Coming Up for Air — A Toolkit to Help with Your Loved One's Recovery from Addiction & Mental Illness

(45:56)  In this episode Cheryl Juaire joins Laurie to share her personal journey through heartache and grief after losing her son to SUD. She details the steps in her grief and how community helped her get a new perspective on life with grief. Inspired by her participation in a group for mothers who've lost children to SUD, she created a sharing platform called TEAM SHARING . Through social...

(1 hour 1 min) Kayla Solomon joins Laurie MacDougall to address the question, “How do Alanon / Naranon differ from CRAFT?”  The two most common approaches for family members dealing with SUD are broken down and compared. Listen to this in-depth discussion on the differences, and a few similarities, between CRAFT and Alanon/Naranon. Which approach discourages continued interaction with yo...

In this episode, Tommy Joyce, Director of Recovery Support Services at the East Bay Recovery Center, comes on the show to share his recovery journey and how he came to be an ally to people with SUD. He responds to the question: “What are Recovery Communities and Certified Peer Recovery Specialists?”  We also get insight into his work, and his perspective on the current drug-use crisis. Join o...

In today's episode of Coming Up for Air , Annie Highwater focuses on peer support. She interviews Brian Bailys, Thrive CEO and creator of Ascent . Ascent - Regain Control  is a patient support mobile app designed to help people in recovery walk the path to sobriety.   Ascent also is an in-person peer recovery coaching service and an emergency room peer...

In this new Coming Up for Air episode, Allies in Recovery guest blogger and creator of REST , Laurie MacDougall, interviews Dr. John Fitzgerald. Dr. John Fitzgerald recently launched the 5-Actions Program with the support of the state of New Mexico. The 5-Actions Program is an educational online program to help people understand and overcome addiction. Check out this incredible resource at nm5acti...

Columbus, Ohio. Allies in Recovery contributor and acclaimed writer Annie Highwater meets with some of Heartland High's key staff members, making for an uplifting and heartfelt Coming Up for Air episode! In today's episode, School Director Dr. Paige Stewart and Student Engagement Coordinator Jennifer Belemu describe Heartland High's ground-breaking approach based on individualized learning, kindne...

In this episode of Coming Up for Air, Annie Highwater and Katie Donovan share thoughts about how their children's active addiction affected their whole family. Invested to help their kids overcome addiction, they both questionned their own behaviors, only to grow, heal and become stronger women, mothers, and individuals . amothersaddictionjourney.com anniehighwater.com Join our Member Site today t...

In today's episode of Coming Up for Air, Dominique Simon-Levine asks Laurie MacDougall to share with us what was going through her mind when she realized her son was struggling with an opiate disorder.  From being naive and thinking her family would never be affected by addiction, to finding help in peer support and relief in educating herself. From experiencing depression and PTSD, to gettin...

Annie continues the discussion with DBT specialist Lisa Bond. Where does DBT come from? They look into the story of Dr. Marsha Linehan, who struggled with mental health, suicidal feelings, etc. After her full recovery, Linehan created DBT for people who needed more than therapy or medical treatment. DBT is a powerful, encouraging, validating process that can transform just about any life in upheav...

In this episode (Part 1 of a 2-part series), Annie Highwater speaks with Lisa Bond, RB and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy Specialist about the DBT method of treatment. DBT is found to be efficient and highly effective for those experiencing emotional distress, conflict issues, borderline personality, suicidal ideation, C-PTSD, trauma and addiction. Listen to this conversation to learn how DBT can...

Being successful with the CRAFT method, which is at the core of the Allies in Recovery member site, requires building your awareness around your loved one's substance use. Laurie MacDougall runs family groups with our Learning Modules and brings up some of the common questions families have about Module 3. We look into the "ABC’s of your loved one’s use"(Antecedents, Behaviors, Consequences) and w...

This podcast addresses the reality that so many families are living with: living in fear that our addicted loved one will die. Dominique Simon-Levine and Laurie MacDougall look at the CRAFT perspective On this understandable but destructive state of being. We so badly want to chain them to their beds until it's all over. Listen in to this conversation and let us give you a new perspective. Join ou...

