Meth Addiction: Triggered by Weightloss and Body Image issues.

Here at Coaching With Substance we are noticing a disturbing new trend of teenage girls and young women who use the drug crystal meth to lose weight -- up to 18 kilograms a month.

This is a recipe for disaster. This combination of body image issues and the drug's weight loss appeal.

Crystal meth, the street version of the drug methamphetamine, is an a very addictive stimulant that causes elation and alertness in addition to curbing appetite. Meth users can smoke, snort, inject or swallow the drug.

  

They usually ingest a crude combination of cold medicine, brake cleaner, fertiliser, drain cleaner and iodine along with a myriad of other chemicals.

Meth is an appetite suppressant. It's a drug that will give you stimulation for 12 hours, with no need to eat and no need to sleep. It's also cheap -- between $5 to $10 per hit -- and has consequently been labelled the "poor man's cocaine."

Young women know and find out quickly that there are drugs that do reduce your appetite and cause you to lose weight, and meth is so affordable.

At CWS we are recording and alarming increase of calls from parents of teenage girls aged12 to 18. These women have such a distorted body image.

According to the World Health Organization, methamphetamine is the most widely used illicit drug in the world after cannabis. We're in this era of stimulant drugs -- "the need for speed". But when it comes to body image, we also seem to have the need to be thin.

Methamphetamine has been around for decades. It was marketed in North America in the 1920s as a weight-loss drug. It was touted for its dietary benefits. It's amazing that in the first place this drug was used was for weight loss.

Meth is relatively simple to make. There are thousands of recipes on the Internet and police estimate that an investment of about $150 can yield an amount worth about $10,000 on the street. But it also has lethal side effects. Meth use can cause insomnia, hallucinations, paranoia and anxiety as well as heart problems, convulsion, brain damage and death.

IF YOU OR SOMEONE YOU LOVE IS IN THE GRIPS OF METH ADDICTION CALL US TODAY FOR IMMEDIATE ASSISTANCE. PHONE 07 560 66315

Web: www.coachingwithsubstance.org.au

Email info@coachingwithsubstance.org.auinfo@coachingwithsubstance.org.au

ABOUT COACHING WITH SUBSTANCE (WINNER Best Not-for-Profit 2014)

We are Australia's leading award winning addiction treatment and rehab consultants for gambling, drugs, alcohol, sex, eating and internet addiction, along with eating behavioural disorders and co-dependency for Australasia and New Zealand. Call us on 07 5606 6315 if you want to speak to an Addiction Specialist.

Our Founder, Maria Pau is a 4x No. 1 best-selling author on the subjects of addiction and co-dependency and spiritual wellness. She is the Program Director of Coaching with Substance, the first of its kind in Australia as registered public benevolent institution, charity and not-for profit association that focuses on wellness using coaching principles of peak performance. She is currently completing her PhD on Recovery Coaching and is the first registered Recovery Coach in Australia.

We run a cutting edge holistic addiction treatment program and outpatient rehabilitation consultancy firm that ensures you are released from the shackles of addiction once and for all. Primary care at CWS is personalised to treat each individual using programs that integrate mind, body and soul. CWS programs are enhanced by highly effective group coaching and therapeutic processes as well as individual coaching, spiritual insights, therapy and extensive aftercare assistance.

All clients are thoroughly assessed by a highly trained and experienced recovery coach, registered provisional psychologist, ordained Taoist Monk, mental health officer and certified naturopaths (including Ayurveda and Acupuncturist). Clients may also be referred for psychometric testing and assessment, if needed. International clients welcome.

We welcome enquiries from all English speaking people from Asia, Europe, Africa, India and South America.

Addiction in the Family

Addiction in the Family Addiction is a complex issue. It affects every member of the family and can have a lasting impact on their lives. The effect on family members varies from person to person and family to family.

Family members may become codependent on the addiction.

How Does an Addiction Develop?

Addiction is a process rather than an event. In the beginning, people often don’t experience any difficulties. As their use continues, they may begin to focus more on the alcohol, drugs or gambling than they do on the other areas of their lives. This process is often influenced by a number of factors, including the culture they live in, life events, their biological makeup and

their relationships with family and friends.

Researchers have looked at genetics, environment, and the combination of these two to explain how dependence develops.  Right now, it’s believed that some people are genetically susceptible to becoming dependent. But this by itself is not enough to develop an addiction. A person’s life circumstances play an important role in determining whether or not a person becomes dependent.

How Does an Addiction Affect the Family?

