The Connections in Recovery Workshop Series was previously recorded live at MRTC and consists of 6 workshops that explore recovery from the perspective of people struggling with substances as well as from the perspective of family, friends, and affected others.
The objective of the workshop series is to provide information and ideas about recovery that create space for conversation and healing between our clients and important people in their lives.
These workshops can be a useful resource for family (or for potential clients) to experience the flavour of a program workshop.
Note that the Connections in Recovery audio workshop series is provided only for informational purposes and should not be used as a basis for diagnosis or prognosis.
Please click, below, on the individual titles to listen to any of the Connections in Recovery workshops.
The workshops are:
- The Basics of Addiction
This workshop covers a number of models of problematic substance use in an attempt to demonstrate that problems arise from more than moral weakness or a lack of love/consideration for important people in the sufferers life. The workshop concludes with Stanton Peele’s idea that, at its core, substance use problems are simply bad coping. - Changing Old Patterns, Changing Your Dance Steps
This workshop presents some of the work of Cathy Patterson-Sterling’s book “Rebuilding Relationships in Recovery” on the dynamics that clients and their families can get locked into, and explores the need to discover and change these patterns in recovery. The metaphor of a “dance” is used to remove any issues of blame or responsibility for the patterns and instead invite all participants of the pattern to explore new ways of relating in recovery. - Communication
This workshop presents John Gottman’s four communication processes that he has shown to be destructive to relationships. These patterns are presented, the dynamics are explored, and some practical tools to avoid these destructive ways of interacting are presented. - Finding Meaning and Purpose in Your Life and As a Family
This workshop starts by explaining the Wellness approach to recovery. It then makes the argument that the recovery process and recovery based activities need to be a part of a well balanced life. The idea of recovery as a selfish process is challenged. - Connecting In Recovery
This workshop touches on some of the factors that break down connections when substance related problems enter a family, and then explores processes to rebuild connection. Most of the focus is on rebuilding trust as a foundation for rebuilding connection. - Responding to the Fear of Relapse
This workshop explores a “road to relapse.” Having described the road, it then explores “off ramps” at each stage and the role of important support people in assisting our clients to exit the cycle should they find themselves in it.