Many people cycle through program after program, or meeting after meeting, to no avail. They keep being given the same information and therapeutic approaches, and nothing changes. Conversely, some people sail through recovery, don’t have cravings or relapse, or suddenly find the missing piece, the secret sauce that makes all the difference in the world. What is this missing piece?
By Christina Veselak MS, LMFT, CN. Director, The Academy for Addiction and Mental Health Nutrition In honor of Stress Awareness Month, I would like to explore the roles our four mood-mediating neurotransmitters play in helping us cope with stress, and how to support their function […]
On St. Patrick’s Day, let’s talk about the darker side of Irish culture – the heavy drinking that is often associated with it. Did you know that people from Gaelic or Scandinavian backgrounds have a genetic disruption that can lead to depression and alcohol dependence? Learn more by reading our latest blog post.
I believe that Functional Nutrition and Functional Nutritionists hold the key to transforming the efficacy and success rate of addiction treatment and recovery efforts. However, addiction is not typically addressed nor taught in nutrition circles, and therefore people with addictive disorders as their primary complaint are a massively underserved population.
As we all know, prevention itself is a powerful long-term strategy in our fight against addiction. It takes many shapes and forms, but the key is to build resilience in vulnerable populations.
Last night, I had the joy and privilege of meeting with two delightful people in epicenter of Kentucky’s flood disaster, Hindman, KY. Roy and Debbie Hodson run a non-profit called Heartkeep.
April is Alcohol Awareness Month. Thus, I want to pay tribute to one of my mentors, Joan Mathews Larson, PhD, who wrote the seminal book, Seven Weeks to Sobriety, which I require as a text for my Level 1 Training. If you haven’t yet read […]
Might your family’s ethnicity have anything to do with your craving for alcohol? Yes indeed! Those of us from Irish, Native or Scandinavian backgrounds, can often trace alcohol use disorder through our family tree. And depression! Joan Mathews Larson in Seven Weeks to Sobriety identifies a type of Alcohol […]
We have all experienced a sleepless night or two worrying about an exam or job interview, or wondering how to pay the rent. But family members of active alcoholics and addicts often find that sleep eludes them much more chronically and dangerously.
It is our brain’s job to allow us to cope with stress gracefully, but to do that, it needs to be fed optimally! How can we optimally feed our brains this holiday season so that we can find and maintain joy, serenity, and sobriety success?
The Academy provides cutting-edge, in-depth, on-line and live education and consultation services for the purpose of thoroughly training mental health and addiction treatment professionals and volunteers in the skills necessary to identify and effectively address the biochemical aspects of client symptoms through nutrient interventions.
