Experiential Learning Makes Better Leaders, Employees, People

There are three different primary learning styles: visual, auditory, and kinetic. Some people learn best by seeing- like reading a book, while others learn best by listening, as in through a lecture. Many people learn kinetically which means they have to participate hands on in order to fully grasp the topic. Going to treatment to recover from mental health issues like addiction, depression, or impulse control problems is a learning process. Clients are learning how to get in touch with their minds and bodies to manage stress, regulate emotions, and become more independent in their decision making. Experiential learning offers a hybrid of all three learning techniques as clients are often shown how to do a task or participate in a challenge, hear instructions and suggestions, then have to get hands-on and participate. Experiential learning is proven to be more impactful to create long lasting knowledge. For those in recovery, this is priceless- drug and alcohol abuse, for example, creates cognitive impairments, which damages the ability to create and retain new knowledge.

Immersive, Experiential Learning Encourages Teamwork

Clients are thrust into a present-moment, hands-on experience in which communication, strategizing, and critical problem-solving are key. Recovery is about making connections and fostering new healthy relationships. Addiction and alcoholism can be incredibly isolating, damaging a client’s ability to make or maintain healthy relationships. Nothing brings people together like having to work together in the heat of a life experience.

Experiential Learning Inspires Realistic Reflection

A key component of experiential learning is reflection. After being in a real-time situation, clients get the opportunity to take a step back and use mindfulness techniques to become aware of their attitudes, behaviors, and actions during the experiential experience. Reflection is critical for life development because it is a sign of cognitive development and moving out of the self. Addiction and alcoholism are largely non-consequential, meaning someone who is struggling with drug and alcohol abuse has a hard time grasping the consequences of their behavior. Reflection shows insight and consideration toward what works and what doesn’t, which is essential for growth.

Life Is An Experience

Life doesn’t happen in lectures, podcasts, self-help books, and activities. Material supplements for learning are supposed to empower handling life in a real, experiential situation. Life is meant to be lived in harmonious balance, which is what we teach with our mind, body, spirit approach at Enlightened Recovery Solutions.

For information on our partial care programs for addiction and alcoholism,
call us today: 888-234-LIVE

Codependent Behaviors Can Be Passed On Through Generations

Let's say your great great great great great grandfather was an alcoholic. He was physically abusive toward your great great great grandfather, no matter what your great great great grandfather did to try and take care of his father. When your great great great grandfather had your great great grandfather, he swore that he would do things differently than his father did. Though your great great great grandfather wasn’t an alcoholic, he wasn’t the best father either. He did his best with what he had, but what he had was untreated trauma that he had no skills for coping with. He had everything he needed to satisfy the outside, but his insides were emotionally void. Your great great grandfather struggled to get the love and affection he needed from his father. Then, your great great grandfather had your great grandfather. Wanting to provide yet another different experience, your great great grandfather was a devoted father and husband to your great great grandmother- often giving of himself in more ways than he was capable. Your great grandfather learned that the only way to be loved is to give, so maybe it is better to withhold to a certain degree.

Not wanting to be the example of the giving tree like his father, your great grandfather had your grandfather and was a little more strict, similar to generations before him. Your grandfather was well guided, well formed, and lived in a structured household but lacked the emotional connection that your great grandfather was avoiding. When your grandfather had your father, he wanted to make sure he or your father never felt that way again- that lonely, abandoned feeling. Your grandfather did everything for your father, sometimes too much, and relied on him to supply the feelings to compensate for many years of feeling neglected. Resentful toward his father’s projections, your father had you and became fiercely emotionally independent, teaching you in many ways that he doesn’t need you. As a result, you have a deep need to be needed and you’re willing to do whatever it takes to be as needed as possible.

This is just one illustration of the generational cycle of codependency. From one generation to the next, behaviors are learned, rebelled against, mutated, evolved, learned, rebelled against, and so forth, always in an effort to control someone else and the effect that person is having on your life.

You get to break the chain of codependency. If you are struggling with codependency in your relationships and you’re turning to drugs or alcohol to cope, help is available. Enlightened Solutions provides partial care programs to men and women seeking transcendental transformation from addiction. Compassionate therapy in a comfortable and safe environment offers clients the opportunity to heal mind, body, and spirit.

For information, call us today: 844-234-LIVE.

