All Things Substance

Triggers and cravings are a huge key to what helps addiction develop. It's not just the reward pathways that drive addiction progression. Today we'll talk about how triggers and cravings impact this process.

Adding substance use to your scope of practice  means that you will want to have a source for good information. How do you know who to trust? Why am I the right person for you to talk with and listen to?  Today I'll share what the last 20 years of my career has taught me.   

The 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous have brought many into recovery and saved lives all over the world. Most people know that there are 12 Steps, but they don't know what the Steps are and most haven't heard of the 12 Traditions. Today we'll be covering exactly what these pillars of recovery are and how they work together to create a plan of recovery. 

Recovery meetings can be a giant help to people as they move through recovery from all kinds of things. Today we'll talk about the benefits of recovery meetings, the spiritual aspect to meetings and what clients can expect when they attend a meeting.

Brian was 18 when he first suspected that he had a problem with gambling. Surely 18 years old was too young to have an addiction right? He spent the next several years trying to win his way out of the hole of debt he was in. He found out that it's true what they say, the house always wins. Today we'll hear Brian's story of recovery from gambling addiction.   

To quote George Michael: "Sex is natural, sex is good…" Sex is a vital part of who we are as humans and how we interact with each other. Part of recovery is building a healthy life in all areas, including building a healthy sex life. In today's episode, we'll talk about things to consider when working with people in recovery.

Addiction and love? I got a chance to sit down with Andrea Owen, fellow podcaster and woman in recovery. We talk a bit about addiction from the perspective of brain science, why people do what they do when they are addicted and the concept of love "addiction."I wanted to share this interview with you during Valentines Week.

She was looking for love to mend the broken heart she had. For a long while alcohol and drugs were covering that pain until the "cure" became worse than the original pain. Hear her story of overcoming addiction and learning to show up for herself in all ways. 

Vicarious trauma is inevitable for therapists. We have signed up to hear hard things and to help hold those traumatic experiences. So how do we truly take care of ourselves? How do we avoid burnout? Self-care alone doesn't always work. Check out the upcoming workshop to help support you as you do this work. 

Addiction Myth: People have to hit rock bottom before they can get sober. It's a really good thing that this isn't true. If people had to find the very bottom before they could get clean, there would be so much more misery. Today we'll talk about why it matters that we debunk this myth.

I  created a quick reference guide to help you determine if someone's substance use is appropriate for you to work with or if they need a specialist. Today I'll walk through it and explain how it works.

People often hide things they aren't ready to talk about and that can make it really hard to find out organically if someone is overusing substances. In today's episode we'll hear about five real people who had issues with alcohol, but wouldn't have presented for alcohol treatment alone. 

Going into private practice is a big deal with  a lot of things to consider. One of the biggest decisions that has to be made is if a therapist will take insurance or not. This can be a controversial topic and I wanted to help shed some light on why some therapists choose to stay away from insurance panels.

Andrea Owen is an author, global keynote speaker, and professional certified life coach who helps high-achieving women maximize unshakeable confidence, and master resilience. She has taught hundreds of thousands of women tools and strategies to be able to empower themselves to live their most kick-ass life through keynote speaking, her books, coaching, and her wildly popular podcast with over 4 mi...

We're therapists, not business people. But the field is changing. Agency work is one choice a therapist can make, but increasingly people are looking to go out on their own. Today we'll talk about the reality of the nonprofit world and the shift into for-profit business.   

Dr. Amber Lyda has been on a journey to create a life of freedom, flexibility, and flow for herself and therapists just like us. I'm so thrilled to have had the chance to talk with Amber about the future of therapy and the role that private practice could play in the treatment of substance use. 

The future of mental health may not be with large agencies or community mental health. More and more therapists are leaving agencies to go out on their own. There are a lot of reasons for this and we are taking a side step for a few weeks to talk about this impact on our field.   

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. 

What type of substance use is ok for outpatient therapy? What if it's too much for once-a-week therapy? Good news! There is an excellent tool to help us determine what fits into outpatient therapy. Today, we'll talk about the criteria set by the American Society of Addiction Medicine. 

This is a special resource episode for moms during the holidays. My good friend and colleague is hosting a free event that I wanted to share with the All Things Substance listeners.  Sarah is teaching moms how to avoid losing it (and themselves) when they're  at their  family holiday events. Learn how to create & protect your inner peace without losing your sanity!

Amy grew up with the ups and downs of living with someone who struggles with alcoholism. There are very good times and bad times. She began struggling with her own relationship with alcohol in high school. Over 15 years the struggle would continue until she hit a point that she knew she needed to change something about how she related to alcohol.

We all want to have a good holiday season. A time filled with happiness and peace with our loved ones (friends and family alike). As therapists we know that not everyone has a happy holiday. Today we'll talk about the stresses that pop up during the holidays and how we can help our clients navigate through them to have the best outcomes they can. 

Charting the Course is the program you need in order to feel competent and confident in addressing  your clients' use of alcohol and drugs. You don't need to go back to school or refer out. Come join the fall cohort of Charting the Course. Listen to this episode to hear more about it!

A short message today about the free webinar tomorrow! We will be talking about the 5 Steps to confidently ask about your client's use of drugs or alcohol. You can register at betsybyler.com/steps

You don't need to be in recovery to do substance use work.  The truth is that you are enough, as you are. You do not need to have the exact personal experiences as your clients to do good work and this includes substance use.