How Iceland Kicked Teen Drinking

In the last two decades, Icelandic teens have embraced sobriety under a program that asks families and communities to rethink adolescent freedoms. by Sara Miller LlanaThe Christian Science Monitor Weekly/January 2, 2018  DECEMBER 29, 2017 REYKJAVIK, ICELAND —In the late 1980s, when Björgvin Ívar Guðbrandsson was a teenager, alcohol and school dances went hand-in-hand. While…

Book Review: Why Buddhism is True

The Science and Philosophy of Meditation and Enlightenment By Robert Wright Review by Antonio Damasio Anyone writing (or reading) about Buddhism faces a critical question. What is Buddhism, really? A religion, complete with supernatural deities and reincarnation? A secular philosophy of life? A therapeutic practice? An ideology? All of the above? Robert Wright sketches an…

Book Extract: Recovery

By Russell BrandActor and Comedian  Here in our glistening citadel of limitless reflecting screens we live on the outside. Today we may awaken and instantly and unthinkingly reach for the phone, its glow reaching our eyes before the light of dawn, its bulletins dart into our minds before even a moment of acknowledgement of this…

A Story to Get Sober In

Does Recovery Kill Great Writing?As I emerged from alcoholism, I had to face down a terrifying question. By Leslie JamisonMarch 13, 2018 The first time I felt it — the buzz — I was almost 13. I didn’t vomit or black out or even embarrass myself. I just loved it. I loved the crackle of…

The Twelve Steps of Forgiveness

A Practical Manual for Moving from Fear to Loveby Paul Ferrini  The Twelve Steps of Forgivenss offers us a process for unlearning our ego-based search for perfection and discovering the inner beauty, guidance and grace that already exist in our lives. It enables us to honor others and establish healthy boundaries that prevent manipulation and…

Book Review: The Recovering

Intoxication and Its Aftermath By Leslie Jamison When Leslie Jamison was a student at the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop, she fell in love with the myth of the alcoholic writer: the myth that liquor fed, not poisoned, great writing. By getting drunk in the same Iowa City bars as 20th-century alcoholic literary giants — John…

Book Review: If You Love Me – A Mother’s Jourmey through her Daughter’s Opioid Addiction

By Maureen Cavanagh  When Maureen Cavanagh, a hardworking small-business owner and resident of the charming, historic town of Marblehead, Mass., clicked on a link to a Salem News story headlined “Marblehead Honor Student Arrested for Prostitution,” her first thought was: “How sad. How very sad.” As she read further, however, her feelings turned to horror.…

My Relationships with White Bison Founder Don Coyhis and with the Native American Wellbriety Movement

by Bill White  My relationships with White Bison founder Don Coyhis and with the Native American Wellbriety Movement are among the most important influences on my recovery advocacy and recovery research activities. I first met Don in the late 1990s as rumblings of a new addiction recovery advocacy movement in the United States were just…