5 of the Most Common, Unhealthy Ways People Cope with Grief and Loss

1. They turn to external substances/processes to heal their internal pain: Drugs and alcohol are a choice for self-medication to people in any number of circumstances. Quite literally, drugs and alcohol are anesthetics and analgesics. Meaning, many different substances like alcohol and opiates, actually numb pain. Searching for an external way to heal internal pain will always be temporary. It takes internal emotional work to heal emotional pain. Whether it is sex, drugs, gambling, risk taking, thrill seeking, spending, or other forms of self-sabotage, they will only ever temporarily heal the pain.

2. They don’t give themselves any time to process their emotions: Time heals all wounds, it is said. Grief and loss takes time, which isn’t always linear. There are days of feeling so good people think they are finally “better” than they have been, only to be disappointed by days of difficult and challenging emotions once more. People expect their emotions to run on the demands of their mind. Unfortunately, that’s not how emotions work, especially not grief and loss.

3. They isolate themselves from others who want to support them: There is a challenge in surrounding oneself by others during time of grief and loss. Initially, everyone is grieving in some way. People who are at the center of loss are often burdened with carrying everyone else’s grief. Rather than be able to heal themselves, they have to focus on consoling others. When months or years have gone by and the grief cycle hasn’t completed, it could be because one has turned to isolation in order to wallow in their grief without resolution.

4. They stop taking care of themselves: Self-care is important for every phase and occasion of life. Life is full of ups and downs, celebrations and disappointments, gains and losses. Throughout every twist and turn, self-care is a way to stay centered and stable in recovery and in all areas of life. Hygiene, eating, sleeping, health, and wellness must continue to be a priority.

5. They forget to take grief and loss one day at a time: Grief is a process with many stages that repeat, in no particular order, over and over again. Each day in the process of grieving, sometimes each hour, is an adventure and a process. Everything can change in a short amount of time. For that reason, it is important to take the process of grief just one day at a time, sometimes one hour at a time, and assess it all as it comes instead of trying to jump ahead. There is a saying used in recovery, stop trying to skip the struggle. Each moment of struggle is full of wisdom you need to move forward toward the next struggles to come.

Your recovery starts with you. Start your recovery with us. Enlightened Solutions offers individualized partial care treatment programs for men and women seeking to recover from drug and alcohol addiction as well as co-occurring mental health issues. Bringing a harmonious blend of holistic, clinical, and 12 step care, our programs transform mind, body, and spirit for a transcendental experience.

For information, call us today 844-234-LIVE.

How Do I Support My Loved One in Addiction Treatment Without Burning Out?

Empathy and compassion are two terms used frequently when discussing mental health, treatment for mental health, being in recovery for mental health, and supporting someone with mental health conditions. Compassion and empathy are similar but not exactly the same. Empathy is the “ability to understand and share the feelings of another” whereas compassion is “sympathetic pity and concern for the sufferings or misfortunes of others.” Both empathy and compassion ask us to get out of self and put ourselves into another’s shoes.

We reflect on our own experiences with suffering and misfortune in order to be empathetic toward another and feel compassion for their circumstances. Mindful writes that “empathy is our natural resonance with the emotions of others, where we sense the difficulty someone might be feeling. Compassion is one of the many responses to empathy.” In their article on how to care deeply for others without burning out, they touch on the importance of knowing the difference between empathy and compassion. They also touch on two important realizations, which are essential for any caring relationship, but especially critical when you are loving and supporting someone recovering from addiction.

First, it is essential to be mindful of your own limitations. Noticing the signs that you are becoming overwhelmed by your loved one’s addiction is the way you will be able to avoid lashing out, burning out, or giving up completely. You can only do so much. In fact, you can be a lifesaving person. However, you cannot be a superhero all the time. Though we can love and support our loved ones with addiction endlessly, we cannot actually change them; meaning, we cannot make them stay sober. This is another important realization the article mentions. People do not have the capacity to change other people. We can inspire, encourage, force, and abuse, but we cannot actually change them. We can have an effect or make an impact. We cannot actually change who our addicted loved ones are or what they choose to do. “Compassion also implies a wisdom and intelligence to know that it’s not up to you to fix the world for others,” the article explains. “You can’t function if you’re just taking in other’s pain all the time. There’s balance that’s crucial: You can acknowledge the pain, you can want to help, but you have to recognize that you can’t change other people’s experience of the world.”

