WHAT IS THE COMMON BACKLASH DOMESTIC VIOLENCE VICTIMS FACE?

Guest blog by Jessica Yaffa, Certified Relationship Coach and Founder of No Silence No Violence Unfortunately, there continue to be many misconceptions surrounding both the cause and severity of abusive actions. Often these misconceptions lead to victims being blamed, abusive behavior being minimized or excused as well as both survivors and perpetrators struggling to access the support that each desperately …

Domestic Violence + Mental Illness

Written by Jessica Yaffa Those of us that have experienced domestic violence recognize the number of ways it affects our being. Domestic violence can cause an adverse ripple effect on the emotional and psychological state of a survivor. Panic attacks, post-traumatic stress disorder, substance abuse, depression, and anxiety are often ignited by domestic violence and/or other severe forms of abuse. …

Why The Invitation To Change Approach? An Interview with Dr. Jeff Foote

“With the Invitation to Change Approach, we are working with families to create conditions for change, not creating change or forcing change.”  As families in crisis or with a loved one who is using substances, that’s really hard – you want change to be the thing that happens immediately. However, if you want change to be the thing that happens …

Change is Possible: 10 Evidence-Based Reasons to Have Hope Part 2

Last week, we introduced the first five evidence-based reasons to have hope from Beyond Addiction: How Science and Kindness Help People Change, This week, we’re sharing the latter five reasons to be hopeful, based on empirical evidence and through the lens of positive communication and positive reinforcement.  6. Different people need different options.  There is no one size fits all …

Change is Possible: 10 Evidence-Based Reasons to Have Hope

Addiction is devastating. It can ruin careers, diminish physical and mental health, destroy relationships, and tear families apart. The power substances have over someone who is using is cunning and inexplicable – leaving those who love a substance user devastated and hopeless, feeling they have exhausted every option.  In honor of National Recovery Month, we want to acknowledge that the …

Treatment Vetting Through Doyen; The Hows

In our last blog, we spoke about the necessity of treatment education and treatment vetting, including what to be aware of when beginning to seek for help. Now that you know the why, let’s talk about the how. How do you vet a program, so that you may confidently send yourself, your client, or the Priority Family Member to treatment?  …

Treatment Placement: How to Vet Treatment Centers with Confidence

by Chelsea Bringham There are few circumstances that leave a family more vulnerable than enduring an ongoing crisis of mental health, addiction, trauma, and the like. When a loved one’s life is in danger, urgency for solutions becomes dire, leaving families – who, unfortunately, are often uneducated – vulnerable to some of the behavioral health treatment industry’s buzz words, unethical …

Historical Trauma in Diverse Communities

Culture and Ethnicity plays a key role in not only how individuals access mental health resources, but also how individuals perceive and experience mental illness, including whether they choose to seek help and how they turn to that for support. First and foremost, we recognize that there is a lack of culturally and linguistically appropriate services for diverse communities on …

PTSD and Family Systems: The Impact of Traumas Often Overlooked in Family Systems.

When we think of Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), we often default to soldiers and victims of sexual abuse. While these experiences are certainly among the leading causes of the mental illness, they are not the only type of trauma that will result in PTSD. The impact of Trauma – albeit Little ‘t’ or Big ‘T’ trauma –  is commonly dismissed …

If We Can Understand The Rain, We Can Truly Understand The Rainbow: LGBTQI + Trauma

This blog was guest-written by Beck Gee-Cohen, Director of LGBTQI+ Programming for Visions Adolescent Treatment Center. Starting in June, my newsfeed seems to turn full of rainbows. Ads for beer, vodka, mouthwash, and even underwear telling me that I should be proud and they support me. My friends change their profile pics to rainbow filters and share articles about being …