Front Line Guide
Let’s contemplate it - shaming and blaming the person with a substance use disorder is old news from the 1980s when we were collectively waging a war against people who society scapegoats as the, “addict” and the “alcoholic.” Historic ways of learning, living, and loving are not working any more. We (Yes, us.) are in the midst of revolutionary change (Yes, now).
Humanity is at the edge of its own surrender. Love and Fear stand in the ring together, facing off. As licensed alcohol and drug abuse counselor, I work on the front line of this change. The new ways haven’t been fully realized or implemented yet. Since there is no instruction book on how this change is gonna go, I change with intention. I guide. I do not pretend to have the answers.
Writing this, I am reminded of my emotionally brutal pandemic months. I was sick, alone, and isolated. I got very still. I went inward with intention. I listened for minutes that turned into hours. The hours turned into days. My days evolved into weeks. The weeks were blurred together and transformed into months. I got so still my stillness became still. Emptiness. Nothing and everything. In this stillness, I contemplated many things and one was, what it really means for me to be here now.
The stillness of contemplation uncovered some things I already knew in my subconscious. I teach the integration of transforming shame into treasure. I teach how perfect, beautiful, divine, and loved everyone is. In the work I do, I get to witness clients come to the belief that they are worthy of love and belonging. We thrive in love with our tribes.
When they first arrive in my office, each person carries invisible packs overflowing with mountains of moral wrongness stigma, self-shaming, historical trauma, childhood disconnection, and chronic diseases like arthritis, cancer, diabetes, and heart failure. Holding space gets painful really fast. It hurts my heart feeling humanity’s hopelessness as we strive for a perfection that we will never attain. Right here, embedded in this blog post are some answers to filling those empty places. Ready for it? We already have enough. We already know enough. We already do enough. We are loved. We are magnificent. We are okay. We are connected. We are wanted. We are the answers to our prayers. Once we remember who we are, we can relax into our hearts, our living, and each other’s love.
As a therapist, a coach, a trainer, a mentor, and a spiritual guide, I help get people to where they want to be. Together, we alchemize pain into promise. We transmute scars into purpose. We excavate attachment wounds. I delight in showing clients their hero’s journey. I help return people to themselves, to their center, to their spiritual experiences.
We have time to sit in stillness. Doing nothing accomplishes so much. I am a death-to-life dula. It is the haunted ghost who enters my office. I co-create plans with clients and help each person find their way back into their bodies and into living here and now.
I am a small part in ending the stigma and shame of addiction - one session at a time, one person at a time, one moment at time. On the front line. Acting from wisdom of my heart, I have everything I need. And, so do you.
Written July 25, 2024