When a family member has a dependency, the whole family usually develops ways of coping with the problems associated with the dependency. Often, there is less communication: the family avoids talking about the issue, avoids expressing emotions, and may keep the addiction secret from the community. Some family members may take on some of the responsibilities abandoned by the addicted person. This is called codependency.

While these coping strategies may help the family to operate more smoothly

and get along better, they may also allow the dependency to continue.

Unfortunately, family members may also use alcohol, drugs or gambling themselves as a way of coping with the problems in their family.

Members of an addicted family often experience loneliness, frustration, fear, anger and shame. They may also feel a sense of hopelessness about the situation. It’s important for them to realise that the addiction is not their fault. Often, seeking outside help from a Treatment Rehab, support group or professional counsellor can help them cope with what is going on in their family.

How Does an Addiction Affect the Children?

Addiction often creates an unstable family environment. Parents may not

effectively discipline their children or provide them with training in basic life skills. Children may feel insecure or unloved. They may also begin to take on adult responsibilities that are not appropriate to their age. Children in families where an addiction is present are more likely to show anti-social behaviour and have problems such as skipping school, aggressiveness, hyperactivity and eating disorders.

Is There Any Good News?

Living with an addicted person is not easy, but most children are resilient.

This means that they can overcome these difficult circumstances and become strong, healthy adults. They build on their own and others’ strengths. 

For those who may have resulting problems, help is available at COACHING WITH SUBSTANCE.

A good starting point is to talk to people who have experienced a family addiction or alcoholism. If you or someone you love is in the grips of any addiction call us today in confidence for immediate help.

COACHING WITH SUBSTANCE  PH 07 5606 6315 (7days)  

Confidentiality and privacy assured.

INTERNATIONAL CALLERS 61 7 5606 6315

EMAIL info@coachingwithsubstance.org.au

We are Australia's leading award winning addiction treatment and rehab consultants for gambling, drugs, alcohol, sex, eating and internet addiction, along with eating behavioural disorders and co-dependency for Australasia and New Zealand.

Maria Pau is a 4x No. 1 best-selling author on the subjects of addiction and co-dependency and spiritual wellness. She is the Program Director of Coaching with Substance, the first of its kind in Australia as registered public benevolent institution, charity and not-for profit association that focuses on wellness using coaching principles of peak performance. We run a cutting edge holistic addiction treatment program and outpatient rehabilitation consultancy firm that ensures you are released from the shackles of addiction once and for all.

Primary care at CWS is personalised to treat each individual using programs that integrate mind, body and soul. CWS programs are enhanced by highly effective group coaching and therapeutic processes as well as individual coaching, spiritual insights, therapy and extensive aftercare assistance.

All clients are thoroughly assessed by a highly trained and experienced recovery coach, registered provisional psychologist, ordained Monk, mental health officer and certified naturopaths (including Ayurveda and Acupuncturist). Clients may also be referred for psychometric testing and assessment, if needed. International clients welcome.

We welcome enquiries from all English speaking people from Asia, Europe, Africa, India and South America.

Addiction and The FAMILY: The Family roles.

Addiction a Family Disease!

The Merry-Go-Round of DENIAL

Addiction is a tragic three act play in which there is at least two characters, the addict and their family; friends; co-workers and even healthcare workers may have a part in keeping the Merry-Go-Round turning.

ACT ONE

The play opens with the addict stating that no one can tell them what to do. This makes it very difficult for the family to talk about drinking/drugging and its results. Even when the drinking/drugging is obviously causing serious problems, they simply will not discuss it. Talking is like a one-way street.

The key word in addiction is Denial, for again and again people do what they say they will not or deny what they have done.

As the addict acts out more and more, the helpers deny the problem and increase the addicts' dependency.

In act one, the addict kills all their pain and woes by getting drunk or getting high.

ACT TWO

In act two, the addict does nothing but wait for and expect others to do for them. Distinct characters begin to evolve from their helpers. A person can play more than one character and usually does.

The Enabler

The Enabler is a helpful type, trying to rescue their friend or family member from their predicament. The Enabler wants to save the addict from the immediate crisis and relieve them of the unbearable tension created by the situation.

In reality, this person is meeting a need of their own, rather than that of the addict, although the Enabler does not realise this themselves.

The Enabler denies the addict the process of learning by correcting and taking responsibility for their own mistakes.

The Enabler may eventually insist they will never again rescue the addict. They always have and the addict believes they always will.

The Victim

This may be the boss, the employer, the foreman or supervisor. The Victim is the person who is responsible for getting the work done, if the addict is absent due to drinking or drugging or is half on and half off the job due to a hangover.

