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Anxiety is an underlying cause of addiction. Calm Your Mind with Food: A Revolutionary Guide to Controlling Your Anxiety, by addressing anxiety through food and nutrition choices, is a helpful guide for those in recovery. Dr. Uma Naidoo strikes a good balance between scientific explanations and practical advice. The book includes recipes and meal plans to calm the mind, and

It was as if my heart woke me up before the sound of my baby crying out to me. It was around 2:30am and I quickly picked him up, held him close, and swayed back and forth as I felt him collapse into my arms. I started to sing to him and felt him slowly find calmness. My arms were

On December 10, 2025, NCPSG hosted a Pathway Session on Setting Boundaries to Promote Recovery. Jacqueline Barbaro, LPC, a Westport-based therapist, was the speaker. She has a long track record working with families and their loved ones struggling with addiction. Jacqui started off with her thoughts on how to set boundaries, They included: Given the likelihood of pushback, Jacqueline gave

Some call it a white-light moment. I choose to frame it as a moment of clarity. As I sat there at the end of my childhood bed with my younger brother, scared and begging me to be honest, I had that moment of clarity. Eight years of my substance use history and the patterned behavior that came with it washed

We’ve been exploring how nutritional lifestyle changes can make a difference for both loved ones and their family members. Fascinating work is being done by a number of practitioners of integrative medicine, functional nutrition health coaching, and functional/integrative psychiatry. All of these pathways can alter physical, mental and spiritual health. With all the non-pharmaceutical work taking place, I must question

Randye Kaye is a radio personality, actress, speaker and podcaster (Schizophrenia: 3 Moms in the Trenches), who performed a one-woman show on Wednesday, November 12, 2025 in Fairfield.  She is also the author of an honest, vulnerable book that delves into her son’s long journey with addiction and paranoid schizophrenia. Her story is inspirational to others also addressing severe mental

On November 5, 2025, NCPSG hosted a Pathway Session on Recovery from Technology Addiction with two clinicians, Michael Shelby, LPC, and John Markette, LPC, both based in the West Hartford area. While I was originally looking for a speaker to address ADD and ADHD, I was convinced by the speakers to focus on an emerging addiction in our digital world.

My sobriety began on May 5th, 2016, a day I don’t actually remember. The night before,I overdosed at my parents’ home, on what I thought was heroin. The overdose left meunable to form new memories for several days. I remember waking up confused, aclipboard beside me explaining what had happened, and friends and family visiting.What I remember most, though, was

I didn’t know Laura Williams. It was such a shock when I read the news post on my phone of a murder in New Canaan. She had died at the hand of her own young adult son, who had struggled with his mental health and learning differences for years apparently, and “self-medicated” with THC based on his online profile. This

On October 8, 2025, NCPSG hosted a Pathway Session on Recovery from THC Addiction with Amy Swift, MD, Deputy Chief Medical Officer at Silver Hill Hospital. Most of the session, in both Amy’s prepared remarks and in the Q&A session, covered the intersection between use of high-potency THC and mental health. While Amy stopped short of making a direct causal