Addiction Clinicians

Use examples. It’s hard for someone with alcoholism to grasp the idea that he or she can’t go back to drinking at some future point – after a year of abstinence, for instance. But the old saw that a pickle can’t go back to being a cucumber – that people seem to understand.

The previous director is suddenly… nowhere to be found.

If the clinicians view the PO as an outsider with the potential to interfere with treatment, there will be inevitable conflict.

What am I supposed to do with all this information? It doesn’t bring in more patients or help me get additional staff to treat the patients I already have.

I recall one professor airily informing his class that recovering counselors had an ‘agenda’.

I wasn’t trained in how to incorporate material about faith and God into counseling. Most of my graduate school education was on traditional social work practice.

The goal of treatment is to maximize chances for a successful outcome. But ultimately, to drink or not to drink remains the alcoholic’s choice.