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ISBN: Print 978-1-64611-265-4 | eBook 978-1-64611-266-1
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I dedicate this book to my shining star mom. Her courage and bravery drive me to be the best counselor and person that I can be.
CONTENTS
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My experience with the illness of addiction came very early in life. If you looked at my family tree, you would see that addiction to various substances exists in nearly every generation. I spent much of my upbringing learning how to be a supportive family member to someone struggling with addiction. I remember attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings with my mom, fascinated while listening to stories filled with resiliency, courage, and braveryalong with negative emotions such as shame, regret, and guilt. I found it a beautiful thing to be in the midst of people who, standing at a precipice, could change the entire course of their life. I looked to those that I loved and found their ability to overcome addiction movingso much so that once I started college, I began studying the field of addiction and counseling. I was given the opportunity to work at a few different levels of care for those with addiction, in different programs ranging from outpatient to residential treatment. This breadth of experience guided me toward bringing mindfulness practices to aid treatment for people of different backgrounds in this group. Through my work, I found that mindfulness skills seemed to really help my clients with their more immediate emotional and thought-based struggles.
Many of the other types of therapy I was implementing helped as well, but in general they took longer to get results. Learning mindfulness takes time, too, but for some people the skills developed begin calming the mind and body very quickly. I felt that helping those struggling with addiction in this way focused less on their substance use specifically, which also gave them skills to better their lives as a whole. Mindfulness is not about focusing on one problem to fix; instead, it encourages viewing the self as perfectly imperfect. For those dealing with addiction issues, thinking in this way seems more hopeful. This hope can feel like a driving force toward finding the right kind of change. Seeing my clients foster this hope gave me hope as well. Since learning this, I have been working on honing my skills to teach others about mindfulness, so that they feel more at ease and are able to gain a sense of peace within their own lives. The perceived ledge they feel they are teetering on is transformed into a stepone they can mindfully manage with practice.
Addiction is complex, and it can be difficult to understand where an addiction comes from. Many factors contribute to the development of an addiction, including genetic makeup, the environment one is or was exposed to (i.e., ones current situation and/or ones upbringing), past trauma, mental health issues, and the availability of resources. Addiction is not a lack of self-discipline, nor is it the result of poor choices. It is classified as a disorder in which changes within the brain can be detected, and which directly affects the way that the brain functions.