Sam Quiñones researched and wrote the book Dreamland: The True Tale of America's Opiate Epidemic. In this episode, Annie has the privilege of speaking with Sam, who shares his rich experiences writing the book - from researching Mexican cartel trafficking, to meeting dealers in prisons who were open and raw with their stories, to getting to know the family members impacted by a Loved One's addicti...

Have we not all heard the phrase "You just need to detach" when it comes to navigating life in the midst of active addiction?  But...how exactly is this done?  Is detaching even the appropriate way to go about the relationship? Listen to this week's episode with Annie and Allies in Recovery's Founder Dominique Simon-Levine as they discuss the meaning of detaching, and how to ATTACH in healthy ways...

In this episode of CUFA, Annie speaks with Dr. Dan Skinner, Assistant Professor of Health Policy at Ohio University’s Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine, Department of Social Medicine, on the Dublin, Ohio campus. Their conversation focuses on a topic that is daily making news in Ohio - Issue 1 - the Drug Amendment that has both sides divided. Listen in as Dr. Skinner gives us details on what...

Cathy Taughinbaugh is a parent coach using the CRAFT method. In this interview, Cathy talks about her own experience with addiction in her family, addresses "Tough Love" and Al-Anon, and speaks about her work. For unlimited access to Allies in Recovery's online learning platform featuring our 8 Video Modules, join today. Learn more here: https://alliesinrecovery.net/#benefits

In this episode of CUFA, Annie and Laurie explain CRAFT method, what is is, how it works and what you can do to guide your Son, Daughter, Spouse, or other Loved One willingly into treatment.  Could tweaking your wording lead someone to choose recovery? What are some things you might try to influence another's behavior toward treatment and healing? And what are the ten types of distorted thinking t...

When the first signs of addiction or substance abuse appear, our first reactions often revolve around denial, blame-shifting, shock. How do we as families, and a society, learn to see reality as it truly is? Why is it helpful to face the truth with clear eyes? How do we overcome or change these thoughts or beliefs on an individual, but also societal level? How can we be aware with out being parano...

Dominique Simon-Levine joins our hosts to provide a broader picture of what it looks and feels like when a loved one is using, or withdrawing. Gathering information and facts about your Loved One's substance use is one of the first steps that will allow you to apply the CRAFT method successfully. When you recognize signs of withdrawal/hangover, do you bring them soup? Help them to bed? Dominique S...

Every family has secrets, but when secrets keep us stuck, in pain or operating out of a system of dysfunction, why do we keep them? When it comes to addiction, betrayal, mistreatment...why do those who are affected have a harder time talking about it than those in the grip of the behavior? Family—wives, partners, mothers, fathers, siblings etc.—tend to have a more difficult time being open about w...

Not only will you learn what Laurie hankers for that is both sweet and salty, or why other drivers are likely to honk at Annie in her car, but in this new podcast episode, you will hear your Coming Up for Air hosts as never before. You will learn more about their motivations for why they do the work they do, hear what they envisioned for their lives (or didn't) as children, and learn about their v...

"I'm a college-educated white male. I'm the face of addiction!" declares Michael King. Addressing the way we speak about addiction, he explains "If we end the stories that we tell by just talking about the mess that addiction creates, we're doing a disservice to everybody out there who is looking for help.....I wanna shout from the rooftops that Guess What! We create mountains of mess and we can w...

When a Loved One suffers from addiction, part of the complicated web of emotions we experience involves feeling sorry for them. A Loved One struggling with the influence of drugs or alcohol is not in their "right mind," and can often play on those chords—inviting us to feel sorry for them, in order to extract from us what they need in that moment. As the family of a Loved One with SUD, we can also...

In today's episode Annie and Laurie touch on awareness being low when it comes to how many families are struggling with an addicted or chemically dependent Loved One. They discuss what to be aware of ahead of time versus becoming aware through a wake up call. From how addiction starts, what specific signs to look for, how each of them would have handled a few things different had they known a thin...

In this week's podcast episode Annie and Laurie interview recently retired Judge Scott Vanderkarr, from Columbus, Ohio's Drug Court. Scott left the bench to spread the word about Drug Courts being needed in every court setting across the nation. With a background as a Prosecuting Attorney and his days as a judge, Scott did not expect to find himself affected by the opiate epidemic on a personal le...