When we are working to recover from our addictions and mental health issues, we often struggle with feeling regret and remorse for all the negative things we’ve done, all the mistakes we’ve made, all the ways we’ve hurt people. We feel ashamed of ourselves and struggle to forgive ourselves. We can be filled with anger…
Many of us have learned to cope with our loneliness by doing whatever we can not to have to feel it. We use relationships to stave off the loneliness. We stay in unhealthy, toxic, even abusive relationships, sometimes because we’re afraid of being alone. We try to fill the silence so we don’t have to…
When we are working to heal from our addictions and mental health issues, sometimes what holds us back the most are the limiting beliefs we’ve developed over the years, about ourselves and our ability to recover. What are some of the common limiting beliefs we hold, and how do we change them? One limiting belief…
We usually think of boredom as a harmless thing, but it can actually be a trigger for our addictive behaviors and can be a factor in whether or not we relapse. A challenge for many of us is that we find ourselves bored without the substances, relationships and behaviors we’ve grown to be dependent on…
The teenage years are a turbulent time. Teens face pressure to succeed in school and get into good colleges. They have to negotiate a shifting social life and dating. They may have to work or deal with family issues on top of all that. It’s a time of change, uncertainty, and insecurity. According to the…
When we turn to addictive substances, relationships and behaviors, it is often because we are trying to drown out the voices of our inner demons. They play off of our deepest fears, of inadequacy, inferiority, abandonment, loss, rejection. They tell us that we’re not good enough, that we aren’t deserving of love, that we are…
One of the most powerful trauma healing methods we can use in our recovery is learning to work with our inner child. As adults, we still have our inner child, or our childhood self, within us. All of the pain we experienced when we were younger is still part of us, and to heal and…
Our addictions are often fueled by our escapism and avoidance. What many of us are trying to escape and avoid, and distract ourselves from, is the pain of our past. We will do anything to avoid having to face it. It can be terrifying look at the painful things we’ve been through – the hurt…
Learning to love ourselves unconditionally – through our addictions and depression, through all of our life challenges and obstacles – is one of the most important elements of recovery. Learning self-love is far from a quick fix. It is a lifelong process that involves unprogramming all of the limiting and self-disparaging beliefs we’ve adopted about…
When we’re struggling with addiction, depression and other mental health issues and co-occurring disorders, we have a tendency to lose our sense of self-worth. We minimize and even forget all of our wonderful qualities and focus instead on our mistakes, weaknesses and regrets. We don’t value ourselves, and we don’t believe we are of any…
We are in-network with University of Utah Health Plans, Select Health & PEHP!