The addict becomes completely dependent on this repeated protection and cover-up by the Victim; otherwise they could not continue acting out in this fashion. If the Victim stops helping, the addict will be compelled to give up drinking/drugs or give up the job.

It is the Victim who enables the addict to continue their irresponsible addictive behaviour without losing their job.

The Provoker

This is often the wife or mother and is a key person in the play. They are a veteran at this role and has played it much longer than others. They are the Provoker. They are hurt and upset by repeated acting out episodes; but they hold the family together despite all the trouble caused by the addiction/s.

In turn, they feed back in the relationship their bitterness, resentment, fear and hurt, and so becomes the source of provocation. They control, and try to force the changes they want; they sacrifice, adjust, never give up, never gives in, but never forgets.

The attitude of the addict is that their failure should be acceptable, but others must never fail the addict! They act with complete independence and insists they will do as they please.

This character might also be called the Adjuster. They are constantly adjusting to the crisis and trouble caused by the addiction/s.

Act two is now played out in full. Everything is done for the addict and not by them. The results, effects and problems caused by addiction, have been removed by others. The painful results of the addictive behaviour were suffered by persons other than the addict. This permits them to continue in their addiction as a way to solve their problems.

ACT THREE

Act three begins much like act one. The need to deny dependence is now greater for the addict and must be expressed almost at once, and even more emphatically. The alcoholic/drug addict denies they have a problem, denies they are an alcoholic or drug addict, denies that alcohol/drugs is causing their trouble. The addict refuses to acknowledge that anyone helped them – more denial. They deny that they may lose their job and insists that they are the best or most skilled person at their job. Above all, the addict denies they have caused their family any trouble. In fact, the addict blames the family, especially the spouse/parent, for all the fuss, nagging and problems.

Some addicts achieve the same denial by a stony silence, refusing to discuss anything related to their addiction. The memory is too painful.

The real problem is that the alcoholic/drug addict is well aware of the truth which they so strongly deny. The are aware of the drunkenness and chaos and the failure. Their guilt and remorse have become unbearable and the addict cannot tolerate criticism or advice from others.

Above all, the memory of their utter helplessness and failure is more than embarrassing; it is far too painful for a person who thinks and acts as if they were a little god in their own world.

The wheel goes round and round.

The curtain never closes after act three, but instead the acts run over and over again. As years go by the actors get older, but there is little change in the words or the action of the play.

It is not true that an alcoholic/drug addict cannot be helped until they want help. It is true that there is almost no chance that the addict will stop drinking or drugging as long as other people remove all the painful consequences for them. The other actors find it difficult to change. It is much easier and far less painful for them to say that the addict cannot be helped, than to go through the agony of learning to play a new role.

Self-creating crisis

If the addictive behaviour continues long enough, the addict creates a crisis, gets into trouble, and ends up in a mess. This can happen in many ways, but the pattern is always the same: they are a dependent who behaves as if they were independent, and drinking or drugging makes it easy to convince themselves this is true. Yet the results of their acting out make them ever more dependent upon others.

When their self-created crisis strikes, they wait for something to happen, ignore it, walks away from it, or cries for someone to get them out of it. Alcohol or drugs, which at first gave them a sense of success and independence, has now stripped them of their mask and reveals a helpless, dependent child.

The crisis is a way of reassuring the addict that they have control over the other players in the play.

The Little God

No one has a right to play God and demand that the addict stop. The reverse is also true. The addict can only continue to act like a little god, telling everyone what to do, while doing as they please, if a supporting cast continues to play their roles. Every player has every right and responsibility to refuse to act as if the addict in their lives were God whose every wish and commandment be obeyed.

Ending the play

There is no easy way to stop the merry-go-round, for it can be more painful to stop it than to keep it going. It is impossible to spell out definite rules which apply to all members of the play. Each case is different, but the framework of the play remains the same.

If you see yourself in this play do not despair there is help. Our specially trained and experienced coaches at Coaching With Substance fully understand this process and are very skilful in helping families and the addict break this cycle and help all players into a quality recovery. CALL US TODAY FOR HELP 07 560 66315 

COACHING WITH SUBSTANCE (CWS) ADDICTION RECOVERY COACHES.

Website www.coachingwithsubstance.org.au      

Email info@coachingwithsubstance.org.au

We are Australia's leading award winning addiction treatment and rehab consultants for gambling, drugs, alcohol, sex, eating and internet addiction, along with eating behavioural disorders and co-dependency for Australasia and New Zealand.

