A few years ago, I facilitated an in-person women’s support meeting. In preparation for this meeting, I found a video called “Will the Pain and Suffering Ever End?” Will the Pain and Suffering Ever End? I took the video to the group meeting. As the meeting began, a young, petite woman sat down next to me and began to sob. I put my arm around her, told her she was in the right place, and gave her my phone number. No one in the room made a fuss. They just smiled compassionately

The Study of Recovery principles in our personal Recovery Path will help us build an ADDICTION-informed paradigm. When our responses to SHAME include self-shame in its many forms, watching for its many facets in our cognitive thinking, narrow paradigms, and self-shaming paradigms will give us the power to reject the onslaught of the negative shaming triggers. Strong and intentional boundaries are vital in this process; we never condone or excuse our past behaviors or the abu

For the first three years after Chad died, I experienced an overwhelming peace—one that consumed me. This peacefulness told me that...