ADDICTIONS

Serine is a Licensed Independent Substance Abuse Counselor with 22 years of recovery. She is qualified to assess substance use, identify the level of dependency, and offer therapeutic interventions and moral support if the client chooses to stop using.

She is able to assist the client to come to terms with their addiction and to assist them to achieve and retain sobriety. A life of sobriety requires an adjustment in thinking and behavior, as well as the processing of difficult emotional consequences of addiction: psychological craving, guilt, shame, resentment, anger, sadness, depression, anxiety and fear. The benefit of facing addiction head-on is a life of increasing freedom and comfort, enhanced self-esteem and the ability to join with and enjoy the company of other people.

Addiction is never a personal choice.  Often a person began to use a substance or to engage in a behavior because it was a ‘solution’ for some kind of discomfort: anxiety, depression, physical pain etc.  Sometimes it was just a way to belong and join in with peers, to have ‘fun’.  However, some people have a predisposition to react strongly to pleasure and, for them, the substance or behavior eventually shifts from ‘having fun’ to being necessary to feel normal and, in the case of severe addiction, becomes the sole focus of the person’s life. Life becomes a nightmare of serving the demands of the addiction to the detriment of all other relationships, including family, friends, work associates, and, most importantly, self.
When addicts use, they abandon themselves. The emotional consequence of self-abandonment is depression.  As addicts begin to recover, they realize that they have created significant problems in their relationships, resulting in guilt and shame.  Living without the ‘chemical curtain’ between themselves and reality can sometimes be frightening.  All of these emotional reactions to early sobriety can lead to relapse.  Addictive thinking is centered on how to get back to using and the person desiring recovery needs help to recognize the twists in thinking and the benefits of working with someone who understands and can support their desire to stay sober.  Serine’s personal experience coupled with professional training enables her to understand and encourage the client from a position of “been there, done that” and to help them to take the most effective route to a life of restored self-esteem and productivity.