Finally, an outpatient addiction program for people who are aren’t

really “joiners!" 

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The Attachment Infused Addiction Treatment (AIAT) Model is designed for people who have not been successful in traditional treatment or Twelve Steps programs because dealing with other people was too hard when sober.  Our personalized 90-120 day program is designed to help you understand the relationship patterns connected to your addiction, and give you the tools to allow people to be part of your recovery solution instead of a threat to your sobriety, There is more detail below, and you can fill in the form on this page if you want to learn more. If people would stress you out if you weren't loaded, you are OUR kind of person!

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Focus of Care

  The Attachment infused Addiction Treatment model, developed by Mary Crocker Cook,  is based on a simple proposal: individuals develop a secure attachment to substances to self-soothe in the absence of adults who cannot see and hear us accurately. While the use of substances is a reliable strategy that makes sense to the user, addiction hijacks the individual’s ability to form effective self-regulation skills and utilize support to achieve long-term sobriety.

 

  

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     WHY does the ability to develop solid

relationships in recovery matter?

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When we look at the research about the things that helps people live the lives the they want to live, especially people who have chosen to stop using drugs, is their ability to develop and keep a strong support system. Said another way, people who cannot develop a few safe relationships tend to relapse. 

 

When you think about your own attempts to not use, or cut down on your using, what was going on between you and the people in your life?

  

• Sometimes, the people in our lives cause us MORE stress and we can’t handle the feelings that come up like anger, disappointment, shame, frustration, fear that they will leave. . . . 

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• Sometimes WE stress the people in our lives because they can’t seem to connect with us. We disappear, don’t respond, accuse them of smothering us, say we’re “going to the store” and returning three days later, and refusing to let anyone get close to us. . . 

 

• Sometimes we are frightened and confused by relationships, and we act out, cause chaos, check out of our bodies, say things we don’t mean. . . 

 

What all of these have in common in the inability

to trust other people.    

 

 

        

 

 Bottom line. . .

 

At the end of the day, most of us are most encouraged and most injured by the people in our world. Most counselors will tell you that regardless of WHY the person is calling to get counseling, it will usually lead back to their childhood and adult relationships. It’s part of being human.

 

Long-term recovering counselors know this and it is one of the reasons we have often tried to encourage people to attend support groups like the Twelve Step groups. The goal is for people to form relationships with people to support them in their sobriety. Sometimes it works like a charm, and sometimes not so much.

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"I know, every time I get sober relationship drama takes me back out"

 

One of the consequences of disrupted early attachment is that we develop strong skills for vigilantly "reading" the outside world to be safe, and as a result do NOT develop ways to monitor and interpret our feelings and physical signals.                                                                                                        

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Adding OverSightMD and even Medical Assisted Craving Medication can help you develop the ability to "read" and track yourself more effectively!

This is an ADD on item to our program, and your counselor can coordinate this with you.

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We are going to be spending time helping you to learn why you have the kind of relationships you do, and your attachment style. You're going to learn how you might be sabotaging the relationships that could be part of a good life, the life you deserve. We are going to spend some time learning something about you, the emotional overwhelm that comes up and gets in the way, and get better at reading yourself and the people around you.

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Everything you think you know about addiction is wrong | Johann Hari

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PY9DcIMGxMs&t=10s

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