Maria Pau is a 4x No. 1 best-selling author on the subjects of addiction and co-dependency and spiritual wellness. She is the Program Director of Coaching with Substance, the first of its kind in Australia as registered public benevolent institution, charity and not-for profit association that focuses on wellness using coaching principles of peak performance. We run a cutting edge holistic addiction treatment program and outpatient rehabilitation consultancy firm that ensures you are released from the shackles of addiction once and for all.

Primary care at CWS is personalised to treat each individual using programs that integrate mind, body and soul. CWS programs are enhanced by highly effective group coaching and therapeutic processes as well as individual coaching, spiritual insights, therapy and extensive aftercare assistance.

All clients are thoroughly assessed by a highly trained and experienced recovery coach, registered provisional psychologist, ordained Monk, mental health officer and certified naturopaths (including Ayurveda and Acupuncturist). Clients may also be referred for psychometric testing and assessment, if needed. International clients welcome.

We welcome enquiries from all English speaking people from Asia, Europe, Africa, India and South America.

ADDICTION RECOVERY COACHING: Why this model of ADDICTION Recovery is needed in Australia.

ADDICTION RECOVERY COACHING: Why this model of ADDICTION Recovery is needed in Australia.

September 2014

 Part of recovery and avoiding relapse involves gaining new life skills and having a new vision for your life. One way to work through specific issues and keep on learning and growing is to work with a Certified Recovery Coach. Sponsors in 12-step programs focus on the steps and traditions to help people stay clean and sober. Recovery coaches are not necessarily affiliated with a 12-step program and focus on the present and future in helping clients make lifestyle changes and move forward to meet their goals and increase their life satisfaction.

Recovery from any addiction requires a massive recalibration in thinking and behaviour. For years, life has been organised around using alcohol, drugs, or other addictive disorders like gambling and food addictions, sex addictions etc, to avoid feelings.  To be suddenly expected to stop and confront those feelings and all the damage left in the wake of past  destructive behaviour can be tremendously difficult. Individuals wanting to recover from addiction, need HOPE! It helps to have support from someone who is compassionate and understanding, someone who will hold you accountable, tell you the truth and support you through the process of building a new life.

Maria Pau and her team are leading experts and trainers in Coaching With Substance (CWS), a leader and pioneer in the field of Recovery Coaching in Australia. Maria and her highly trained team put you, not your challenges with drugs, at the centre of the coaching process. As the founder of the first recovery coaching training school, Pau trains people to coach the recovery process and also work with private clients seeking quality and sustained recovery from all types of addiction and other mental health and co-occurring issues.

Recovery Coaching was originally developed for people already in recovery to enjoy their lives more, because people who enjoy life are more likely to stick with recovery.  So a recovery life coach helps you find your strengths and apply them to create a better life.

Though she’s remained abstinent for many years, Pau still considers herself a woman in recovery from addiction and co-dependency. She’s used her deep and integrated understanding of change to develop the philosophical basis for her coaching program.

“Everyone asks the drinker or the drug addict, why don’t you just walk away? Can’t you see it’s hurting you?” says Pau. “What they don’t understand is that using drugs, alcohol or gambling is the only way we know to cope and it’s hard to give that up.

Recovery from addiction and co-dependency is different for every person, but traditional approaches use a one-size-fits-all acute care model: go to treatment for 30 days and then don’t use ever again.  As a Treatment Centre owner for 14 years, I can tell you most people are not able to do that. The majority relapse within the first 90 days and are sent to treatment again. That’s an expensive and ineffective approach. From my long history of addiction myself and working with hundreds of people over many years I have come to accept that people facing addiction need ongoing support, not punishment or repeated treatment.

Recovery Coaching is an excellent change agent because coaching is based on a partnership model; there’s equal power between the coach and the client and the client chooses their own goals for recovery. In dialog with the coach, the client develops recovery goals, and comes up with a plan and strategies for success. The coach is there to facilitate and support that person’s change and works with them for as long as the client wants coaching support.

Addiction Recovery coaching was birthed to provide experience-based support for individuals and families across the stages of long-term recovery – spanning pre-recovery priming, recovery initiation and stabilisation, recovery maintenance, and enhanced quality of personal and family life in long-term recovery. No other existing helping role offers that type and span of support.

It has been discovered that, when coaching approaches are introduced to recovering people looking to build and develop change in their lives, they work. This should be no surprise. It is widely accepted and known that coaching as a relationship technology and approach works when proficiently practiced. Experienced based support, the main emergence of recovery coaching has been in the peer-to-peer support environment and movement which has existed for some time in mutual-aid organisations, as well as in developing recovery communities.

