All Things Substance

Trauma and substance use have a bidirectional relationship. According to my guest, Eric Sullivan, growing up gay is a form of complex trauma. The LGBTQ+ community faces a lot of factors that put them at risk for higher rates of problematic substance use. Today I'll talk with Eric, a therapist and member of the LGBTQ+ community about what contributes to this risk, his professional and personal expe...

How do we not just survive, but thrive in our work? How do we get to keep being our badass therapist selves and still enjoy what we do? There really are things we can do to help ourselves.  Our workplaces, agencies or bosses aren't going to take care of us the way we need. Today, I continue my conversation about how we can help protect ourselves and even walk-back from burnout. I'm joined by two f...

Being a therapist is badass. We are depicted as cardigan-wearing, somewhat nerdy, mild-mannered intellectuals or touchy-feely, overly sensitive, preschool teacher-esque guides for people. The reality of our jobs is far grittier and messier than people expect. We choose to go into the storms with people. We have to stay grounded and help them find the way out. We not only do it everyday, we do it f...

Many therapists shy away from asking about substance use.  There are some very common and very valid reasons for this. Today, I want to share the top 5 most common reasons I've heard for avoiding talking about substance use. Then I want to share my top 5 reasons why I really believe we all should be assessing for substance use. If you resonate with any of the reasons why folks don't assess, you ar...

Bidirectional means "moving or taking place in two usually opposite directions." This concept is super important to understanding how trauma and substance use connect. They don't just intersect, they interact and drive the other. Let's talk about the research that is out there about this connection.

It's not easy to hear the stories of pain and suffering day in and day out. We chose this path because we have a passion for helping others, but that doesn't mean it's always smooth sailing. In fact, the longer we do this work, the harder it can become. That's why we're here to talk about how we can avoid burnout, find joy in our work, and build resilience as therapists.  

Screening for substance use allows you to provide comprehensive care to your clients. By assessing their substance use patterns, you gain valuable insights into how their substance use may be contributing to their mental health challenges. This holistic approach enables you to tailor treatment plans to account for how they are using substances in their lives. But how do we start? Today we'll talk...

As we continue talking about the intersection of trauma and substance use work, in today's episode  Jenny is going to be sharing an important skill with us that is designed to help us not just survive the work we do. It's built to help us be resilient and to be able to do what we love without burning out.   

Want to treat trauma and substance use with confidence? We've got you covered!  Today we're joining together in this episode to talk about the intersection between substance use and trauma. We are so excited to bring our live event Braving the Course to you this August. This is part 1 of 4 podcast episodes to get us ready for Braving the Course,  which will give you the tangible skills to thrive w...

Gambling addiction brings to mind a certain image for many of us. There are so many ways gambling exists and scams people out of their money. I wanted to find out about gambling assessment and treatment. So I had the chance to interview a fellow therapist who happens to specialize in gambling addiction and I want to share it with you. 

If you google "substance use CEU", there are a ton of results. How do you even know where to start and what to pick? I'm about to make a bold statement, I know what you need to know to work with substance use and I can teach it to you in 6 weeks. I'm so excited to announce Charting the Course, my 6 week live taught course to give you what you need to feel confident and competent in addressing clie...

Secondary gain is a powerful thing. It impacts behavior in ways that we wouldn't think of, but when it comes to substance use it's an important factor in making long lasting change. Today, we'll talk about the concept of secondary gain.

People change because they want to or because they have to. When neither of those things are true, change isn't going to happen. For substance use, the "readiness to change" may be the single biggest factor in someone making long-lasting change in their relationship with their substance of choice. 

Just say no. You should just quit. So and so just stopped doing it, so can you. Some people believe that willpower should be all someone needs to overcome addiction. Willpower is a part of how people make change and make new habits. But willpower isn't enough to overcome addiction.   

In the addiction treatment world, abstinence and harm reduction can often be seen as contrary to each other. We need both models available in order to truly help clients. Our goal is to meet clients where they are and help walk with them to building a life worth living sober. 

Why should mental health therapists assess substance use? Is that really in our scope? My answer is a resounding, Yes. In this episode I go through ten reasons why assessing for substance use is vital to our work and to our client's well-being. 

Therapists and psychiatrists want the same thing: for our clients to be well. We don't always get the chance to work together. I wanted to see what we could do to bridge the gap between us. I interviewed  a psychiatrist friend of mine, Dr. Jess Beachkofsky, about what it's like to be a psychiatrist, what she's focusing on during her appointments and how we can help.

Why should mental health therapists assess substance use? Is that really in our scope? My answer is a resounding, Yes. In this episode I go through ten reasons why assessing for substance use is vital to our work and to our client's well-being. 

If you google "substance use CEU", there are a ton of results. How do you even know where to start and what to pick? I'm about to make a bold statement, I know what you need to know to work with substance use and I can teach it to you in 6 weeks. I'm so excited to announce Charting the Course, my 6 week live taught course to give you what you need to feel confident and competent in addressing clie...

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. 

Do you feel equipped to work with substance use?  I'm curious about this because many therapists don't feel skilled enough. It makes me wonder what skills therapists think they need to be "ready" to do it. You likely have all the skills you need. Check out this episode on what skills you need to work with substance use. 

I've been suggesting that regular mental health therapists can work with substance use. But what does that mean? Doesn't treatment have to be some specific techniques, length of  time and process?  What is treatment really like? Let's take a closer look.

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.

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.

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.