Don’t Take It Personally I’m starting this blog with an excerpt from my journaling exercise. “I have often wondered (painfully at times) as to why people didn’t always respond the way I had hoped or wanted them to. When they did respond favorably to my efforts, I would feel elevated in status (social) and confident…

When Mental Illness and Substance Abuse Go Together An issue I’m exploring more and more in my studies is mental illness, and how so often it coincides with substance abuse and addiction. I’ve found that the two possess several similarities, both in how they present and how they should be addressed. Both carry a stigma and…

Dear “Little Me”… Recently I have been working with a life coach whose primary role is to inspire, motivate, and support me getting out of my comfort zone, giving myself permission to dream again, and continuing my work as it relates to shame (see last month’s blog). Shame is something I treat every day through mindset…

5 Ways to Help Someone in Recovery If you know someone struggling with addiction or in a stage of recovery, it’s common to feel overwhelmed. You want to help, but you’re not sure what they’re going through. You’re worried that you’ll say the wrong thing. You’ll come off wrong, or be taken the wrong way. Still,…

Amid Homelessness, there are Stories of Hope Despite modest decreases in the number of homeless people in the city and county of Los Angeles, homelessness remains at critical levels, and Los Angeles continues to have the second largest homeless population of any region in the US. With news so bleak, I think to Believe in Big…

6 Things to Know about Addiction Whether people believe they can or can’t control it, experts agree that addiction is a disease: Specifically, “a complex disease of the brain and body that involves compulsive use of one or more substances, despite serious health and social consequences.” While we all probably know what that means technically,…

My Journey Through Addiction: How It Started I was born January 6, 1969, in Asbury Park, NJ, and was announced as Stephen Edward Pomeroy, son to David and Catherine Pomeroy. Now I am 49 years old. I do not remember much about the first few years we spent in New Jersey before moving to Cincinnati, Ohio.…

Recovery Starts with Making Connections As a person in recovery from alcohol use disorder (i.e., alcoholism), I have spent much time reflecting on the key components to successful recovery and living a life worth living. I believe that to really embrace recovery, a person’s quality of life must be good. It must stem beyond having…