Links
Friends and Resources
Sivananda Ashram Yoga Farm – Swami Vishnu-devananda founded the Sivananda Ashram Yoga Farm near Grass Valley, California, in 1971. The ashram provides a residential setting where spiritual practitioners of all levels can deepen their practice through the study of classical yoga, meditation and vedanta. Teacher Training and Advanced Teacher Training in Yoga are offered as well as beginner yoga intensives and family oriented retreats.
Inner Peace Yoga Therapy – 300-hour yoga therapy certification program with comprehensive curriculum including Yoga of Recovery (Durga), Yoga for Depression (Amy Weintraub), Yoga for Cancer, Adapting Yoga for Heart Disease (Nischala Joy Devi). Durga is on the Faculty of this school along with top instructors in the fields of yoga therapy and Ayurveda, including: Nischala Joy Devi, Dr Marc Halpern, Amy Weintraub and Neil Pearson
The Recovery Research Institute is a leading nonprofit research institute of Massachusetts General Hospital & Harvard Medical School, dedicated to the advancement of addiction treatment & recovery. In 2017, under the Director, Dr. John F. Kelly, the The Recovery Research Institute finished the National Recovery Study, obtaining the first-ever nationally representative sample of Americans in recovery. Findings from the study revealing the most accurate estimate to-date, indicated that 22.35 million (9.1%) American adults have resolved a significant alcohol or other drug problem. The first-ever systematic study of addiction Recovery Community Centers is now in it’s final stage and they have laid the groundwork to launch several new studies including a longitudinal study of long term remission and recovery in 2018.
Alliance for Addiction Solutions: I know this organization through a member of its Advisory Board, Carolyn Reuben LAc, who is also a founding member of CARA . She is a licensed acupuncturist, medical journalist, and author. Her work in addiction treatment began in 1980 when she heard Michael Smith, MD speak about NADA – acupuncture detox program – a 5-point ear acupuncture protocol. In 1994, she developed contracts for acupuncture, nutrition and other energy and mind-body medicine techniques to the Sacramento County Drug Court program and Kaiser Permanente.
From enthusiasm among participants generated at CARA-sponsored national conferences in Sacramento, Carolyn and 21 others founded the Alliance for Addiction Solutions in 2007.
Discovering Health – Mark Gilman talks passionately about Community Led Addiction Recovery – healing through connection, love and hope. Mark says of dire statistics from Glasgow (my home town): “Social isolation is a death sentence – we will die without any purpose and meaning.” My friend Colette Carroll says Mark is like the Gabor Mate of Manchester : )
Mark Gilman has over 30 years of research, policy and practice experience in designing health and social care systems to promote ‘recovery’ from ‘addictions’. Mark was the national lead for recovery in Public Health England (PHE) until July 2015.
The CRAFT approach is a system for helping family members change the way that they are interact with a drug user or someone is drinking too much. The aim of CRAFT is to help that person get into treatment and on the road to recovery from drugs and alcohol.
CRAFT provides a comprehensive strategy for how to interact with drinking and drugging family members in a way that has been shown to work to get their loved into treatment and to get their life back from addiction.
CRAFT (Community Reinforcement Approach to Family Training) originated at the University of New Mexico and was developed by Robert Meyers, Ph.D. and colleagues. Research on CRAFT shows that about 70% of families who receive CRAFT are able to get their loved ones into treatment within a year (Miller, Meyers, & Tonigan, 1999). CRAFT also helps family members improve their own lives, whether their loved one ends up seeking treatment or not.
DVD: Addiction, Recovery and Yoga – Feature documentary film by Lindsey Clennell (85 minutes). How people have used yoga as part of their journey in recovery programs from serious addiction problems to a new life of well-being and emotional stability.
Faces & Voices Guide to Mutual Aid Resources. Find out about the growing number and scope of volunteer recovery mutual aid groups. This one-stop resource is for people in or seeking recovery from addiction, their families and friends and for addiction treatment service providers and other allied service professionals. Numerous research studies have shown that mutual aid groups play a significant role in the process of recovery. Here you can learn about the many varieties of online and in-person mutual aid groups that are helping people find and sustain their recovery from addiction to alcohol and other drugs.
Sexual Addiction Screening Test (SAST): a cost-free, no-obligation initial assessment test for people with potentially addictive behaviors. It provides a profile of responses that help distinguish between addictive and non-addictive behaviors. It was developed in cooperation with hospitals, treatment programs, private therapists and community groups. If you are struggling with sexual acting-out and addictive behaviors there are 12-step programs for continued education and support.
Research shows that under 10% of Americans who need help with addiction are able to find that help, millions are left unsure of where to turn. Often it takes the support and understanding of those around them to take the next step and seek treatment. Here are a number of guides for those looking for help when they know someone who’s struggling with addiction and needs help covering some really useful advice.
Who is a marijuana addict? We who are marijuana addicts know the answer to this question. Marijuana controls our lives! We lose interest in all else; our dreams go up in smoke. Ours is a progressive illness often leading us to addictions to other drugs, including alcohol. Our lives, our thinking, and our desires center around marijuana – scoring it, dealing it, and finding ways to stay high. The primary purpose of Marijuana Anonymous is to help the addict who still suffers. Therefore, public outreach, in the form of education, information, and awareness is an important aspect of our program. In addition to serving addicts, we welcome interest and inquiries from service providers in all areas – medical, the court system, educators, social workers, counselors – as well as from the general public.
Freezone Spiritual Retreat, Dorset, England, UK:
Freezone aims to help people in recovery, working a 12 Step programme or anyone interested in the 12 step philosophy or general meditation, to draw strength from an atmosphere of prayer and meditation.
Sharing Culture: An education initiative to help Indigenous peoples heal from historical trauma and its consequences (e.g. mental health problems, addiction, suicide), as well as the impact of other adversities, e.g. social and economic disadvantage, experiences of paternalism and racism, and ongoing grief. Sharing Culture was developed by David Clark, an Emeritus Professor of Psychology, who lives in Perth, Western Australia. It is based on the core values of authenticity, connection, courage, creativity, empathy and forgiveness. We adopt a strengths-based, solution-focused approach that celebrates success and cultivates positivity, acceptance and cultural pride. In addition, we use principles known to facilitate healing.
Recovery Stories is committed to helping individuals and families recover from addiction and its consequences. David Clark is an Emeritus Professor of Psychology and set up the grassroots initiative Wired In (originally called WIRED) nearly 15 years ago as a way of empowering people to tackle substance use problems.
CORE, Center of Recovery, is a place of help and hope for problem gamblers and their families – funding is provided by the Louisiana Office of Behavioral Health. CORE is a residential facility located in the historic Highland area of Shreveport and provides 24-hour monitoring of the residents to address complex diagnostic issues, serious relapse factors and medical psychiatric instability. .