Brandon Novak Visits Awakenings Recovery Center

Brandon Novak—professional skateboarder, MTV celebrity, and recovery advocate—came to Awakenings Recovery Center on June 17th to give clients hope and inspiration. All current inpatient and outpatient clients attended this wonderful event. At a young age, Novak was discovered for his skateboarding by Tony Hawk and was the first skateboarder to be endorsed by Gatorade. He […]
TruHealing In-Network With Evernorth For Foundations Recovery Center
Effective June 20th, TruHealing is in-network with Evernorth for Foundations Recovery Center. Evernorth is a subsidiary of the Cigna Corporation with extensive behavioral health options “built on 45+ years of experience committed to quality and affordability, accessibility, and compassionate support.”[1] Foundations Recovery Center provides top-quality Partial Hospitalization, Intensive Outpatient and Outpatient programs in Baltimore, Maryland. […]
Interview With Dr. Aurielle Williams, TruHealing Atlanta’s Executive Director, on the Impacts of Alcoholism
What are psychological causes of alcoholism? Alcoholism is both a genetic and psychological condition that affects over 41% of the population (World Health Organization, 2021). An individual’s family of origin has the greatest impact in determining if they will suffer from alcoholism later in their life (Alcohol and the brain: An overview 2021). The heritability [...]On Being Ready
There were people in my life who wanted me to get sober long before I did. Your friends, partners, or family can very much want you to change, but it won’t happen until you’re ready. There’s an idea that people only get sober after they hit rock bottom, but this is a myth. Sure, it […]
Having New Experiences in Recovery

There is no one cause of addiction—with a lot of factors contributing—and no one quality that all people with addiction have. That said, a trait many in recovery (myself included) share is the desire for novelty. According to an article in the Journal of Neuroimmune Pharmacology, “On the behavioral level, both human and rodent studies […]
Self-Advocacy in Recovery

Active addiction can make you feel out of control and unsure of who you are, which means many of us learn self-advocacy when we get sober. You can’t ask for what you need when you don’t know what that is. It’s important to learn what’s best for your recovery and advocate for it, because what […]
Suggestions for Advocacy Work Around Addiction and Recovery

Being of service is often recommended as part of recovery. This can look like a lot of different things. If you want to do advocacy work about addiction and recovery, there are lots of options. Working Towards Policy Change and a Compassionate Approach Black and white people use drugs at similar rates, but Black people […]
Moving Past Fears of Sobriety

When it comes to getting sober, many people have lots of starts and stops. Six years before I got sober for what I hope to be the last time, I quit drinking for a couple months—only to pick up right where I left off. There were many times throughout active addiction that I tried to […]
A Conversation With Carl Erik Fisher About His Book the Urge: Our History of Addiction

I spoke with Carl Erik Fisher over Zoom about his book The Urge: Our History of Addiction. Fisher is an addiction physician and bioethicist. He is an assistant professor of clinical psychiatry at Columbia University’s Division of Law, Ethics, and Psychiatry, and maintains a private psychiatry practice focused on addiction. Fisher’s writing has appeared in […]
Breaking Addiction Cycles

Addiction is a cycle. When you’ve been using drugs or alcohol chronically, your brain comes to expect them. It adjusts to the floods of dopamine by lowering dopamine receptors, making it harder for you to feel pleasure from other, healthier activities. Additional changes in the brain—like alterations to the prefrontal cortex, which helps with impulse […]