Dr. Sandra Bloom is a psychiatrist largely responsible for the creation of the Sanctuary Model, which is both a framework for treating trauma, as well as an organizational change model that integrates evidence-based trauma interventions with the benefits of therapeutic communities. The brilliance of this model is that it optimizes the safety and healing of all parties… [Continue Reading]
The Blue Zone Project – Refers to OLD MRC model
This past week I had a few minutes to spare in Washington DC, so I dropped by the National Geographic Society headquarters and discovered a project that has significant relevance to successfully solving the problem of addiction. Writer and photographer Dan Buettner embarked on a journey around the globe in search of communities that optimized lifestyle for longevity and… [Continue Reading]
Addiction in Society? Let Me Count the Ways
In the book Rapt Attention and the Focused Life Winifred Gallagher makes a case that life ultimately adds up to what you choose to pay attention to. This got me thinking about how addiction has evolved to our changing world, and the ways in which we are all more vulnerable to excessive behaviors – or at least exposed to far… [Continue Reading]
Life is Transitory
This past Friday I took a rare day off from work and visited Our Lady of Guadalupe Trappist Abbey in Lafayette, Oregon. This beautiful monastery was built in 1955 and is nestled among green fields in the heart of the wine country. Having never been to a Trappist monastery before, and having had a number… [Continue Reading]