Watching our loved ones go through pain and suffering of addiction is difficult. In the beginning of recovery, there can still be a lot of pain and suffering. Thankfully, recovery gets better overtime. You will watch your loved one heal and grow. Recovery can be part of your life as well. It is important to maintain healthy boundaries and take care of yourself in order to take care of others.

Enlightened Recovery Solutions encourages family healing and recovery. Our partial care programs offer family therapy and family programming, giving everyone an opportunity to come together and find serenity. Bringing together the best in alternative therapy, clinical treatment, and twelve step philosophy, our integrative approach to dual diagnosis treatment promotes transformative healing. For more information, call us today at 844-234-LIVE.

Coping With The Idea Of Death In Recovery

Death is a human experience. The unfortunate condition of our life on earth is that eventually we will die. Until science confirms a way to sustainably live for longer amounts of years, if not eternally, this is the end that every human will come to. Drug addiction and alcoholism can make this end arrive sooner than necessary, or drag it out for a very long time. Intravenous drug use with heroin or cocaine can take a  life with one shot. Alcoholism can damage critical organs so severely it causes cancer illness, and death. For years, an addict or an alcoholic might feel as though they are dying. Many people describe recovery as a rebirthing process. People feel as though they are given a second chance to live, are born again, and experience life truly for the first time.

Cunning, Baffling, Powerful

However, drugs and alcohol are insidious substances. “Cunning, baffling, powerful!” is how The Big Book Of Alcoholics Anonymous describes the insanity of alcohol. The various “bottom” to which most alcoholics and addicts fall is enough for them to be convinced that lifelong sobriety is worth the struggle so that they never have to feel so sick and miserable again. Unfortunately, alcoholism and addiction are cunning, baffling, and powerful. For so many, death becomes the only bottom. Addiction and alcoholism have a way of convincing people that another drink or drug won’t hurt. In the end, many people are convinced that death is the only option and dying would be easier than living.

Each day, addiction and alcoholism claim dozens of lives. Accidental overdose or intentional overdose, liver diseases, cancers, heart failure, stroke, and more, are the results of drinking and drug use. Being in recovery among other recovering addicts and alcoholics will sadly mean having to witness death. With each passing friend is a sore reminder of the reality of the disease. Though dying might sound like a better alternative, though relapsing might sound like relief even though death could be a guarantee- there is no coming back for a second chance.

Sometimes, the loss of a fellow recovered can be triggering and cause others to relapse out of fear. The logic is nonsensical, but so is addiction. Staying sober isn’t always easy, but it is one hundred percent possible with treatment, support, and healing.

If you are ready to change your life and live the life of recovery, call Enlightened Solutions today. We are here to help you heal. For more information, call 844-234-LIVE.

The Power Of Music Therapy

Music is a series of sounds put together in a composed way. Sound is energy and vibration. We hear sound and we emit sound. We can feel sound. Certain sounds can make us feel a certain way. Opera can bring a tear to the eye. Heavy metal can raise the heart rate and help express anger, frustration, and energy. For thousands of years, music has defined cultures, societies, and civilizations. Today, music is an integral part of life. What once had to be an attended concert or performance is now accessible with the touch of a finger. Music is literally at your fingertips all the time. We can hear it through the radio, through our digital devices, and our cars. When we need to hear that one song, get lost in the sound of an instrument, or listen to the words of powerful lyrics, music is there. We receive healing from music not just by listening to it but by making it as well.

Music therapy can include listening to music, singing, writing lyrics, playing instruments, attending shows, and dancing- anything having to do with interacting with music. During a music therapy session any kind of activity with music might be present, or many at once. However someone needs to find their expression through music is made possible in a music therapy session. Unlike art therapy which is primarily psychological, music therapy has an intensely physiological effect. Music gets the body moving, the blood moving, and the heart moving. How the heart beats in terms of heart rate has a working relationship with emotions. Music can simulate stress or relieve stress.

Making Music New

During treatment, there is an opportunity to redefine yourself musically. You can learn new kinds of music and dive into new worlds of genres, redefining what you thought you liked. You can also redefine music that once meant something to you but is dangerous today. Sometimes, old music which talks about drinking and using drugs, or the kind of music someone listened to while they were drinking and using drugs, can be triggering. Even in highly triggered states, music can help someone work through the challenge of cravings by using sound and lyrics to inspire strength, cope with difficult emotions, and release suppressed feelings.

