Goodbye Letter to Addiction: Christina

Of Development for Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee, a position she held for 10 years after serving as Development Director for Nashville Read. Before her many years in fundraising, Cindy was the Manager of Premium Services for American Airlines. Butch began counseling in 1989 and worked with Cumberland Heights throughout the 90s doing Aftercare, contract work and individual counseling. Butch Glover, a state licensed and nationally certified addiction counselor, accepted his role as Chief Operations Officer in 2015. Dr. Sledge has been named Nashville’s top addiction doctor by the Nashville Business Journal, a recognition only five percent of physicians in the United States hold. Dr. Sledge served on the board of directors for the American Society of Addiction Medicine and was among the first physicians to receive certification from them. In 2008, he was recognized by the Praed Foundation as a national “Systems Champion” for implementing a statewide children’s assessment for DCS. He also received the Friend of Children Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010 from Tennessee Voices for Children after seven years on their board. Your gift to Cumberland Heights through our annual and capital initiates gives immediate support to patients and their families.

• When you first came into my life, I believed that you would help me ease all the pain I was going through.
• One of those powerful tools seems simple enough, but can change a lot, and that’s a goodbye letter to addiction.
• Nothing stops you from making this decision today, so make the call now to speak to one of our team members.
• That said, I know I cannot blame you entirely for the way things have gone.

You may be talking to your future self with this letter, so providing words of encouragement can be helpful. Remind yourself that you can do this, and that drugs and alcohol do not need to control your life. These same words may stop you from relapsing later on. Your goodbye letter can come in handy in the future. When things get tough in your recovery process, you can read the letter to remind yourself why you decided to get sober in the first place. This might provide the extra motivation you need to stay on track and avoid a relapse. Going to score drugs and meeting new people who were in relationships with addiction just like me was a rush.

Letter To Addiction: Saying Goodbye to Heroin

Saying goodbye is hard to do, even when you know you have to. Mountainside alum, Sanam M., is sharing a powerful letter he wrote to his old love—his addiction. Sarah Crow from MSN Bestlife Online discusses 9 common eating disorders beyond anorexia and bulimia. This article discusses skills that should be learned and used by therapists when working with clients in order to effect change in the therapeutic process. Dr. Sledge is a sought-after speaker in the industry, talking about the critical need to treat both the mind and body of those struggling with substance use disorder. In addition to working for Cumberland Heights, Dr. Sledge is an assistant professor at the University of Tennessee College of Medicine. Randal received master’s degrees in counseling from Trevecca Nazarene University and in psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute. He is a frequent presenter on a variety of topics such as assessment, sexual behavior in children, ethics, dreamwork and trauma. He is a certified practitioner of DreamTending and a qualified clinical supervisor.

Great article about the benefits and process of therapy. Take this short quiz based on the psychiatric diagnostic criteria for addictive disorders. It will let you know where you stand in regard to addiction. Jay is a grateful recovering alumnus, having been a patient at Cumberland Heights in 1989. His personal treatment experience helped shape his leadership principles today. Randal Lea, our Chief Community Recovery Officer is a licensed addictions counselor with 30 years of clinical and administrative experience. We provide world-class accommodations at all of our locations for you to recover in luxury. Our facilities provide individualized care so that you feel like you are at a retreat, not a hospital.

Dear Addiction, My Love

Do not get too caught up on perfect grammar, structure, or organization. It is more important to make sure that you get out everything that you want to say. I am completely clean and sober now, and that means much more to me than simply just not using you anymore. I now have a new job, and have made new friends through recovery support groups who have broken free from their substance abuse problems, just as I have. I once thought that I could not make it without you. Now, I am able to acknowledge and accept that you were the cause of all my misery and worry. And that, in itself, is extremely therapeutic. That is why I’m writing this goodbye letter to addiction today. As a result, I know I have to leave you.

You isolated me from my family and from doing the right things a mom should, and from doing the right thing at all. I let you take control of me, and my mind and my body. But now I’m going to take all that control back of everything you took from me, and start doing the right things in life for now on. 101 Tips for Recovering from Addictions can help transform the life of any recovering addict from bleak to bright. These practical suggestions give hope, from seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, to realizing this light holds a promising future to reclaim. This book helps to make addiction recovery possible. Resurgence Behavioral Health offers comprehensive programs and a therapeutic community for addiction that will guide you to a healthier path.

