Suggested Wellness Training Program
Nutrition plays an often under-recognized yet crucial role in family addiction recovery. Problematic substance use can lead to significant nutritional deficiencies, affecting both physical health and cognitive function. For individuals in recovery, a balanced diet can aid in repairing bodily damage, enhancing mood regulation, and bolstering overall well-being. For families, focusing on nutrition can serve as a collective endeavor, fostering unity and shared goals. Preparing nutritious meals together can become a therapeutic activity, promoting communication and bonding. Moreover, adopting healthy eating habits can set a positive example for the recovering individual, emphasizing the importance of holistic well-being. In essence, proper nutrition acts as a foundational pillar, supporting both physical and emotional healing in the family recovery journey.
FOCUS I - NUTRITIONAL AND BIOCHEMICAL REPAIR
Can you make a sound decisions if your brain functioning isn't intact?
Targeted nutritional supplementation and individualized dietary recommendations create the foundations of an integrated holistic treatment program.
Most people have nutritional, biochemical and neurotransmitter imbalances resulting from and contributing to their underlying problematic use. Screening for these can be a key to improving and stabilizing clients’ energy levels, mood and mental clarity. They can then benefit more from their program.
The following list gives a brief overview of some of the main biochemical imbalances experienced by people experiencing problematic use. Neurotransmitter imbalances, including those of serotonin, dopamine and acetylcholine, are recognized contributors to and correlates of addictive illness. Addressing these using specific amino acid supplements, oral and possibly intravenous nutrient therapy and the judicious use of prescribed medication is an essential part of the recovery process. This can be enhanced even further with the use of acupuncture and auricular acupuncture.
FOCUS II - HEALTHY SELF-CARE
Healthy self-care is the ongoing process of responding to the needs of our body/mind in a balanced and moderate way. Most people with addictive disorders neglect or abuse their body, so learning about the principles and practice of healthy self-care and addressing deficits is an important component of recovery. One way to illuminate areas to be addressed is through a physical and emotional needs audit.
Physical needs include shelter, clothing and warmth, rest and sleep, healthy eating and supplements, physical activity and respectful touch, healthy environment and sunlight
Emotional needs include security (a safe place to live in), privacy, receiving/giving positive attention, a sense of autonomy and control, being emotionally connected to others, engaging the wider community, developing friendship and intimacy, developing a sense of competence and achievement, having a sense of status within social groups and creating meaning and purpose.
Once each of these has been assessed an individualized healthy self-care program that combines practical action, skills-based training, as well as a variety of self-help, complementary therapies, social, nutritional and mind-body approaches.
FOCUS III - HEALTHY EMOTIONAL MANAGEMENT & INTELLIGENCE
In my opinion, many of the behaviors people of people with addictive illness are simply unskilled attempts to sedate and control the emotional pain held within their body. Learning healthier, more skilled ways of managing and processing emotion is another essential aspect of the recovery and discovery process.
Options to consider include:
FOCUS IV - TRAUMA HEALING
I am yet to work with anyone whose level of happiness, emotional health, quality of life and relationships has not in some way been negatively influenced by trauma. Trauma is part and parcel of life. Learning how to recognize and recover from it is a vital part of facilitating clients towards a higher level of wellbeing and functioning.
Trauma healing work should be facilitated by a trained expert with whom the client feels safe. The two main types of trauma to be worked through are shock trauma and developmental trauma. Treatment approaches well suited to shock trauma include EMDR, somatic experiencing and the rewind technique (www.rewindtechnique.com). Developmental trauma refers to the neglect and/or physical, sexual, emotional, intellectual and spiritual abuse that occurred during the clients’ early childhood. This prevents the essential developmental processes of bonding and separation to take place, believed by some authorities to be one of the most significant contributors to emotional immaturity, addictive behaviors and poor emotional health.
FOCUS V - SELF-ACCEPTANCE
Developing compassionate self-acceptance, the ability to lovingly embrace and accept who we are, just as we are, is a life-time endeavor – but it reaps many benefits for clients often in a couple of weeks of starting the following:
FOCUS VI - POSITIVE RELATIONSHIPS
Research has consistently shown that one of the single most important contributors to happiness and wellbeing is the quality of our relationships. The following support the creation of healthy relationships and are best facilitated by a counsellor with experience with relationships.
The tasks involve:
FOCUS VII - CONSCIOUS LIVING
Conscious living is an approach to life rooted in simplicity, sustainability and soulfulness. It is about living consciously and responsibly and being sensitively attuned to the evolutionary impulse which guides, moves and evolves the universe. Put another way, it is about living in surrender to a power greater to ourselves and cocreating through our words, actions and deeds a more enlightened society.
The path of conscious living is highly personal and can involve:
FOR MORE INFORMATION...
