Written by Judy MacKenzie

The journey that leads to the road of Alcoholic and Addiction Recovery is often filled with detours and side trips for the person taking that journey. Along the road families and loved ones are often discarded and left behind. For those of us who have chosen to continue on the trip it is often a very bumpy and uncomfortable ride. A ride that changes life as you have known it - a ride that can take you to amazing places if you allow yourself to go. (more…)

Written by Judy MacKenzie

The Center for Medically Fragile Children at Providence Hospital in Portland is a very special place. This center is a 24/7 care facility for children with profound disabilities and complex medical needs. The staff at Providence is intent on providing a loving, caring atmosphere with particular emphasis on encouraging the Human Spirit of each child. All manners of therapies are preformed here, including physical, mental, educational, and Pet Partners visits. (more…)

Not all fats are created equal. Increasing good fats in your daily nutrition and avoiding refined carbohydrates-which become bad fats in your body-can help improve your overall health.

In order to increase the good fats and decrease the bad fats, you must first know where to find them on food labels. Next time you’re in the grocery store wander around and notice all the labels that say “Low-Fat” and notice what you associate with that advertising. When I offer groups on label reading, people often bring in labels for their healthy foods labeled “Low-Fat.” However, when you turn over the package and read the Nutritional Facts, you find it’s not so healthy. (more…)

By Rick Moldenhauer; MS,LADC, ICADC, LPC, treatment services consultant, Chemical Health Division, DHS, State of Minnesota

In working with addicts newly engaged in abstinence from methamphetamine use, I have found similarities to those not exhibiting a pattern of addiction, rather a symptom cluster often associated with traumatic brain injury (TBI), Symptoms can be mild, moderate, or severe, depending on the extent of the damage to the brain, regardless of it’s etiology (blunt force trauma or methamphetamine induced neuro-chemical alterations), Some symptoms are evident immediately, while others do not surface until a period of time has passed after the injury/termination of chemical use. (more…)

Christopher C. Bowers, CSAC, ASE

“Symbol substances”…what are they?
For adolescents, the use of certain substances has meaning beyond the use alone. Smoking marijuana, for example, is a dynamic component in the developing identity of some teens (see “When Marijuana Means Identity,” NAADAC News, Dec.2007/Jan. 2008, p.10; www.naadac.org

(more…)