Some of our clients are not sure where to go and what to do next in their lives. Rising Roads offers a comprehensive career matching and personality report for our clients and their families looking for more direction as they are moving forward into life. The report utilizes the most up-to-date, reliable and valid psychometric tests available and details four domains: abilities, interests, values, and personality. Where these four domains intersect show the best career matches and areas of study for the individual. This report places the individual on the best career or educational path moving forward. This test is [...]

Meet Sue Gauthier-Pin, AMFT, our expressive arts therapist! We are happy to announce that her recent publication entitled, “The Magic of Monologue: Healing Depression Through Drama” is now available to read on PsychINFO!  In this piece, Sue shares about her personal struggle with depression and finding healing through performing with The Long Beach Community Theater.  She discussed how her autobiographical performance in an applied community theater setting was similar to aspects of drama therapy, mindfulness, and cognitive behavioral therapy.  She also explores how four common treatment goals for depression can be addressed through the process of writing, rehearsing, and performing [...]

If you have already attended a family week with your loved in primary treatment, you learned the entire family usually has some dysfunctional patterns.  A few characteristics are listed below.  Sometimes it is hard for an individual to see these characteristics within themselves.  Parents, siblings and significant others have set up their survival skills, and some of these characteristics have become a way of life.  We often don’t see it is a problem because we justify behaviors with “It’s how I grew up” or “It’s just who I am.”  It helps to get out of ourselves and get curious.  A pattern [...]

I don’t believe in coincidences anymore. One of the most useful skills I am learning at Rising Roads is how to turn around my thinking. To take my pessimistic thoughts, hit the pause button, stay mindful and turn the page to a clear, more positive thought pattern. It has taken me a long time to get to a place of more understanding, to have a desire to let go of my bad habits - and I connect it all to working on self-esteem. While I worked on positive affirmations, step work, and therapy, I began to tend to the garden [...]

In honor of National Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day on March 8, Forbes.com ran an article titled “How Women Experience Addiction Differently Than Men.” For any of you already in recovery, you’re probably feverishly nodding your head just from reading the title alone. We know that as women we experience unique challenges when it comes to addiction and recovery — challenges that are best met with a female-centric approach to treatment. Sadly, until the 1990s when U.S. agencies required federally funded studies to enroll more women, most research on substance use focused on men, explains the author. Today, [...]

A big part of recovery is learning to make better choices – including how we handle stress and what we put into our bodies to nourish our minds and bodies. This is where mindful eating can come into play. Eating slowly and mindfully has been found to boost your mental health. Mindful eating means chewing slowly and focusing your attention on your feelings and senses as you eat. Learning to eat mindfully will teach you how to slow down and enjoy your food, to stop when you’re full and to decipher real hunger from cravings due to stress. Here are [...]

Postpartum depression triggered Ashley Hartshorn’s alcohol use disorder – and, after just five years of alcohol abuse, she died leaving her three children behind. "She wanted so badly to quit drinking, but the shame and the fear kept her from being able to allow herself to reach out for help," Ashley’s mother told USA Today. "Like many, we were ignorant to the effects that alcohol has on the body. I thought she had time, time to hit rock bottom and time to seek help.” Amy Durham, who grew up with a father who abused alcohol, began drinking in her 30s [...]

Did you know that women have double the rate of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as men? The lifetime prevalence of PTSD is 10-12% in women and 5-6% in men. What’s more, PTSD tends to last longer in women – 4 years versus one.  Interestingly, women have been found to experience fewer traumas than men (by a third) and yet their risk of PTSD is higher. This may have to do with the type of trauma, note experts. For example, men who experience combat trauma, accidents, natural disasters and disasters caused by humans are more likely to experience PTSD. For women, [...]

Recovery is an emotional time as you wrestle with a mix of feelings that may have been kept inside for years during active addiction. One day, you may feel angry and the next lonely – and it’s all perfectly normal. That said, a big part of a successful recovery is to understand and accept these feelings so they don’t jeopardize your hard-won sobriety. Here’s a look at a few common emotions you may be struggling with. Stress and anxiety: Many women battle with stress and anxiety during rehab. You’re going through a big life change and you're likely experiencing a [...]

It’s Mental Illness Awareness Week, which was created by the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) and takes place each year during the first week of October. The goal: to educate, raise awareness, and stop stigma surrounding mental illness. According to a National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 7.9 million people in the U.S. experience both a mental disorder and substance use disorder simultaneously. Either disorder — substance use or mental illness — can develop first. Due to a mix of hormones, cultural pressures, and a higher risk for physical and emotional abuse, women are particularly susceptible to depression, anxiety, panic [...]