Our stories are sacred. They communicate so much about who we are and how we act. Our backstory informs why we might tense up or relax, cry or embrace.

The American Counseling Association has designated April as Counseling Awareness Month. This observance aims to raise awareness of this beneficial service that benefits people all over the world.

Andrea Meronuck is a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner and the owner of New Moon Facilitation in Flagstaff. She is working as a trauma informed care consultant to Sage Home. Andrea is also the Clinical Director at Northland Family Help Center, and teaches Mindful Self-Compassion in the community and to counseling master’s students at NAU.

There are plenty of problems in the world. There are many in our small community, nested in the mountains of Northern Arizona. Sometimes, to think about them feels overwhelming as solutions seem so evasive and complicated. Do we even know what problem we’re trying to solve?

It’s pretty incredible to think about how much children learn is such a short span of time. By the time children are 5 they have acquired a good working understanding of human language along with getting their arms, legs, eyes, ears, speech, hands, etc to all move in a coordinated and directed fashion. Also, by age five, they grasp the overt and covert rules of how to act in their culture and society. It’s a massive intellectual feat!

Education is imperative to understanding addiction and helping people to get the help that they need. The videos linked below will alter your perspective and challenge what you know about addiction and recovery. As we prepare to launch Sage Home, we wish to educate, inform, and shine a light on the truths behind addiction.

Recently, I’ve been trying to squeeze 14 years of math knowledge into just a few months while studying for the GRE. In my studies, I have completed a series of online lessons discussing probability. The main take-away of these courses was this: If you are looking for the probability of this event happening OR that event, you add the 2 probabilities together.

Through my personal life and adoption training, I have become fiercely passionate about the mission of Sage Home. To be honest, when I first learned about its mission, I had quite a few questions about the effectiveness of Sage Home.

Recently, I was able to sit down (socially distanced, of course) with a friend who is a professional in the child welfare system. We chatted about Sage Home, the pandemic, child welfare, how those things are connected, and where Sage Home can intervene.

It’s that time of year again! Giving Tuesday is right around the corner and we wanted to let you know how you can help Sage Home this Giving Tuesday!

Yesterday I watched as my two youngest children were interacting with one another. My youngest was sitting very still on the couch while his sister carefully studied him for her drawing. She focused on his face and how the shadows landed so she could accurately capture him in her art.

What do you see when you imagine a truly empowered community? Do you see connections and compassionate interactions? Do people in our imagined futures have safety and stability? Are families intact? Are friendships formed? Are collaborations sought out and cooperation practiced? What are our values as a community? Love? Compassion? Justice? Equality? Equity? Honesty? Kindness?

Working as a mental health practitioner, I’ve noticed that people have different starting points when it comes to addiction and recovery. A mother who has stable housing and a job will require vastly different interventions compared to a mother who is experiencing homelessness and is unemployed.

Venturing upstream means you are making a concerted effort to fully examine and understand the ways trauma continually impacts the body and mind of individuals with addiction. Addiction is not the problem! Unresolved pain and inadequate support are the problems. A traumatic event is like a stone thrown into a pond. Addiction is all of the ways we try to jump into the water to stop the ripples.

We last discussed the importance of noticing context and critically evaluating interventions. We hope you’ll join us in extending compassion to parents struggling with addiction while also critically evaluating how interventions can either promote healthy healing or hinder it.

For several years, I served as a therapist for a residential treatment center helping patients battle substance abuse. Every morning I led a therapy group of 16 men and women who I worked with for about 30 days at a time. By the end of the month their faces were like family to me and their stories were seared into my experience.

When I first met her she was scared and shaking. I could see the chill bumps covering her arms beneath an oversized t-shirt. Her eyes were fierce and filled with tears. She sat down and curled her knees to her chest, flinching in pain while making contact with the chair.