Tuesday, November 22, 2011

MountainView Recovery Center Offers Drug & Alcohol Facility in San Rafael, CA.

MountainView Recovery Center is an innovative drug and alcohol treatment facility located in San Rafael, California, dedicated to helping young men heal and move forward with their lives.

We provide full-immersion treatments for clients at every stage of drug and alcohol recovery. We understand that when treatment is not successful, faith is broken and hope fades. This is why our approach is different.

We offer:
  • Phase-appropriate strategies where clients are given the right level of structure, limits and freedom for their current level of addiction, preparedness and maturity
  • Real-life tools beyond support therapies to build accountable and functional people in the real world
  • Comprehensive participatory therapies that assist in understanding the complex factors that created their situation, and healthy, effective strategies that allow clients to exploit what they have learned
  • A single-sex, all-male setting where people can recover and readjust in a safe and distraction-free environment
  • Clinically driven social-model atmosphere
Mission

Our mission is to offer treatment programs that provide the utmost support to clients and their families as they face these uncertain and difficult times. We provide an upbeat and compassionate treatment experience with an emphasis on life-long sobriety.

Philosophy

We believe that when clients participate in their own healing and positive therapeutic opportunities are utilized, long-term recovery is achievable. We also know how important it is to integrate real life and community from the very beginning of this process. Real-time intervention is also essential, while incorporating 12-step beliefs and principles.


PRIMARY CARE

Where We Begin: Personalized Treatment

No two individuals have the same addiction history or face the same set of circumstances while getting clean and sober. Consequently, the methods by which each person achieves sobriety are unique. MountainView addresses the individual needs of those suffering from alcohol and chemical dependency. We also treat process addictions, such as sex, relationships, and gambling that may surface once a person’s primary addiction is under control.

Admission

Soon after arriving at MountainView, a client will meet with his admission counselor and primary therapist to do a psychosocial assessment; discussing his drug and alcohol use, family history of addiction, and other important factors related to treatment. A client will then receive a psychiatric assessment by our psychiatrist and also meet with an addiction specialist, an M.D., to address his detox needs

90-day Recovery Program

Our 90-day Recovery Program is the cornerstone for maintaining sobriety. It begins with an initial global assessment and stabilization period. During this time our clinical team establishes a formal Individualized Treatment Plan. Our goal is to identify the participant’s core issues and major stumbling blocks to recovery.

Detox

It is not uncommon for a person entering addiction recovery to require detox. In such cases, our professional staff makes sure individuals get the proper and necessary medical attention.

The length of detox will often vary depending on the type of addiction, though a typical detox period lasts between 2-3 days.


EXTENDED CARE

Additional Support for Drug and Alcohol Addiction

The road to recovery is unpredictable, and after primary care clients will often need additional support before transitioning back to everyday life. Extended care, to be sure, diminishes the likelihood of further relapse and presents an opportunity for additional healing.

Deciding whether to undergo extended care should be done with the assistance of a supportive team of professionals, the encouragement of loved ones, and reflecting on the life skills one has cultivated while going through primary care. The decision should never be made lightly: Addiction is a complicated brain disease, and relapse is a common experience for those in all stages of recovery.

Our extended care program is available for those who are seeking help in restoring hope and breaking the cycle of addiction.

When a commitment to sobriety is made within a therapeutic setting, a life that is deeply out of balance can be fully restored


Residential Treatment Programs

Dual Diagnosis

For people in recovery, a dual diagnosis of a drug addiction combined with a mental health disorder is quite common. Our staff has significant expertise and experience at handling the added complexity of addressing overlapping symptoms of such a diagnosis.

It may not be clear whether the substance abuse or the mental health illness came first; nevertheless, it is vital for someone in detox to receive treatment for both their mental health issue and substance addiction. Our integrated treatment options help individuals with prescription medication, individual counseling and/or group therapy.

Family Therapy

The motivation and encouragement of family can play a significant role in a person’s addiction recovery. Family therapy can help break the addiction cycle by encouraging better ways for a substance abuser and his family to communicate and resolve problems.