Enlightened Solutions believes that there is healing power in the arts. Our unique program fuses together creative arts with holistic healing modalities in addition to traditional clinical treatment methods and therapies. For information on our programs, call us today at 844-234-LIVE.

Essential Life Skills For Lifelong Recovery

Empathy and Compassion: Living with compassion and empathy is not something many would call an essential life skill. However, in order to be a good human who does good things on earth, empathy and compassion is a must. We are tasked in recovery to always reach out our hands. As the saying in Alcoholics Anonymous goes, “love and tolerance is our code”. We are inherently self centered human beings. After developing an addiction, we tend to be even more selfish. Empathy and compassion are the ways in which we connect with others and step outside of ourselves in order to connect with someone else. Our relationships and connections with people are made deeper by practicing empathy and compassion.

• Time management: Change is the only constant, it is said, and time is constantly changing. We only have so many waking hours in a day, days in a week, and so on. How we use our time is incredibly important because we’re either wasting it or making the most of it. Learning how to use a calendar, schedule appointments, prioritize activities, and make enough time for self-care in a day are essential life skills.

• Asking for help: People who have had to make the decision to ask for help in finding treatment understand how life saving this life skill can be. We can’t possible know it all. In order to get things done, we often have to ask for help. Help you help yourself by feeling no shame when it comes to asking for assistance with something.

• Active listening: We can go our entire lives without really listening to what someone has to say. From instructions to suggestions to someone's expression of their needs, if we don’t actively and reflectively listen we miss out on what is being said.

• Meditation: Taking time to quiet the mind is more than calming- it helps grow new brain muscle memory, reduces symptoms of stress, reduces intensity of mental health disorders, and radically improves health.

• Financial Management: Some people never learn how to manage their money. Living in chronic debt or without any money can lead to stress and hardship which could eventually cause someone to relapse. Money comes and goes. Learning how to manage finances for the long term and the short term are essential for reducing stress and creating a sense of security.

• Healthy Living: Eating organic, having a balanced diet, staying nutritionally well, and having basic cooking skills are all a part of healthy living. Your long term future depends on your physical health as much as it does your mental wellbeing.

• Communication: communication is a part of everyday life >learning how to communicate honestly, tactfully, and articulately is helpful in every single area of life.

Enlightened Solutions believes that people entering recovery for an addiction are in need of developing or redeveloping essential life skills for life after treatment. If you or a loved one are ready to learn a new way of being, call us today for more information, 844-234-LIVE.

For A Loved One With Addiction, Try Compassion

Addiction is a family disease, we often say in recovery. Though it is the addict who is directly suffering from the mental illness which gives them an impulsivity toward using drugs and alcohol, regardless of the negative consequences, many others suffer. Family members, friends, partners, loved ones, and co-workers all experience the residual effects of addiction. As a cohesive unit of people involved with an addict’s life, everyone has to find a means of coping. More often than not, they don’t. Everyone affected by addiction has to find a way to treat the addict under different circumstances: when they’re using, when they’re sober, and when they’re in withdrawal.

What most partners don’t realize is that there is one way to continue to regard an addicted loved one, regardless of which state they are in: with compassion. Compassion is often left as something to be adopted by nuns and monks or other spiritually focused people who have devoted their lives to giving. Compassion is in the title of self-help books, used by gurus, and is a buzzword in the new age spiritual progressive world. However, compassion isn’t a new invention meant to make people want to buy more yoga memberships and drink green smoothies. Compassion is an ancient interpersonal practice that has been healing hearts and performing real life miracles for centuries. Compassion is a natural human to human behavior that has been replaced by resentment, ego, pride, and most importantly, fear.

There is fear in trying to love someone who is suffering from addiction- fear that they will die, fear that they might get better, fear that someone will judge them and those who love them. It is easy to let a whole slew of external factors get in the way of what is a very critical internal process: love. Compassion is being able to recognize the love one has needed in their own moments of struggle and give that love to another as they struggle.

Though addiction may not be something one has personal experience with, suffering is. Feeling helpless, hopeless, and completely out of control is something everyone has experienced at least once in their lives. In that moment, there is a need for comfort, support, hope, and strength. Offering that compassion to a loved one struggling with addiction could mean the difference between life and death, ongoing using or recovery. In the end, there is nothing one can do to force a loved one with addiction to change. Inspiration works in mysterious ways, however, and one might always be the guiding light toward hope.

