This is the story of my ch . . . ch . . . changes, which took me from insanity to clarity, from egocentricity to altruism, from alcoholism to activism. These changes have marked an evolution in what I want from this life. I am what I want. What I seek to consume, possess, and [...]

The holidays are a time of heightened reality. A time to reaffirm bonds of friendship and family. The general merriment of the season can make what we have in our lives resonate wonderfully with a sense of abundance and plenty, but it can also highlight what feels missing or never had a chance to be.
Holidays [...]

I went to an addiction conference the other day given by a national expert. He said his addiction program can’t help all patients and has had to turn away many patients and refer them to other treatment centers, saying; “That patient doesn’t fit my program!” This sentiment was shared again and again by different noted [...]

In 2009, I was fortunate to spend ten long days in prison. I was not incarcerated, but rather I was there to participate as an instructor in the 315-hour-long Offender Mentor Certification Program (OMCP) at California State Prison, Solano. This classroom education and skills training was provided by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation [...]

Why a Mind/Body Approach to Treating Trauma is Important
Psychodrama is a role playing method developed by J .L. Moreno in Vienna and the United States . Its mind/body focus makes it unusually successful in treating issues of trauma and grief and helping to strengthen autonomy, motivation and resilience.  It has therefore gained wide popularity in [...]

Painkillers
Have you ever started taking pain medications only to discover that long after the pain had gone you were still taking the pills out of habit?  Over 5.2 million Americans are currently using prescription pain relievers such as Vicodin, OxyContin, Morphine and Codeine non-medically. These medications are just a few that fall into the category [...]

In the two past decade I have studied male initiation rites. In fact I attended a remarkable male initiation performed by Father Richard Rohr in Julian, California. It was a very moving and powerful experience and resulted in the following insight about recovery as a rite of passage, as an initiation rite.
An initiation rite is [...]

Addiction involves a complex array of factors: genetic, biological, social, environmental, and intrapsychic which all have a role to play.  Due to this complexity, getting sober is only the beginning of the path toward recovery from addiction.  This difficult process is complicated further by the power of conditioned associations (Sideroff, 1980).  Anything that was connected [...]