Family Therapy often identifies and helps resolve significant issues that inhibit interpersonal growth. The tools learned in family therapy can also help guide the addict and his family toward making better choices related to unhealthy family patterns.

Group Counseling

Social reinforcement is a key benefit offered in group counseling because it brings greater clarity to rehab and recovery.

Group discussions focus on all aspects of recovery and encourage a drug-free lifestyle. The principles of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy are often utilized. Positive outcomes are enhanced when group counseling is offered with other programs offered in individualized care.

For more information, speak directly with one of our team member (800) 617-5312 or visit our website @ http://mountainviewrecovery.com.

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Spiritual Journey of a New Age seeker to Jesus Christ and Eastern Orthodox Christianity

How did a New Age seeker wind up in the Eastern Orthodox Church?

The Pearl of Great Price is the story of a unique Christian conversion. It is about the spiritual journey of a wayward Catholic New Age Baby Boomer to Jesus Christ and Eastern Orthodox Christianity.

  • "If you don't believe in the reality of spiritual warfare,
  • if you are convinced that miracles belong to a bygone era,
  • if you have always assumed that all paths to the Orthodox Church are basically the same,

then you must read The Pearl of Great Price.

The book is likewise a precious gem—a moving memoir that you are sure to treasure for its grateful testament to the grace of God."

Bobby Maddex, Operations Manager, Ancient Faith Radio Senior Editor, Salvo Magazine"

About the Author

My book is about seeking and finding. It is a unique story of Christian conversion. "I journeyed long and far to discover my Pearl of Great Price." As many youths in my baby boomer generation, I became disillusioned with the Catholic Church. Eventually, due to a severe health crisis which traditional medicine could not effectively treat, I turned to alternative medicine treatment, the teachings of a guru, meditation, Eastern religions, and metaphysics. I became a massage therapist, spiritual healer and teacher. Yet for all my meditation techniques, fasting and praying; true inner peace eluded me. I was told "follow your heart", but the spiritual paths and meditation techniques I used and practiced in the end did not truly quench my inner spiritual thirst.

Through a series of remarkable relationships and deep reflection I realized I had to come to terms with my past and my issues not only the church, but Christianity in general. Not until I had healed and reconciled both personally and with the church could I move beyond judging it and myself to be able to touch the heart of my personal struggles to find the "Truth, the Way and the Light" in Jesus Christ and Eastern Orthodox Christianity. How God could bring me from a total immersion into Eastern Religions and the New Age to the Eastern Orthodox Church amazes me still!  I would not have imagined becoming Christian would have been the outcome of my struggles and spiritual journey.

I live in Marin County, California, with my husband, Gregory, and our two adorable dogs, Bisou and Bubba. We currently attend St. Nicholas Orthodox Church in San Anselmo, where I sing in the choir. I am quite involved in the study and spiritual practices of the early church.  I especially want to connect with other Orthodox women about how to bring others to Eastern Orthodox Christianity and how my book would be helpful in their Christian ministry.

 

Review by Daniel R. Duncan, San Francisco, CA USA:

What's remarkable about Veronica Hughes' "Pearl" is its quiet candor, where one usually finds a strident and defensive proselytism.

She describes her previous spiritual explorations with even-handed respect, even when she has found a greater fulfillment in Orthodoxy. Especially interesting is the respectful way she describes her previous relationships in New Age organizations in which she was even a pioneer. This readiness to describe while being reluctant to judge seems to be part of an Orthodox perspective.

She does not call names, but describes events, again, in an even-handed and honest way that is rare in accounts of conversion. She thus honors the search that has led her, and may lead others, to Orthodoxy.

And now that she is fully immersed in Orthodoxy, this reader looks forward to her further adventures in its spiritual landscape for, indeed, every Christian must heed Christ's admonition to seek and to knock so that the truth may answer. For when truth is alive, it does not stand and stagnate. Veronica's account so far promises a similarly quiet candor as she finds the next steps in her journey.

Indeed, her measured perspective will be especially welcome as she goes more and more deeply into this great tradition.

Order The Pearl of Great Price from www.pearlofgreatpriceorthodox.com