Alcohol and Drug Counseling for Adults
Mike Chapman
.Licensed Professional Counselor
Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor III
Is your drug and alcohol use getting in the way of living a more satisfying and meaningful life? Does your use keep you from your goals: professionally, personally, and with your family? Is your drug and alcohol use causing conflict with family and friends? Do you find yourself wasting too much time and money on drugs and alcohol? Does the way you are living your life while using drugs and alcohol go against your values? Are you sick and tired of your life and believe that drug and alcohol use is the problem? I have been working with people with drug and alcohol issues since 1986.
In working with adults with alcohol and drug issues, I start by focusing on how the client wants to be living and how drugs and alcohol may be getting in the way.
We discuss the benefits that you see of a life without drugs and alcohol and the obstacles you see to changing. We also discuss the attraction and the negatives of continuing the old ways. Therefore, we focus on the ambivalence that people often feel about changing a way of life- a way of life they have been comfortable with at some level. Exploring and resolving this ambivalence is a key to the passage into a new life.
As we discover the ways in which drugs and/or alcohol have negatively impacted your life, we come up with areas that need to be dealt with: new behaviors and new thinking, education about the effects of drug and alcohol abuse, ways to deal with difficult emotions, and activities to support recovery.
I also work with client's families to help them better understand drug and alcohol problems and to have them be a part of the client's and family's healing process. Families need to discuss what has been taking place and need the healing that can come from this conversation.
