Survival Skills by Steven East

Survival Skills

            The people who are standing on the firing line of addiction have a quality rare in this day and age. These individuals, who are helping people that are not always receptive to their initiatives, have been able to rise above their entrenched survival mechanisms. Feelings of vulnerability and self awareness help us all to forge a sense of self preservation, which is crucial for successful development. The problem is these feelings do not always serve us well as we mature into adults.  In fact these survival skills that were of paramount importance through out infancy to adolescence often become a hindrance to altruistic based adult activity.  We find our most stable individuals in society are able to transcend these developmental pitfalls with success.

Rise above

            As a treatment staff, we must rise above the concept that we are just a staff.  We are more than just letters behind a name. We are sons and fathers; just as we are teachers of addiction we are also students of addiction. We must remember this because it is important that we detach from this identity of being "fixers." The more we transmit this identity to our clients the more pressure there is for them to assume an identity of being broken.

Un-biased Guidance

            As counselors, we must also rise above our ingrained feelings of loneliness and inadequacy as well.  Clients may bring out feelings from our past that distort  our abilities to provide unbiased guidance to their struggle.  In venting our frustration over a past failed relationship we may offer advice to a client triggering them to do what we though we should have done.  These actions and others like it prevent clients from acknowledging accountability for such actions when they are aware we played a role in the decision.  We also need to beware that our motivations for helping others not become an effort to obtain recognition in an  otherwise unproductive life.  Our own egos can do great harm to clients.

There are no good excuses for not helping

            There is a theme of lacking the abilities to help others to our full potential which relates to my personal life.  I still find my self with certain friends, family, and even co-workers dominating conversations by  focusing on my issues.  I am also plagued by resistance to help because I feel like I can not help. I don’t how  - so I don’t try. I find myself trying to help friends as I would a client, and treating people with struggles as "less than." This sometimes leads me to think that I am not making the difference that is so obvious to the others around me. This is why it is important to keep close knit groups of people around to keep our perspectives grounded in reality.

Knowing our Weaknesses

Acceptance of our own shortcomings will be required in order  to overcome our self imposed barriers and help others.  I believe we can also aid the greater process by being vigilant with our clinical peers.  A goal for all addiction clinicians should be to maintain awareness of our natural hindrances to helping others and be courageous enough to bring this awareness to our fellow professionals in the field.

 - Steven East CADAC II

Steven East is a Certified Drug and Alcohol Counselor (CADAC II). He specializes in Client Centered Therapy. His approach utilizes an eclectic array of positive reinforcement motivational techniques. His methods help guild our patients towards self-actualization.