Enlightened Solutions provides supportive and transformational family therapy to clients and their loved ones during the treatment process. Gaining inspiration from the spiritual solution of the 12 steps, Enlightened Solutions combines proven treatment methods with holistic practices for healing to create a wholesome approach to recovery. For more information call 844-234-LIVE today.

Supporting A Loved One Who Has Experienced Sexual Assault

According to RAINN, the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network, an American is sexually assaulted every 109 seconds. Out of every 1,000 perpetrators, only 6 will end up in prison to pay for their crime.

Listen To Their Story

Our cultural environment tends to play the role of the non believer when it comes to listening to stories of sexual assault. We like to blame the victim for not doing enough to protect themselves or change the situation. Sexual assault is highly stigmatized in our society, leaving victims of sexual assault feeling a double dose of shame. One of the best things you can do if your loved one has experienced sexual assault is listen to them actively. Active listening means creating the space to totally hear what they have to say without interruption, question, or judgment. After they are done, thank them for sharing, and remind them you are hear to listen to them.

Learn More About Sexual Assault

Sexual assault is not just rape. Men and women are groped, mistreated, and physically/sexually abused each day. Around the country there are trainings on stopping sexual assault, caring for someone who has been sexually assaulted, and learning more about consent. Sexual assault can be traumatizing resulting in ongoing effects similar to those of PTSD which can include symptoms of depression and anxiety.

Encourage A Report

Millions of sexual assault survivors go without making an official report. Many feel a report only brings them more shame and judgment, that they are never taken seriously. A report should still be made, as well as a full physical inspection. Support them by telling them you’ll be by their side.

Understand Their Sensitivity

We live in a sex driven culture that often doesn’t consider the depth of its jokes. Understand that for years to come, your loved one might be sensitive to the hypersexuality around them. What might seem like a harmless joke may be a deeply disturbing trigger for them. Try to act respectful toward sex, sexuality, and topics of sexual violence.

Enlightened Solutions supports the treatment of substance use disorders which are co-occurring with mild or severe PTSD. Our facility is certified to treat dual diagnosis clients in order to meet all of their needs for recovery. Call us today to learn more about our programs, 844-234-LIVE.

Is “Neediness” Really Emotional Starvation?

In a letter to an anonymous note, Dr. Jonice Webb answers a very common question in psychology: is there such a thing as a needy child? Dr. Webb answers: No.

The anonymous author explained that her mother repeatedly informed her that she was a needy child often wanting to be held, was dramatic, and shy in school. Many children and adult children of alcoholics or dysfunctional families face such criticism from parents. Typically, the parent’s accusations are meant out of malice rather than to be constructive in any way. Children, especially young children, are inherently needy. They are in need of parental love, attention, affection, and support. Unfortunately, not all parents are mentally well when they decide to have children. They take their own childhoods and mental illness out on their children in damaging or destructive ways. “Many parents don’t realize that their job is not simply to provide for their children an raise them,” Dr. Webb explains, “they’re also supposed to respond to their children’s emotions.”

As an addict or alcoholic in the recovery process can relate, there is little responding to emotion when you are so disconnected from your own. Mental illness, and the presence of harmful substances, skews the mind from functioning normally. Spiritually speaking, the mind becomes occupied with matters of the self, leaving little room for divine intervention or empathy for other people.

Dr. Webb immediately explains that there is no such thing as a needy child, but there is such a thing as a child who is emotionally starved. Needy adults are characterized by their driving desire for those same things a neglected child is- that same love, affection and attention. “Growing up emotionally ignored results in growing up with a tendency to ignore yourself,” she explains. “How can you know yourself when your parents never knew you? How can you feel that you’re lovable when you didn’t feel love from those who brought you into this world and are supposed to love you first and best?”

Recovering from drug and alcohol addiction often includes recovering from a painful childhood and past. Through the therapeutic process of recovery, the underlying issues which led to addictive behaviors are discovered. For adult children of emotionally void homes, drugs and alcohol provided a solace and access to feelings of love. Additionally, substances also provided an escape from the emotional pain.

