Blog topic
Addiction and recovery
Understanding addiction, supporting a loved one, and finding the right level of care.
- Addiction and the Family: How to Support Without EnablingHow to support a loved one with addiction without enabling. Understanding the difference, setting boundaries with compassion, and caring for yourself. Family support in Alaska.
- Getting Help for Addiction: Levels of Care, Resources, and Preparing for RecoveryGetting help for addiction: understanding ASAM levels of care, finding resources in state and out of state, preparing for recovery, and healing the underlying causes. Alaska.
- Alaska Addiction Recovery Resources: Where to StartA starting guide to addiction recovery resources in Alaska, crisis and helpline numbers, how to find treatment, and how to navigate options when you or a loved one needs help.
- The ASAM Criteria: How Addiction Treatment Is Matched to NeedWhat are the ASAM criteria? A plain guide to the six dimensions and levels of care that match a person to the right intensity of addiction treatment.
- Dual Diagnosis: Treating Addiction and Mental Health TogetherWhat is dual diagnosis? Why co-occurring addiction and mental health conditions must be treated together, and what integrated treatment looks like.
- Medication-Assisted Treatment: What It Is and Why It WorksWhat is medication-assisted treatment (MAT)? How medications like buprenorphine, methadone, and naltrexone support recovery from opioid and alcohol use disorder, and common myths.
- People, Places, and Things: Protecting Your Recovery From TriggersPeople, places, and things in addiction recovery explained, why triggers matter, how to identify yours, and how to change your environment without white-knuckling it.
- Pornography Addiction: Understanding It Without Shame, and How to Get FreeUnderstanding compulsive pornography use, the signs, how it affects the brain and relationships, why shame keeps it going, and how therapy helps, without judgment.
- Relapse Prevention: Understanding Triggers and Building a PlanA guide to relapse prevention, how relapse unfolds in stages, how to spot warning signs and triggers, and how to build a personal recovery plan that holds up.
- Why Can't They Just Stop? Understanding Why Addiction Is So Hard to QuitWhy is addiction so hard to quit? Understanding the brain, shame, and why willpower isn't enough, plus how families can help a loved one struggling with addiction. From an Alaska counselor.