In this very moving and honest interview, Shelly Dutch and Amanda share their personal stories of recovering from addiction and co-occurring mental health conditions. Themes that are highlighted include: addiction is a chronic, relapsing, emotional, spiritual, and physical medical condition that requires lifelong attention and treatment; predisposition to addiction can run in families; substance use disorders often co-occur with other mental health symptoms including but not limited to anxiety, depression, disordered eating, self-esteem challenges, trauma, and other co-occurring addictions; addiction impacts the entire family and community, and family members have their own healing work to do alongside their loved ones with addiction; women in particular face unique challenges re: prioritizing self-care and obtaining treatment for addiction; a holistic treatment approach (body-mind-spirit-family-& more) can help recovery; there is lots of hope for recovery from addiction, and mentors/community support can make a huge difference in maintaining successful, long-term recovery from substance use disorders and many other mental health conditions!

Shelly Dutch has dedicated her working life to people seeking recovery and their families. She has built community and tools to support long term recovery including founding Connections Counseling LLC, founding Recovery Foundation (a 501(c)(3) to support individuals seeking recovery), co-founding the non-profit recovery focused Horizon High School, and co-founding the TMS Center of Madison for medication resistant, severe depression. Shelly emphasizes mentoring, service, accountability, and personal connections as keys to recovery. Shelly strengthens local recovery supports via partnerships with various community organizations, staff training and development, and relentless support of internship and fellowship training with local and national institutes of higher learning. In 2018, Ms. Dutch was recognized by the National Association of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Counselors (NAADAC) as the Mel Schulstad professional of the year. 

Amanda is a yoga instructor, businesswoman, mother, and a phenomenal mentor to other women at Connections Counseling.

Connect with Shelly and her team here:
https://connectionscounseling.com

This episode was edited by Kai of "Fam Band" and is dedicated to Jordon of "Frankly Speaking". You can listen to both of these talented musicians/bands on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, or check them out here:
https://www.famband.co
https://www.franklyspeakingmusic.org

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