supported.
I believe that all behaviour is an attempt to get our needs met—even destructive addictive or co-dependent behaviours. The key is to find behaviours that have an increased likelihood of achieving what you want instead of what you don’t want as often happens with addictive behaviours.
You Can Change Your Life if You Choose To
Counselling has proven to be effective in helping individuals realize they can change their lives if they so choose. I use a therapy approach that combines current research, my counselling experience, advanced study of addictions and graduate study in the counselling field, and my life experience.
Each person I see in my counselling office is unique and my approach is tailored to fit your specific needs. My experience and research has proven that some therapy approaches are more effective than others in addressing addiction issues.
Counselling Tailored to Your Unique Needs
There are a number of therapy approaches, strategies and tools that can assist you to either stop or reduce the harm of your addiction and the struggles that go with it—or to help your addicted loved one without harming yourself. Counselling is tailored to your unique needs and desired changes.
Depending on what you hope to achieve, the following list explains some of the therapy approaches I use:
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT): This approach to counselling is effective in assisting you to understand how thinking is the basis of most addictive behaviour. We have direct control over our thinking and actions though many people do not exercise this control; rather they dwell in negative thoughts that can lead to addictive behaviour. CBT is a process of learning how to become the master of our own thoughts, replacing old habit patterns of thinking with ones that positively affect our feelings. We can become master of our own mind and indirectly, master of our feelings.
Solution Focused Therapy (SFT): As the name implies, this approach to therapy focuses on solutions rather than problems. In Solution Focused counselling orientation, excessive worry is replaced by concrete problem identification, creative problem solving and plans for change. Solution Focused Therapy is a great asset in assisting you to move to a success oriented pattern of thinking and action instead of the addiction cycle that is so debilitating. Solution focused therapy assists you to recognize what you actually do have power over, helps you create plans for effective change, gradually building upon successes.
Choice Theory/Reality Therapy: I often teach the principles of Choice Theory as a model for recognizing how behaviour and thinking patterns develop. All behaviour is a person’s best attempt to get his/her needs met. Through this approach to counselling, we examine your current behaviour patterns and determine if they are successful in satisfying your needs. If not, we can then proceed with plans for your desired behaviour change that has the potential to satisfy your needs.
Present-centered practice: Developing mastery over your thinking allows you to choose present centered thinking instead of habitually catastrophizing about the future or worrying about the past. Engaging in the meditative exercise of being in the moment can bring great relief to emotional pain that is often the underlying problem associated with negative addictive behaviour. In counselling, I will show you how to develop the ability to stay focused in the here and now so you don’t fret or worry about what has happened or what will happen.
Mindful Recovery is the process of using addictive behaviour change as a vehicle for enhancing self awareness and insight resulting in greater spiritual growth. Instead of constantly reacting to what is going on in the outside world you become more empowered to choose your response thus gaining control of your own internal experience. Connecting your thinking to resultant bodily sensations, including the sensation of craving, brings awareness to the power of your choices moment by moment. This includes the choice of moving from addictive behaviour to behaviour that is more likely to get your needs met.
Harm Reduction: This approach is based on the premise that in some cases, reducing the amount you engage in addictive behaviour may be a more effective strategy than the promotion of complete abstinence. This is a progressive alternative with the goal of reducing the harm from addictions to yourself and others.
Abstinence: This approach to changing addictive behaviour is the practice of refraining from indulging a desire or appetite. Abstinence is a voluntary restraint from reacting to craving. The goal is total withdrawal from addictive substances and behaviours. The 12-step programs such as Alcohol Anonymous (AA), Narcotics Anonymous (NA), and Cocaine Anonymous (CA) to name a few, are based on the abstinence model for recovery from addiction.
My philosophy is that all persons have the capacity to change if they so choose. It is a matter of developing heightened self awareness, new brain circuitry, mastery over your own thinking, and strong determination to make the changes that you feel are right for you. Counselling provides an environment to assist you in determining your goals and then planning to help you to achieve your goals for positive change where you are free from being a slave to addiction.