Gooden Center
A residential drug treatment center for men located in Pasadena, CA. The Gooden Center is a proud member of the National Association of Addiction Treatment Providers (NAATP).

(626) 356-0078
191 North El Molino Avenue Pasadena, CA 91101 US

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Archive for the ‘Addiction Treatment’ Category

Breaking the Stigma of Treatment

Posted on: May 30th, 2017 by The Gooden Center No Comments

Breaking the Stigma of Treatment

Crippling fear, embarrassment and shame are all complex emotions that many who suffer with addiction are subject to. There are untold reasons why those who know they need help with their addiction avoid going to rehab in Los Angeles. But treatment methods are continually evolving and becoming increasingly effective. Furthermore, what was once thought of as a social stigma is now becoming an acceptable and responsible choice.

Why Seeking Treatment is a Good Idea

Realizing that there is an issue helps set in motion the process of recovery. When you seek treatment, you can finally start to address the years of addiction that you have suffered through. Trying to kick the habits cold-turkey, won’t necessarily yield the results that you would want.

The odds of relapse are greater, because you’re not working with someone trained to help those who are serious about recovering from addiction. A rehab facility on the other hand have experienced personnel and psychologists needed to help you through your withdrawal and help you address the underlying problems behind your addictions.

Growing Social Acceptability

It wasn’t that long ago that those who went to rehab were considered social pariahs as soon as others found out. However, this attitude has slowly changed over the years wherein due to greater awareness via information campaigns, people with hidden drug addictions are now being actively encouraged to seek treatment with little in the way of significant social stigma.

What to do About Work

In California, an employer with at least 25 employees must give unpaid time off for those who enter rehab, with few exceptions (one notable exception is if taking that time off would create an unreasonable burden on your employer). You would then use your accrued time off, and your company would be required to keep your treatment and reason for leaving private. Upon return, though, you have to be able to perform your job duties and not pose a risk to others. California gives additional protections to employees, particularly for alcohol rehab.

It wasn’t that long ago when addiction was considered a moral flaw and “treatments” ranged from imprisonment to asylums. But as the years have passed, our attitude towards drug usage and rehabilitation has drastically changed. Likewise, our understanding of what causes addictions has made treatments far more effective. Seeking help is no longer a big social stigma; rather, it’s seen as a necessary step in the right direction.

Focus For Those In Recovery

Posted on: May 24th, 2017 by The Gooden Center No Comments

Addiction is a disease that comes to many different kinds of people, in many different ways.  It claims the lives of people from every walk of life imaginable, and affects in different ways, creating millions of unique stories and struggles.  Both women and men suffer from addiction, but they often suffer in different ways, and may respond differently to treatment.

As a result, many places that offer treatment from addiction may provide gender specific services, and separate men from women.  Specifically, gender specific treatment promotes focus, removes distractions or anxieties that may otherwise take away from a focus on personal healing.  Here are some of the ways in which gender specific treatment allows people to better focus on their recovery.

Gender Specific Treatment Provides Support

Early recovery is an extremely stressful process.  It involves fighting against very intense physical and mental cravings, learning how to develop new coping mechanisms for stressful feelings that will crop up, and having to face hard moments in your life.

 There is enough stress in your life simply by being a part of this hard process of working towards sobriety and healing, and so it is good to do whatever you can to be as comfortable and focused as possible.   Having a space of men-only, or women-only space is one way to produce feelings of comfort, and make things as easy as possible.  

A Safe Place 

Peer support groups, in which a group of people struggling with addiction and recovery share their past and present issues, can be one of the most valuable and helpful ways for people to explore their inner feelings and learn from each other. However, the effectiveness of these groups is dependent on the willingness of its members to share honestly and be vulnerable with each other. Being honest with yourself and counselors is at the core of addiction treatment programs from initial treatment to after care.

The group must be a space where people can be totally safe with each other, and where people are encouraged and made to feel comfortable revealing their most vulnerable self. In a mixed gender space, the subconscious temptation for men or women to “impress” each other may kick in and prevent real intimate sharing.

Focus For Those In Recovery

Also, some people may feel less comfortable sharing about certain issues with members of the other gender present.  Creating men or women only spaces is one way in which a support group can work to make sure that everyone feels safe within it.  

Focus On The Ways Men And Women Experience Addiction Differently  

Both men and women come to the recovery process with a lot of stigma, guilt, and fear that sometimes gets in the way of letting them ask for help.  Yet this fear often gets manifested differently for men and women, in ways that reflect their different experiences, areas of concern, and social roles.

