Michael Yeager's Blog

Recovery

Course c7 "Psycology of Selves" is a great course to teach how to work most effectively with people in conflict. We are multi-facited people and this course assist in helping the therapist access all aspects of the client. It helps bring around awareness and this helps people get intouch with multiple aspects of themselves. Call 800-365-5950 or go to www.contemporaryteaching.com for more information.
Posted on: 2008-09-26 15:43:15. Comments

Continuing Education Programs

I've been a therapist in the CD field since 1973. I've been a counselor, Program Director, Consultant to Hospitals and RTC's, Marketing Director, Provider of Continuing Education Trainings through live training and homestudy programs, and therapist in Private Practice.

I've seen many changes in how many addiction are treated and how we treat these many addictive disorders. Today's counselors, therapist, MD's, PhD's, Nurses, Ministers must have treatment knowledge of alcoholism, drug addiction(Standards), sexual and co-sexual addiction, co-dependency, dual diagnosis issues, pathological gambling and compulsive spending disorders, anorexia and bulimia, work addiction, love and relationship addiction, teen addiction, anger management, homosexual, heterosexual, lesbian, transsexual issues, Treating people with AIDS and other STD's, methadone addicts to effectively serve the addiction population.

Most treatment programs treat only alcohol and drug addiction and refer out for identification and treatment of the other disorders except at treatment programs like The Meadows, Sierra Tucson, Sante Center. If you know of others please let me know.

Therapist need to know about the many aspects of addiction treatment and aftercare. Programs like SMART Recovery, Women for Sobriety, Secular Order of Sobriety, Rational Recovery, Hypnosis, Acupuncture, Acupressure, Church, Faith Based Treatment and more all need to be a part of the therapist strategies to help insure recovery.

Continuing education hours can fill in the gaps in your knowledge of what is needed to best and ethically help clients.
Posted on: 2008-08-15 19:01:03. Comments

Co-Dependency Recovery

CO-DEPENDENCY RECOVERY

Co-dependency is simply the loss of sense of self. It is when you do not have the conscious ability to separate yourself emotionally from another or others. The following questioner can be helpful in making a beginning self-assessment.

1. Do I often feel isolated and afraid of people, especially authority
figures?
2. Have I observed myself to be an approval seeker, losing my own identity in
the process.
3. Do I feel overly frightened of angry people and personal criticism?
4. Do I often feel I’m a victim in personal and career relationships?
5. Do I sometimes feel I have an overdeveloped sense of responsibility, which
make’s it easier to be concerned with others rather than myself?
6. Do I find it hard to look at my own faults and my own responsibility to
myself?
7. Do I get guilt feelings when I stand up for myself instead of giving in to
others?
8. Do I feel addicted to excitement?
9. Do I confuse love with pity and tend to love people I can pity and rescue?
10. Do I find it hard to feel or express feelings, including feelings such as
joy or happiness?
11. Do I find I judge myself harshly?
12. Do I have a low sense of self-esteem?
13. Do I often feel abandoned in the course of my relationships?
14. Do I tend to be a reactor, instead of an actor?

If you answered yes to any of the questions you may have a problem with codependency, if you answered yes to 2 or more you definitely have a problem with loss of sense of self and it would be to your advantage to seek some type of support or help. Help is in the form of SMART Recovery, 12 step groups, therapy, aware friends, educated clergy, peer counseling etc. anything except handling it alone.

If you let yourself be honest and you have some, most or all of the characteristics you will be glad to hear that there is a way out. I need to be very clear about this next point. Your recovery or change is directly tied to your willingness to experience your feelings and trust someone to be there for you. Recovery, change and healing do not happen in a vacuum. Alice Miller author of “Drama of the Gifted Child” states, and I wholeheartedly agree "That it is not the traumatic event or events in your life that is the problem today its your unwillingness or inability to talk about it fully connected to the feelings associated to the event that bring about today’s problems”. So being willing to tell the truth about you all the time is a key recovery activity. That’s right, open honest communication with yourself and others is indispensable. Oh I need to say this to you perfectionist that may be reading this article. Perfect honest communication 100% of the time is not the goal; it’s a set up for failure. The goal is to be willing to be as honest as you can be at the time of each communication and notice rather than judge your behavior. Learn how to incorporate the 4 agreements in your life 1. Be Impeccable with your word,
2. Take nothing personal, 3. Make no assumptions and 4. Always do your best.

Thanks Michael Yeager B.A., LCDC, C.Ht, RMT, CAS, CTC
Contemporary Teaching, 2122 Rosefield Dr. Houston, Texas 77080, 800-365-5950
www.contemporaryteaching.com Author of “Twelve + Two Steps Teens in Recovery” available through amazon.com.

Posted on: 2008-08-11 10:00:27. Comments

Recovery Works

Hello this the first of many times you will hear from me. I am a counselor in the addiction recovery field. I am also a provider of Continuing education credit courses for counselors needing CEU's to re-certify. I've been in the addiction recovery field since 1973. I've just heard from NAADAC that 74% of Americans have a family member, friend, co-worker, child who is addicted to something.

This blog is to continue to support the idea that treatment works. Most of my comments in the future will deal with effective treatment strategies and references so therapist's, ministers, family and friends will have a variety of choices available when it comes time for recovery.

I'm off now and you will hear from me soon.
Posted on: 2008-06-30 13:32:18. Comments