...on nutrition-based approaches to addiction, visit Alliance for Addiction Solutions and Christina Veselak
...on emotional needs, visit the Human Givens Institute
...on trauma healing, visit www.weinholds.org – Read, "Flight from Intimacy", "Emotional Sobriety", by Tian Dayton
...on self-acceptance, read "The How of Happiness", by Sonja Lyubomirsky
...on conscious living, see www.contemplativemind.org
...good workshops include The Meadows, Onsite, Caron and Heart Stream Journeys.
The person who developed the seven focus areas outlined above is Dr. Mark Atkinson. He is a medical doctor with a specialist interest in mental health, psychosomatic illness, trauma and addictions. He is the founder of the British College of Integrated Medicine, chairman of the British Society of Integrated Medicine and bestselling author of The Mind-Body Bible and Holistic Health Secrets for Women.
Can you make a sound decisions if your brain functioning isn't intact?
Targeted nutritional supplementation and individualized dietary recommendations create the foundations of an integrated holistic treatment program.
Most people have nutritional, biochemical and neurotransmitter imbalances resulting from and contributing to their underlying problematic use. Screening for these can be a key to improving and stabilizing clients’ energy levels, mood and mental clarity. They can then benefit more from their program.
The following list gives a brief overview of some of the main biochemical imbalances experienced by people experiencing problematic use. Neurotransmitter imbalances, including those of serotonin, dopamine and acetylcholine, are recognized contributors to and correlates of addictive illness. Addressing these using specific amino acid supplements, oral and possibly intravenous nutrient therapy and the judicious use of prescribed medication is an essential part of the recovery process. This can be enhanced even further with the use of acupuncture and auricular acupuncture.
- Dysglycemia: fluctuating blood-sugar levels – is a very common contributor to mood swings, depression, irritability and poor concentration. This can be addressed by eating a nutrient-dense whole-foods diet which is high in vegetables, wholegrains, fruits, nuts and seeds and highquality protein and is low in processed foods, transfatty acids, sugar and caffeine. The mineral chromium is also useful to stabilize blood sugar.
- Mineral/vitamin/essential-fatty acid imbalances - nutrient deficiencies are common among the general population and very common in individuals experiencing addiction. These can be addressed using nutritional supplements and a tailored diet.
- Food intolerances/sensitivities are particularly common in alcoholics and should be considered. Wheat, dairy and sugar are the most common. The solution is to remove the triggering foods for a period of time while the underlying issues, such as leaky gut syndrome, are addressed.
- Adrenal fatigue: the adrenals are two small pyramid-shaped glands sitting on top of our kidneys which play an important role in our vitality levels, mood and stress resilience. Prolonged periods of physical and psychological stress, alongside nutritional deficiencies, leads to suboptimum functioning of the adrenals. This in turn is associated with fatigue, sleep disturbance, low stress tolerance and depression. Many patients with addictive illness are exhausted and find themselves much more able to do the necessary psychological work of addiction recovery once receiving treatment for adrenal fatigue. Hypothyroidism can sometimes co-exist with adrenal fatigue; this should be checked for.
- Dysbiosis refers to a condition in which the normal healthy population of beneficial bacteria in the intestines has been disrupted, leaving it open to the overgrowth of yeast, fungi, parasites and potentially harmful strains of bacteria. This should be addressed with appropriate medications, herbal and probiotic supplements. All these are fairly straightforward to identify and address by a nutritionist or integrated medicine doctor. If you are a counsellor or psychotherapist, I highly recommend that you work alongside such a person.
FOCUS II - HEALTHY SELF-CARE
Healthy self-care is the ongoing process of responding to the needs of our body/mind in a balanced and moderate way. Most people with addictive disorders neglect or abuse their body, so learning about the principles and practice of healthy self-care and addressing deficits is an important component of recovery. One way to illuminate areas to be addressed is through a physical and emotional needs audit.
Physical needs include shelter, clothing and warmth, rest and sleep, healthy eating and supplements, physical activity and respectful touch, healthy environment and sunlight
Emotional needs include security (a safe place to live in), privacy, receiving/giving positive attention, a sense of autonomy and control, being emotionally connected to others, engaging the wider community, developing friendship and intimacy, developing a sense of competence and achievement, having a sense of status within social groups and creating meaning and purpose.
Once each of these has been assessed an individualized healthy self-care program that combines practical action, skills-based training, as well as a variety of self-help, complementary therapies, social, nutritional and mind-body approaches.
FOCUS III - HEALTHY EMOTIONAL MANAGEMENT & INTELLIGENCE
In my opinion, many of the behaviors people of people with addictive illness are simply unskilled attempts to sedate and control the emotional pain held within their body. Learning healthier, more skilled ways of managing and processing emotion is another essential aspect of the recovery and discovery process.
