About Me

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Hi, I've been an addiction recovery coach, facilitator and trainer for over 20 years, in Cincinnati, Ohio, as well as online and internationally. I came to the field the hard way, through lived experience and specialize in addictions of any kind, with an emphasis on CBT as guided self-help framework, along with practical tips and tools that help at different points in the process.​

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I found SMART Recovery invaluable, and I use its tools and basic approach, personally. Albert Ellis’s REBT has become a core framework in my own life. 

 

As I’ve expanded my understanding of addiction, I’ve found Dr. Stanton Peele’s somewhat broader, more inclusive Life Process Model helps hold everything together for me.

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I try to integrate these tools and their approaches with my own experience, personal and in helping others to provide you with a safe, encouraging space so you can improve your life.

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Goals for Recovery

 

For me, it’s about feeling good in my life and my own skin, and I want that for you, too! 

 

If things like substances, habits, behaviors in my life are enhancing it, great. If they are harming it, then let's get rid of them! 

 

As a personal matter, I tend towards abstinence from my drug(s) of choice, but that’s for me.

 

If addictive issues exist on a continuum, I suspect that those with more serious issues probably find it less realistic or worthwhile to try to moderate, but everyone goes about things in their own way.  

 

I spent a long, long, long time trying to prove that moderation was realistic for me (while wildly redefining moderation). Ultimately, those attempts were unsuccessful, sometimes right away, other times after fairly long stretches of reasonable use. 

 

I had to ask myself whether I was willing to elevate my ability to drink to that high a level in my life -- above my children, my family, working, taking care of anything, even myself. Drinking became my everything. Now, with some remove, I confess that I have some knee-jerk reactions with regard to drinking and other substances or activities. 

 

Remember, your choices are your own, but it never hurts to question ourselves and our motivations from time to time.

 

I am so happy to say that I don’t miss it. I'm not a purist, but I feel free from self-destruction these days. I am happy. I love life. I feel empowered and filled with energy -- and I still have lots of things to work on. If anything, I think I've become a little too cautious in some ways. But I'm free to turn my attention to what I want, and life, on a daily basis, feels good to me.

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Working Through …

 

Working through things in writing, talking to myself and to others about where I’ve tripped myself up mentally and emotionally (seemingly endlessly, at times!), thinking logically, questioning things, all helped me immeasurably. It wasn’t quick, although there were some insights that came BAM, just like that. Overall, it’s been a long couple of decades.

 

I have somehow come through, and I very much believe that anyone can do the same. Life is not pretty or perfect, but it is joyful and full and beautiful.

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I really, passionately, would like to give people hope and help and tools and kindness and encouragement.

 

I sure never wanted to be that person who could stand up as an extreme example of a turnaround story, but here we are. And as they say, if I can do it, anyone can!