Claudia Black, a founder of the Adult Children of Alcoholics (ACOA) movement, has written an inspiring collection of healing messages that offer comfort and encouragement, serenity and hope, to anyone surviving a painful childhood. Touching on such issues as trust, denial, self-acceptance, forgiveness, and faith, each message is illuminated by a vibrant, evocative painting by renowned artist Laurie Zagon, an expert in color therapy.

"It's Never Too Late to Have a Happy Childhood": Inspirations for Inner Healing

Self-Help

Claudia Black

Personal Transformation

Ballantine Books

A decade has passed since Claudia Black's million-copy bestseller, It Will Never Happen to Me, set countless individuals on the path to self-discovery. Now, in The Missing Piece, Black teams up with therapist and lecturer Leslie Drozd to give you the courage, practical information, and the loving guidance to take the next step on your journey to wholeness. In this new book, Black and Drozd explore the life crisis experienced by individuals consumed with the nagging feeling that "something's missing." These vague, unsettling feelings often take the form of unexplained anger or fear, a sense of inadequacy or ambivalence, the inability to commit, or depression that comes and goes. They trace this condition to the conflicting and often disowned pieces of self in all of us that compete for attention and expression: critic, pusher, judge, victim, spiritual seeker, perfectionist, nurturer, protector, aggressor, and procrastinator, among others. Only by defining and embracing all aspects of the self--both good and bad--can we find "the missing piece" that truly liberates and empowers us. The journey is not a guided tour. This dynamic book engages you in a series of inspiring and challenging questionnaires, exercises, and dialogues. It's an active process in which you will learn how to assemble a complex self-portrait of all your parts--the owned, the disowned, and the unknown. Understanding all the aspects of your self is the first step. But this path must also include moving from questions to answers, and then from answers to actions. In the final section, you'll learn how to forge lasting bonds between all the competing aspects of your self, to achieve a sense of balance between your inner and outer worlds, and to dare to live the truth about yourself.

The Missing Piece: Solving the Puzzle of Self

Health, Fitness & Dieting

Leslie Drozd

Psychology & Counseling

While hundreds of thousands of people are in recovery from chemical dependency, co-dependency, and adult child issues, our communities continue to be impacted by addiction. Heroin, cocaine, crystal methamphetamine, and marijuana use is rampant throughout our communities. But historically, the number one abused drug is alcohol. Today, compared to the time of the writing of the first edition of It Will Never Happen To Me, we seldom refer to someone as alcoholic, and recognize that if people are addicted they are often addicted to more than one substance. We use phrases like chemically dependent or addict to recognize that irrespective of one's predominant substance addiction, they need to refrain from the use of alcohol and other drugs. This has occurred for two reasons. The first being it was recognized that many alcoholics were actively addicted to at least one other substance. Secondly, that even if they did not show signs of a second addiction, they needed to refrain from the use of other substances because those other substances would often lead them to relapse in their alcoholism or to engage in a second addiction. For these reasons, the words alcoholic, addict and chemically dependent will be used interchangeably throughout this book. It will never happen to me is spoken by all who have been raised in a family where one or both parents have a problem with addiction. In addictive families most children move through adolescence appearing to survive the problems and hardships of life. They abide by the laws Don't Talk, Don't Trust, Don't Feel. The survival techniques practiced as children contribute to a variety of problems in adulthood among them depression, inability to maintain intimate relationships, marrying an addict, or becoming addicted. Keeping the heart and soul of the original It Will Never Happen to Me, this revised and updated version moves the reader from alcoholism to addiction and addictive disorders, and expands upon: Family rules Don't Talk, Don't Trust, Don't Feel; Family roles Responsible Child, Placater, Adjuster, Acting Out Child;Family violence;Shame. While continuing to recognize alcohol as the primary addiction within families, this edition broadens the concepts to include addictive disorders such as other drugs, money related addictions, food disorders, relationship, sex and work addictions.

It Will Never Happen to Me : Children of Alcoholics as Youngsters, Adolescents, Adults

MAC Publishing

Repeat After Me offers those who were raised in dysfunctional families characterized by abuse, addiction, other compulsive behaviors, or mental illness. This remarkable self-help workbook, takes the reader through a process of letting go of hurtful beliefs and behaviors. While insight is often the precursor to change, people need to develop skills that make change occur. Adults children tend to repeat the life scripts of their challenged, troubled families as a result of internalized beliefs and behaviors that were either modeled for them or were a part of their survival strategy. Dr. Claudia Black, world renown expert on dysfunctional families, articulates a four step process for readers to heal the wounds of their past: 1. Explore their past, for the purpose of owning the losses and grieving the pain associated with past history. 2. Connect the past history to present day life. 3. Identify and challenge internalized beliefs, differentiating between beliefs that are healthy and those useful that are self-defeating and need to be let go. 4. Learn and practice skills, focusing on the basics such as learning to listen, identifying needs and options, identifying and expressing feelings, defining successes, establishing healthy boundaries, recognizing intrusive behavior, creating healthy rituals, identifying strengths, and developing realistic expectations. This is an excellent resource to aid therapists, counselors, and other helping professionals in their work with clients to help them become aware of how their family system affected them and grow beyond it.

