Beyond the Two Pillars of Recovery

Episode #37: Language that Drives Connection instead of Violence

Counseling psychologist Dr. Ben Bailey describes how Nonviolent Communication focuses tense conversations on feelings and needs rather than judgments and labels using examples from his work with individuals and couples in a university student health center.

Episode #36: Who / What Underlies Your Surface Identities?

Dr. Allen Levy—psychologist, licensed social worker, interfaith minister, and seasoned meditation teacher—reflects on modern psychoanalysis, couples therapy, group therapy, and meditation while relating those activities to the much larger context of the evolution of human consciousness. At the end, Dr. Levy leads a brief, powerful meditation.

Episode #35: The Gift of Permission to Write

Freelance writer Gary Miller, Creative Director of Writers for Recovery, draws people deeper into their life experiences and relationships with each another with 7-minute, open-ended writing exercises where "there is no way to do it wrong." For eleven years, participants in Vermont Recovery Centers, Vermont prisons, and as far away as Ireland and the Dominican Republic, have grown in recovery through the love and humor in this program.

Episode #34: Challenged? Take a Breath—and Maybe See a Life Coach

Guest Aviva Okrent shares her fascinating background as she describes what drew her to her current work as a life coach and how she goes about doing it, which is with relentlessly curiosity and attention to the whole person and their relationships.

Episode #33: Community Makes A Difference

Guest Gregory Tatro is a co-founder and the Senior Director of Mission and Impact at Jenna's Promise, a 9- to 18- month residential program in Johnson, VT that prepares persons in early recovery from substance use disorders to ultimately merge into communities with the skills and confidence they need for employment and daily life. Gregory shares how the tragic overdose death of his sister Jenna, and how the community responded, gave rise to this nationally recognized program of stigma reduction, hope, and action.