The Karma of Childhood Trauma: What Science Can Teach Us About Spanking

Parenting styles trend from one generation to the next. Though trends come and go, their karma carries on. Much of the baby boomer generation was raised receiving swift smacks to their bottoms or arms as reprimand. Schoolteachers used to reserve the right to hit students by hand, ruler, or stick. Today, “spanking” is widely recognized as faux pas and lacking in political correctness. Arguments label spanking as “child abuse”, physically and mentally. Until multiple decades have passed there is no way of knowing the true effects of what might seem like a harmless, or helpful, action.  Five decades of study on the effects of spanking were analyzed by researchers, overlooking about 160,000 children.

What Science Can Teach Us About Spanking

Patterns of childhood spanking results in patterns of malbehavior in adolescents and adults. Disobeying and defying authority creates a modus operandi extending far beyond the parents. Both conscious and subconscious manifestations grow from this painful internal conflict. Antisocial behavior, aggression, challenges in cognitive functioning, and problems with mental health are some of the ways childhood spanking can manifest.

Discipline on the behalf of parents is meant to have an immediate effect of compliance. By excising authoritative control through physical pain, a parent hopes to “teach a lesson”. Unfortunately, humans rarely succeed when taking on karma’s job. The true lessons taught by the act of physical punishment resulted in long term damaging effect.

Karma is said to be a relenting teacher. Until the lesson is learned, it will be presented over and over again. Adults who were spanked as children, according to researchers, were more likely to exert physical authority over their own children. Cycling from one generation of parents to the next, the abuse doesn’t end- neither doe the effects.

Problematically, spanking and other forms of physical abuse are seen as separate. Adverse mental repercussions suffered from spanking showed no difference from those of physical abuse- only a slightly lesser intensity.

Stopping the Cycle

Confronting childhood issues requires enduring temporary emotional pain. Karmic cycles do not complete until the karma itself is completed. The pain and suffering caused by childhood spanking didn’t end with adulthood. Each way that pain manifests is like one ongoing hit. It does not have to continue. Making the choice to heal not only results in personal benefit but breaks the chain for generations to come.

Enlightened Solutions sees the hope in healing each day through our work with patients suffering from addiction, alcoholism and co-occurring disorders of mental health. Your suffering can end here. Start healing with us.

For more information on our treatment programs
please call 844-234-LIVE.

ACOA Traits by Geoff Flower

This week our Enlightened Solutions partial care group were educated on Adult Children Of Alcoholics (ACOA) traits.  We have found that many of our clients have grown up in families in which substance abuse has been present.  Addiction is a family disease and it affects all members of the family.  According to 'Adult Children of Alcoholics - The Expanded Edition’ by Janet G. Woititz, Ed.D the typical characteristics of alcoholic families include;

    1. Adult children of alcoholics guess at what normal behavior is.

    2. Adult children of alcoholics have difficulty following a project through from beginning to end.

    3. Adult children of alcoholics lie when it would be just as easy to tell the truth.

    4. Adult children of alcoholics judge themselves without mercy.

    5. Adult children of alcoholics have difficulty having fun.

    6. Adult children of alcoholics take themselves very seriously.

    7. Adult children of alcoholics have difficulty with intimate relationships.

    8. Adult children of alcoholics overreact to changes over which they have no control.

    9. Adult children of alcoholics constantly seek approval and affirmation.

    10. Adult children of alcoholics usually feel that they are different from other people.

    11. Adult children of alcoholics are super responsible or super irresponsible.

    12. Adult children of alcoholics are extremely loyal, even in the face of evidence that the             loyalty is undeserved.

    13. Adult children of alcoholics are impulsive. They tend to lock themselves into a course of action without giving serious consideration to alternative behaviors or possible consequences. This impulsively leads to confusion, self-loathing and loss of control over their environment. In addition, they spend an excessive amount of energy cleaning up the mess. 

We worked collaboratively on identifying and processing how these characteristics have contributed to their own addictive behaviors thus influencing their past and current interpersonal relationships. The group engaged in different psychodramas depicting the distorted communication pattens within the family.  Client’s were given the opportunity to practice healthier interactions in order establish more adaptive ways of being able to communicate needs for support within their recovery.

Breaking these patterns that have been engrained over a period of time is not easily done. The intention behind providing ACOA themed groups is to assist our clients in normalizing these dysfunctional pattens of behavior in order to bring about the beginnings of necessary changes.  This is integral to the ability of our clients to move forward and build healthy meaningful relationships to aid in their recovery from addiction.