End of Year Report 2023
The Addiction Research Foundation accomplished so much in 2023, and we wanted to share all the fantastic things we did and continued.
The Addiction Research Foundation accomplished so much in 2023, and we wanted to share all the fantastic things we did and continued.
Pam and Steve were honored to do a poster presentation of The Star Matrix Assessment System and conduct a book signing of their book Natural Pathways of Recovery at NAADAC (National Association for Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Counselors). They learned and shared and received incredibly positive feedback on the work they had done on their research [...]
Would be willing to help us improve assessment and treatment for those with Substance Use Disorders by filling out this survey? We are working on the idea there is an solution but that there are many paths. We are trying to get input from wide variety of individuals to help us understand what different paths to recovery [...]
Clay Hightower, LMSW “It works if you work it.”These are words that many have either heard for themselves at a 12-step meeting or have had someone else tell them about the 12-step program. However, I know that I have met countless individuals in my work that have stated that it did not work [...]
Most people get better. They just do not get better in the way we think they should. It can be very frightening and overwhelming if you or someone you love has a problem with the use of alcohol or drugs. There is reason for hope, most people do recover. The often-quoted studies of negative outcomes such as jails, institutions or death are extremely unlikely and they are not the usual results of Substance Use Disorders (SUDs). This does not mean your situation is not serious and important. It also does not mean that those drastic outcomes could never happen to you or someone you care about. However, there is cause for hope if we can understand what is actually happening and determine the best course of treatment.
A plan is ever changing so accountability must be ever changing also. What works for a person the first year will not work in year two. Likewise what worked in year two will not work in year three and so on. This will go on for the rest of our lives. We will always be [...]
progress not perfection does not equal permission Most people get better. They just don’t get better in the way we think they should. - The Natural History of Recovery
Clay Hightower, LMSW The Holidays and Boundaries Part III: Taking a Risk By Clay Hightower, LMSW Throughout this entire series on boundaries, I have reaffirmed and will continue to reaffirm that it is my right to set boundaries that ensure my safety, and that others do not get to dictate if they [...]
Clay Hightower, LMSW The Holidays and Boundaries Part II: Little or No Contact By Clay Hightower, LMSW Halloween may be behind us now, but some of us are still thinking about ghosting this holiday season. “Ghosting” is slang for cutting somebody out of your life without any sort of contact or [...]
Clay Hightower, LMSW 2020 has been timeless. No, I don’t mean timeless like Mariah Carey’s timeless classic “All I Want for Christmas is You.” I mean timeless as in largely void of any normal social or cultural events that signal a changing of the seasons or help orient me to time. Even the [...]