Women are often more likely to experience feelings of shame for needing help with addiction, whereas men may be more likely to deny there is a problem in the first place.  Women are often more anxious about things related to family relationships, whereas men are often more concerned about careers.  Limited our focus to one gender or the other allows for greater sensitivity and awareness to these issues.  

Takes The Focus Off Romantic Relationships

Recovery is one of the most intense and revolutionary things you will do as a person, and so the people you go through these experiences with can easily become some of the most intense and profound relationships in your life. These friendships can be extremely helpful in giving both people a sense of human connection, and hope from a common experience.

These relationships get a great deal of value from their stability, so that you continue to be sharing intimately as you work through complex feelings together. That is why deep friendships are so valuable. More whirlwind, unstable romances can have the opposite effect, and so should be avoided in early recovery. This is precisely why most rehab centers will not allow romantic relationships in their residential or sober living programs. A same-gender environment allows the formation of friendships, while making romances less likely.

Advantages of a Men’s Drug Rehab

Posted on: May 16th, 2017 by The Gooden Center No Comments

Advantages of a Men's Drug Rehab

For many people in recovery, few parts of the rehab experience prove more helpful in supporting their sobriety than community. By engaging with other people also struggling with their addiction and substance abuse, you learn you are not alone, receive advice from other people facing similar situations, and begin to build up a network of supportive friends you can turn to when things get hard.

Though a lot of the time in rehab will be spent focusing on yourself, much of the benefits of the process come from not being alone. Many rehab centers are gender-specific, open only to men or women. If you are male, here are some of the advantages of a men’s drug rehab.

How Gender Affects Addiction: A 2009 survey by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism found that one in ten men abused an illicit drug, compared to only one in fifteen women. Men are more likely to engage in substance abuse, more likely to develop serious physical or physiological problems from their drug use, and more likely to be driven to angry and violent behavior because of their substance abuse.

Furthermore, certain treatments have been shown to more effective for most women then most men. Many men are less comfortable with the deep and direct sharing their emotions in traditional group therapy. Alternatives such as art or music therapy, engaging in physical activities together, or sports that build trust and bonding are often more effective at getting men to dig deep into themselves.

Focus on Men’s Issues: Addiction affects people of all genders and walks of life, but the way forward is not the same for everyone. This is because men and women face different challenges, and different social pressures that are manifested in the ways addiction festers and disrupts life. Men are often more likely to need help managing anger, whereas women may struggle with low self-worth. Without confronting the reality of socialized gender differences, many issues related to recovery may go unaddressed.

In a men’s recovery facility, you are able to appreciate commonalities in how you process information, express emotion, and view the world around you. This common ground can help you reveal many important things about the recovery program that will work best for you.

Safety and Honesty: Masculinity can often be a mask. From the time we are little boys, we are often punished for revealing emotions, expected to be “big and strong,” never reveal weakness or victimhood, and never admit we need help from anyone else. These lies often cause men to repress internal pain, ignoring the ways they hurt, and hiding their traumas from both the world and themselves. In a men’s recovery group, you have the opportunity to let go of the mask. You must admit your weaknesses and vulnerabilities, going against tremendous social conditioning.

Fortunately, a lot of other men are right there with you, and they will treat you with respect and show you a non-judgmental attitude that lets you know that you are safe. Together, you are working on a new way to be men, one rooted in honesty, self-reflection, and respect for each other. Admitting you need to change, and taking the steps to seek a lifetime of sobriety is a sign of strength, not weakness. When engaging with the opposite sex, many people are more likely to speak with less candor or comfort, even without intending to. Being in a group of men can help you feel more free to speak your own mind.

For all these reasons, a men-only drug rehab facility can be very advantageous to many men ready to begin the recovery process. A good treatment should not just stick you in with the same program as everyone else, but take into consideration your unique challenges

Dealing with Failure in Recovery

Posted on: May 15th, 2017 by The Gooden Center No Comments

Dealing with Failure in Recovery

Failure of anything is a difficult feeling to overcome. During early recovery, it can be even more difficult to face failure, especially when it comes in the form of a relapse.

For many people, this failure becomes more than just a small bump in the road to recovery; it becomes an insurmountable obstacle. Failure does not have to damage the work you put into recovery. Knowing how to deal with failure and respond in a healthy manner can help you remain strong.

Recognize that Failure is Not Always Bad

Too often, people only look at the negative qualities of failure. They become so afraid of failing that they will not even try something because they believe they will fail. However, by overcoming this fear of failure, you can have the strength to try. Often, one must fail in order to finally succeed, and it might even take several failures to find the right path. Instead of focusing on failure as something dreadful, see it as a normal part of life. Sometimes people fail and other times they succeed, and it is not always completely up to a person as to which of the two happens.