Options to consider include:
- Using somatic-based approaches such as core energetics, breathwork, the Freedom Process or the Trauma Release Process to release deep chronic tension patterns and the un-discharged energy/emotion from the body. See www.traumaprevention.comand www.thefreedomprocess.com
- Mindfulness Meditation in order to develop emotional body awareness. I recommend the book, "Mindful Recovery" by Thomas & Beverly Bien
- Education on resumption of use prevention
- Improve emotional literacy and other skills of emotional intelligence (EI)
- Teaching stress reduction, emotional resilience and dynamic relaxation skills
- Learning emotional processing skills, such as honest emotional sharing, embracing emotions with an attitude of openness and welcoming, journaling, EmoTrance and Emotional Freedom Technique.
- Learning about anger, fear and grief and receiving instruction on how to work with and process these emotions.
FOCUS IV - TRAUMA HEALING
I am yet to work with anyone whose level of happiness, emotional health, quality of life and relationships has not in some way been negatively influenced by trauma. Trauma is part and parcel of life. Learning how to recognize and recover from it is a vital part of facilitating clients towards a higher level of wellbeing and functioning.
Trauma healing work should be facilitated by a trained expert with whom the client feels safe. The two main types of trauma to be worked through are shock trauma and developmental trauma. Treatment approaches well suited to shock trauma include EMDR, somatic experiencing and the rewind technique (www.rewindtechnique.com). Developmental trauma refers to the neglect and/or physical, sexual, emotional, intellectual and spiritual abuse that occurred during the clients’ early childhood. This prevents the essential developmental processes of bonding and separation to take place, believed by some authorities to be one of the most significant contributors to emotional immaturity, addictive behaviors and poor emotional health.
FOCUS V - SELF-ACCEPTANCE
Developing compassionate self-acceptance, the ability to lovingly embrace and accept who we are, just as we are, is a life-time endeavor – but it reaps many benefits for clients often in a couple of weeks of starting the following:
- meditation (especially loving-kindness and formless meditation) to enhance ability to stabilize and settle attention, develop detachment and cultivate presence; see www.buddhism-connect.org
- thought management and defusion techniques to address negative self-talk and the inner critic, with a third-generation CBT approach called Acceptance & Commitment Therapy being particularly useful; see www.contextualpsychology.org/act
- NLP, hypnotherapy and energy psychology techniques for changing self-image and reprogramming self-limiting beliefs
- self-parenting through inner child work and inner child dialogue and healing
- processing and containing shame, including releasing inter-generational shame
- using positive psychology interventions such as practicing gratitude, finding flow and cultivating realistic optimism.
FOCUS VI - POSITIVE RELATIONSHIPS
Research has consistently shown that one of the single most important contributors to happiness and wellbeing is the quality of our relationships. The following support the creation of healthy relationships and are best facilitated by a counsellor with experience with relationships.
The tasks involve:
- learning the skills of respectful communication, conflict resolution and assertiveness
- learning about boundaries and gaining experiential practice in setting/maintaining them
- developing the capacity for empathy
- identifying and starting to address codependency and counterdependency dynamics
- reclaiming projections and transferences
- working through the process of sexual healing and developing and implementing the skills of emotional, physical and sexual intimacy
FOCUS VII - CONSCIOUS LIVING
Conscious living is an approach to life rooted in simplicity, sustainability and soulfulness. It is about living consciously and responsibly and being sensitively attuned to the evolutionary impulse which guides, moves and evolves the universe. Put another way, it is about living in surrender to a power greater to ourselves and cocreating through our words, actions and deeds a more enlightened society.
The path of conscious living is highly personal and can involve:
- perhaps living the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous
- simplifying the life we live
- identifying our values (what truly matters to us) and taking actions and establishing goals which honor our values and strengths
- liberating the creativity and power of our ‘shadow’
- contemplative practices; these can be movement practices (yoga, chi gung, martial arts), creative practices (singing, art, creative writing), stillness (awareness meditation, silence), generative (visualisation, loving-kindness meditation and prayer), ritual (creating a sacred space, sweat lodge, soul initiation, vision quest) and relational practices (deep listening, story telling)
- surrounding ourselves with life-enhancing people
- being part of a spiritual community
- following an established spiritual/secular/religious path.
FOR MORE INFORMATION...
...on nutrition-based approaches to addiction, visit Alliance for Addiction Solutions and Christina Veselak
...on emotional needs, visit the Human Givens Institute
...on trauma healing, visit www.weinholds.org – Read, "Flight from Intimacy", "Emotional Sobriety", by Tian Dayton
...on self-acceptance, read "The How of Happiness", by Sonja Lyubomirsky
...on conscious living, see www.contemplativemind.org
...good workshops include The Meadows, Onsite, Caron and Heart Stream Journeys.
The person who developed the seven focus areas outlined above is Dr. Mark Atkinson. He is a medical doctor with a specialist interest in mental health, psychosomatic illness, trauma and addictions. He is the founder of the British College of Integrated Medicine, chairman of the British Society of Integrated Medicine and bestselling author of The Mind-Body Bible and Holistic Health Secrets for Women.