If you are familiar with my philosophy and approach to therapy, then you probably know that I do not love the term mental health. Ironic, I know, since I am a therapist. The term Mental Health can be dehumanizing and often comes with stigma attached.. We talk about it as if some people have it and some do not. All of us have mental health. It is part of being human. I like the think that I work in the field of human experience. Part of being alive is suffering, stress, an exhausted central nervous system, and that scary word: anxiety.

The ripple effect of addiction, can be seen over multiple generations. Not all addictive tendencies express themselves through substance abuse. They can express through codependency, shopping, food, gambling, and other pleasure seeking/pain avoidance techniques.