Pathway on Cortisol & Lifestyle Medicine Informative

On Wednesday, March 13, 2024, we hosted Raquel Harrison, MD, a local Lifestyle Medicine and emergency physician, for an in-person Pathway Session on managing cortisol for health and recovery. Lifestyle Medicine is a relatively new medical specialty based on the vital role that lifestyle choices play in preventing and reversing chronic diseases. Thee are six pillars of lifestyle medicine: plant-forward …

Book Review – Pleasure Unwoven: A Personal Journey About Addiction, Kevin McCauley, MD

Pleasure Unwoven is a 1-hour video and accompanying workbook about addiction, with a focus on the hedonic pleasure aspect of addiction. The author is a doctor in recovery who uses the beautiful Utah landscape to ask the question: does addiction fits the standard “disease model”? His answer is YES, because addiction is a stress-induced defect that causes dysregulation of the …

Recovery Blog Post – Ethan

I grew up in an upper middle-class family in Bethany, CT. From the outside looking in, my family was an ordinary American family. My mom and dad were well-educated. My mom was an artist, and my dad ran the family recycling business. What most people didn’t see was that my mother suffered from severe manic depression and when I was …

Move to Heal Pathway Inspiring

On Wednesday, February 21, 2024, we hosted Ethan Hershman and Colleen Delaney, co-founders of the nonprofit group Move to Heal (MTH). It was an insightful session about a recovery approach that is growing rapidly from 1 outlet in 2021 to 24 locations by the end of the year. I first became aware of Move to Heal when Ian Parker, in …

THC Pathway with Jordan Davidson was a Big Success

On Wednesday, January 17, 2024, we hosted Jordan Davidson, Government Affairs Manager at Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) and a man in long-term recovery from THC addiction. I first became aware of Jordan because his mom who used to attend our parent support meetings when Jordan was in the early days of his recovery. He a recent graduate of American …

Recovery Blog Post – Lisa

I remember the week that I stopped drinking in 1988. Early in that week, I remember praying. I prayed to a God that I wasn’t sure existed. I wasn’t thinking of recovery at this point, just trying to save myself from loneliness, anger, and resentment. I prayed for an alternative to my bleak future. During that week I had evacuated …

Recovery Blog Post – Meghan

Before I started using drugs and alcohol, I remember feeling a sense of impending doom and a huge void in my life. These feelings were hard for a nine-year-old girl to comprehend. I remember sobbing to my mom once and saying “I just want to go home” as I was sitting in my bed. Of course, I was home, but …

Boundaries Pathway Session a Big Success

On Monday, December 11, at St. Mark’s Church, our guest speaker Frank Bartolomeo, PhD, spoke on setting boundaries to promote recovery. Frank is s a nationally-recognized expert in mental health amd substance use. Frank has a private psychotherapy practice in addition to being the Founder and Director of the Well Center for Development, both based in New Canaan. In addition, …