 THE KEY CONCEPTS AND APPROACHES

Recovery comes from the person recovering. The key principle on which recovery coaches rest their practice is that recovery is something that is generated by the person looking for, or in recovery. This deep respect for an individual’s ability and resourcefulness in finding their own path to recovery lies at the heart of recovery coaching.

Recovery coaching is systemic. Recovery coaching recognises that recovery develops and takes place in series of relationships in a system or network. The coach works with their client to develop the client’s understanding of this system, its assets and debits and the risks it poses to their recovery.

Recovery Coaching always grounds in action and accountability. All recovery coaching sessions ground in agreed action that the client will take. The coach creates agreed accountability feedback with their client so that they have an external process by which to evaluate the consequences of actions taken, or not taken, on their own lives.

The agenda for a recovery coaching session always flows from the client.

Accessing resources. Recovery coaches can be an invaluable gateway to resources that may be practical – such as local meetings – or more general, conceptual, philosophical or educational. The emphasis is on coaching the client as they develop a relationship to and interact with these resources.

The recovery-coach relationship is consciously designed between coach and client. The emphasis is on the client’s needs and requirements. The solid and clear design of the relationship provides a strong container which, adjusted as and when the client and coach agree providing a robust and powerful place for the client to be present.

Recovery coaching is applicable across all models and approaches to recovery. As recovery coaches have no agenda other than to assist and support others to find and develop recovery, whatever that might be to the client, they work with whatever particular recovery pathway a client is developing at any given time.

Recovery Coaches are not experts in treatment nor are they offering it. Recovery coaching is an addition to the existing environment and should be seen as new combination of tools which performs a particular role and function outside of medical or therapeutic treatments but often in alliance with them.

What is its impact? People receiving recovery coaching report increased feelings of confidence in their approach to and experience of recovery, a deepening of their belief in their own existing and future capabilities and positive actions. Also reported are feelings of being respected and individuated, of not being cogs in a system or recipients of a program of treatment. There is also an increased sense of the possibility of self determination. The process and experience of being a recovery coach and receiving recovery coach training also instigates a ‘self coaching’ facility which impacts as much on the personal development of the recovery coaches as it does on the people they support.

HOW IS COACHING DIFFERENT FROM A 12 STEP SPONSOR?

Sponsors come from 12-step programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous, Sex Addicts Anonymous, and Gamblers Anonymous. Sponsors are not paid professionals; they benefit personally from the service they give you by staying clean and sober or abstinent themselves.

A sponsor’s job is to help their sponsee stay clean, abstinent, or sober by working through the 12 steps and using the program and fellowship effectively to stop the addictive behaviour.

Sponsors have a singleness of purpose—they stick with the steps and traditions. Often the focus is on cleaning up the past. A coach isn’t limited to using the steps and traditions and coaches don’t focus on the past. Recovery Coaching is not affiliated with any 12-step program and does not promote a particular path or way to recover. However, many recovery coaches are members of 12-step programs and have both a sponsor and a coach! A coach’s job is to challenge and support their client as they make lifestyle changes and begin to have a better quality of life.

If you or someone you love is in the grips of addiction and or co-dependency, or is in early recovery and struggling contact us TODAY PH 07 560 66315 (7days) or EMAIL info@coachingwithsubstance.org.au  

Our Website http://www.coachingwithsubstance.org.au

If you are interested in becoming a coach and part of our team call us 0403 328 311

We are Australia's leading award winning addiction treatment and rehab consultants for gambling, drugs, alcohol, sex, eating and internet addiction, along with eating behavioural disorders and co-dependency for Australasia and New Zealand.

Maria Pau is a 4x No. 1 best-selling author on the subjects of addiction and co-dependency and spiritual wellness. She is the Program Director of Coaching with Substance, the first of its kind in Australia as registered public benevolent institution, charity and not-for profit association that focuses on wellness using coaching principles of peak performance. We run a cutting edge holistic addiction treatment program and outpatient rehabilitation consultancy firm that ensures you are released from the shackles of addiction once and for all.

Primary care at CWS is personalised to treat each individual using programs that integrate mind, body and soul. CWS programs are enhanced by highly effective group coaching and therapeutic processes as well as individual coaching, spiritual insights, therapy and extensive aftercare assistance.

All clients are thoroughly assessed by a highly trained and experienced recovery coach, registered provisional psychologist, ordained Monk, mental health officer and certified naturopaths (including Ayurveda and Acupuncturist). Clients may also be referred for psychometric testing and assessment, if needed. International clients welcome.

We welcome enquiries from all English speaking people from Asia, Europe, Africa, India and South America.