Learn from Failure

Failure can be a positive thing, especially if you take the time to learn from it. Instead of wallowing in the fact that you failed, take the time to consider what you did wrong and learn from your mistakes. Maybe you were introduced to a trigger too early or something else happened that you can change the next time. Instead of focusing on the bad, look at how you can learn from it. This means that you should not deny that you made mistakes or failed. Instead, own up to the fact that you failed and use it as a way to learn so that you avoid doing so in the future.

Stop Associating your Self-Worth with Failure

Another reason people have such a difficult time with failure is that they let it define their self-worth. When they succeed, they see themselves as strong and good. Alternatively, they become terrible people when they fail — also known as failures. If you no longer associate your self-worth with whether you succeed or fail, then you will be freer to try. Acknowledge and respect the effort you are putting into something, not the outcome. Eventually, you will succeed, especially if recognize that there are many definitions of success.

Learn Healthy Ways to Cope with Failure

When failure happens, whether directly related to your recovery or some other type of failure, you need to have a healthy way to cope with the negative feelings that occur. Most addicts used to turn to their substance of choice when they encountered failure. Therefore, recovering addicts need to replace these unhealthy coping mechanisms with a healthy one, such as meditating, yoga, praying, or some other mindfulness or relaxation techniques.

Express your Feelings

When you experience failure, do not feel like you have to hide it form the world. Discuss your feelings with a trusted family or friend. This can help you to get an objective viewpoint of the failure, which can help you to learn from it and see the positive aspects. If you do not feel comfortable talking about it, you can journal or express your feelings through a creative outlet.

Failure is not the end of the world. All successful people have failed again and again. How you deal with failure can make a huge difference in your recovery. Do not let it overwhelm you and make you feel hopeless. Instead, embrace it and let it teach you how to do better next time.

The Pivotal Role Family Takes In Recovery

Posted on: April 25th, 2017 by The Gooden Center No Comments

The Pivotal Role Family Takes

Recovering from alcohol is a challenging process that takes all of an addict’s strength and resolve. The reality of recovery is that no addict can successfully achieve sobriety unless they have made the choice for themselves to get clean, but having a strong family support system in place is a truly invaluable asset for any recovering addict.

Addicts with a loving family supporting them are much more likely to successfully maintain their sobriety than those who do not have a family that they are close to. There are many reasons why family plays such an integral role in an addict’s recovery.

Boosting Sense of Self Worth

One thing that many addicts have in common is a low self image. Many people with low self esteem are at a higher risk for using. Many people who struggle with addiction also see that their self image wanes as they fall deeper and deeper into addiction. When a person is struggling with addiction they often engage in behavior that is not typical for them.

This may include acts that make them feel guilt and anger toward themselves. This is because when a person is addicted to a substance, their brain’s reward system becomes wired to become completely consumed with finding and using more of a substance. As this happens, an addict will begin to place using over the people and things that they hold dear.

When an addict is in recovery, they may begin to feel guilt and experience low self image because of this. These feelings can make recovery more difficult because an addict must believe that he deserves to be happy in order to get better. Having a family who loves him helps reinforce this belief and encourages an addict to seek the help they need.

A Positive Support System  

When a person is using, they often lose touch with people in their lives who would otherwise be a good influence on them. Many addicts generally socialize with other people who are addicted to drugs, and when an addict is recovering, they should generally avoid triggering environments and groups.

It can be very difficult for recovering addicts to find the emotional support they need when they are newly recovered, and a healthy and supportive family can offer important emotional support as well as the company of people who will encourage them to maintain their sobriety.

Family Can Encourage and Addict in Difficult Times

The reality of recovery is that there will be many challenges through out every stage of getting sober. Achieving and maintaining sobriety means coming to terms with a number of difficult emotions and thoughts. It also means facing triggers that an addict once met with using and learning to work through them without using drugs or alcohol.

There will be moments when an addict needs someone to listen or someone who can help be there for them emotionally as they work through these struggles.

Family can be the friend and the support that an addict needs. Twelve step programs and therapists certainly have their own function in an addict’s recovery, but the fact that an addict’s family has known them for so long puts them in a position where they can offer a kind of support that is unique and cannot be found anywhere else.

Family offers unconditional love and can help a recovering addict to realize that they do have what it takes to continue working on their sobriety and taking the challenging but necessary steps to stay healthy and drug free for the rest of their lives.