PAL Blog

It can be hard to maintain a positive attitude at times. It can be a challenge when facing hardship and struggle to keep a smile on your face. Sometimes during these holiday seasons, the effect of depression and anxiety can be magnified. Culturally speaking, these are times of celebration, happiness,Read More

I get many questions this time of year about navigating the holiday season with an addicted loved one. This is understandable, being that this season can bring all the family dynamics (positive and negative) front and center. Depending on the family’s past holidays together, parents often worry about repeated badRead More

I think perhaps the hardest thing for me to understand about my son’s addiction was how the sweet, curious, creative, thoughtful, loving, energetic little boy I spent so many afternoons with after school became such a totally different person. Just about every day during his preschool and early elementary schoolRead More

It’s November! Let’s talk about gratitude. There is no better medicine to lift our spirits than a quick account of our blessings. What an incredibly powerful tool for changing our perspectives for the better. The happiest most resilient people I meet always seem to have an “attitude of gratitude.” TheRead More

I can remember autumn seasons filled with joy, laughter, thanksgiving, and family congregation. Beautiful swaths of orange, red, and yellow dotting the Northern Arizona forest. Recollections of time spent together, experiencing moments of happiness, gratitude, and abundance. Moments where everything felt right; like pieces of the puzzle in the grandRead More

Our family has struggled for 12 years on and off with our 32-year-old son John’s addictions. My husband of 35 years and I and my 30-year-old daughter have been overwhelmed. After John was born we had our daughter three years later. Growing up they both played sports – his sisterRead More

I am a wife and mother of three. My son loved riding motorcycles, working on cars, hanging out with friends, trips to the dunes with his dad. Then, in that transition from junior high to high school, he was exposed to drug use. I believe the peer pressure became tooRead More

I would like to share some of the most common questions I receive about relapse. I will answer them from an overview perspective and in a general sense. Relapse is a big topic, with many variables that are case specific. I don’t think it can be covered thoroughly in aRead More

Ten years ago my life was crumbling before my eyes. After some experimental usage of illicit substances I had come to embrace “better living through chemistry” to the fullest extent. While I found temporary relief in using substances to change the way I felt about literally everything in my lifeRead More