So, it helps to talk about the fun before the addiction took hold of life. Christina’s letter is another influential and inspiring look into the life of someone who simply wants to have a future. From a woman from wants to be the best mother she can be, and do all the right she can in life. We hope and believe all these things are possible, and also that her experience will inspire others to make the same difficult decision Christina made. Since 2016 Jay has served on the board of directors of the National Association of Addiction Treatment Providers . As past chair of NAATP’s Ethics Committee, Jay was instrumental in important changes made to the organization’s code of ethics.

The writer describes how he or she no longer wants to live on the roller coaster of alcoholism. That alcohol is no longer welcome and cannot be a part of life anymore. I was in a 6 week in patient treatment facility when I wrote my letter. If you or a loved one is struggling with addiction, Mountainside can help. I know this may sound abrupt, like this is coming out of nowhere, but it is imperative for me to sustain myself. This has nothing to do with if I am stronger than you, or better than you, or vice-versa. In order for me to walk my choice of path in life, I need to end this toxic relationship now. I know I won’t be able to have anything positive in my life while we are together. You have become incredibly cruel and a tremendous liar. Many times, I believed things were starting to look up; you—being vindictive—did everything in your power to pull me down.

I was scared of what my life might look like without you. I watched you dig my grave from day one. As the days went by, I stood by and did nothing. Then, you decided to push me into that grave. You thought that you would be able to get rid of me.

Resurgence Behavioral Health will work to make your detox process as painless as possible. We are proud to be accredited by Carf CCAC and The Joint Commission providing the most exceptional care available. What can you say on paper Sober House that you cannot say out loud? This letter is for your eyes only, so you do not need to hide anything. Your pain, your sadness, your yearning. Call or schedule a meeting for a complimentary assessment with a teen treatment expert.

What will your life look like when you say goodbye to addiction? You may feel as though you have wasted your life all this while, but look beyond all that. No matter how deep you have gotten into addiction, it is never too late to turn a new leaf. Visualize a brighter future ahead of you when you finally say goodbye to addiction. The letter may relay humor and the lighter side of drinking before alcoholism took ahold. Many people enjoyed drinking in the beginning.

Expressing how you feel impacts you on a cellular level, allowing you to release the shame and guilt. Saying goodbye to your addiction in a goodbye letter to drugs will enable you to hold yourself accountable and encourage your future self. Writing about what you have lost to drug addiction can also help you remember why you want to get sober. A goodbye letter to alcohol or drugs can also help you in the future. Sometimes, just like after a breakup, you need closure with the things good bye letter to addiction you were once attached to. A goodbye letter to addiction is like putting an end to your relationship with drugs. You can let go of the past and start thinking about your bright future. People find it challenging to open up, especially in the early stages of addiction treatment. So, a goodbye letter to addiction lets you communicate better. If you choose to share the letter with your therapist, it could help you articulate your feelings or serve as a safe form of communication.

These lessons and worksheets provide evidence-based information, activities, and lessons from an experienced clinical mental health counselor and recovery specialist. And the materials are created by a professional writer/editor and licensed teacher. I am making the decision to leave you now. I am deciding that I have had enough of you. I was too scared to leave you before, and had great anxiety and fear about what my life might look like without you. But by getting on the path of recovery, I have seen another world, which is not perfect but more alive and filled with feelings, connections, and experiences.

For a time, it felt like all I needed in the world was you. For much of our time together, I felt happy and free of other desires. My pain seemed to go away, and I didn’t worry about life. I even let my other relationships disintegrate because of how strongly I felt towards you. Without you, I am accomplishing more than I ever have. Without you, I am returning to the life and people I once loved because I know they still love me. There were plenty of times when I believed things were starting to look up. I was starting to crawl away from your evil clutches.

I chose to start our relationship, and now I am choosing to end it. I know that saying “goodbye” to you for good will take hard work, but I am doing exactly that. I now know that none of these feelings were genuine and that I was being manipulated throughout our time together. Whenever I felt like you were the key to getting through life, it was nothing more than a lie. For this and many more reasons, it is now time to bid you “goodbye” forever. Then, when all the tales of fun and harm are related, the writer turns on alcohol.