There are untold stories behind every relationship with a substance.

What we call “addiction”—really a relationship with a substance where the harms have gotten higher and the benefits lower—often starts as a survival strategy to deal with some kind of pain, especially when that pain is overwhelming or unbearable.

Relationships with substances provide relief, and while it’s temporary and not always very effective, they allow us to get a break from depression and anxiety, physical pain, traumatic memories, and other forms of suffering. They offer a pathway to experiencing vitality and euphoria when positive feelings are otherwise inaccessible. Similarly, compelling relationships with shopping, gambling, eating, sex, and gaming can momentarily offer experiences of distraction, excitement, and fullness when life feels empty and bleak.

We’ve been taught to only see the problematic side of these behaviors, labeling them as addictions and branding them “all bad” in a black and white way. I work with substance use more holistically, where together we explore both the harms and the benefits or your relationships with substances, including the ways that they can be rooted in attempts to solve problems in your life.

Together, we can identify, explore, and help you heal, opening the room for you to create change in your substance use, and in your life, that’s realistic and sustainable.

Recovery can take many different forms, and each person’s recovery journey is unique. Whatever recovery looks like for an individual, I help them cultivate healthier and more mindful relationships with substances and behaviors while taking direction from them about what they want.

In other words, whatever your goals, including moderation, abstinence, and all the grey areas in between, we can start where you are now and move forward together from there.

Let’s connect and find out more!