Repeat After Me

Addiction & Recovery

Central Recovery Press

When Repeat After Me was first published in the 1980’s, it was a time when adult children of alcoholic families were coming out of the closet by the thousands. Until that time these were people who were silently making their way through adulthood not understanding why they were so unsatisfied and unhappy when "everything seemed okay," or why some one thing, person or place "was never enough." For many there was a chronic gnawing sense that something was missing. This great number of people happily took on the identity of being an ACA or ACOA (Adult Child of Alcoholic). They were grateful to have a framework in which to understand and conceptualize their experience. They had been given a language in which to voice their experiences. Yet what was true for this particular population could be generalized to people from other types of troubled families. They were from homes where there were abuses, other addictions, compulsive behaviors or mental illness — homes that for whatever the reasons were characterized by loss and shame. Repeat After Me was written in the spirit of offering all who were raised in troubled families a process of self-exploration, insight and healing that would lead to a positive change in their lives.  As adults began that process of asking how their childhood was influencing their present day life, the intent was never one of blame but of insight and understanding. It has been the author’s contention that we repeat the life scripts of our family as a result of internalized beliefs and behaviors that were either modeled for us or were a part of our survivorship. We cannot put a painful past history behind us without first owning it. It is not enough to say I came from an alcoholic family or an abusive family. We must go beyond that acknowledgment to see how our internalized beliefs and behaviors have shaped us to be the person we are today. With that in mind Repeat After Me was written.  Repeat After Me is not a book that explains how problems come to be as much as it is a book that takes you through a process of letting go of hurtful beliefs and behaviors. While insight is often the precursor to change, insight alone is not enough for most people to create change. People need to believe they deserve positive change and they need to develop skills that make change occur. While many of the changes in this second edition of Repeat After Me are subtle, it is written to support the reader’s belief in their personal worth and assist them in identifying and focusing on skills. The knowledge that comes in owning the past and connecting it to the present is vital to developing empathy for the strength of both our defenses and skills. It also helps us to lessen our shame and not hold ourselves accountable for the pain we have carried. When we understand the reasons for why we have lived our life as we have, that understanding fuels our ongoing healing. The change we want to create in our life is made most directly as a result of letting go of old, hurtful belief systems and learning new skills. Repeat After Me guides you in this process.

Repeat after Me II

The Relapse Toolkit is designed for use by counselors and therapists who work in the addictions field and address issues of relapse and relapse management. It can be used effectively within a group orientation or with an individual participant. This Toolkit contains 38 modules, each with pertinent didactic, reproducible handouts, and a "paint-by-the-numbers" format. There are several sessions that include the opportunity for a guided imagery. All imageries are included on a compact disc that comes with the book. 
Session titles include Overconfidence, Control, Feelings, Relationships, Multi-addictions, Secrets, plus many more to choose from and create a format for your specific needs. Sessions can be condensed or expanded by use of opening and closing rituals, time offered to complete exercises, and depth of discussion. Sessions can be used in the order presented or simply pick and choose those that are most relevant to the participants. The author encourages the user to be creative, know the needs of the participants, and bring their own style of work into the process.

Relapse Toolkit

Addiction passes through families generationally, and is said to be the gift that goes on giving. The use of Family Strategies is an opportunity for the gift to become that of recovery, the possibility of changing the individual, the immediate family, and the intergenerational transmission of addictive disorders. Change begins with one person. From a systematic viewpoint, when one person changes the way he or she functions within the family system, that system will change. This is readily evident when addiction enters a family system, and it is just as apparent when recovery enters that system. 
In a therapeutic setting it is easy for the practitioner, the addicted person, and the family to view the addicted person as the identified client, the addicted person is the predominant focus. Family Strategies facilitates shifting perspective to the family members as clients. Giving principal consideration to the family system or the primary relationship with the addicted person makes them the focus. 
The strategies presented are those proven most effective in primary family systems therapy when addiction is either still active or the addicted person is in early recovery, irrespective of the type of addiction, whether it is substance addiction, behavior, or process addiction. 
This workbook is composed of five sections: · Viewing the Family Addiction · Stepping Out of the Shadows · Recognizing the Family Dance · Developing Emotional Clarity · Walking the Path of Recovery 
A sampling of sessions included are: · Codependency As An Addiction · Sharing the Disease · Giving Up Control · Role Patterns · Identifying Boundary Extremes · Impaired Family · Portrait of Feelings · Shame Attacks · Emotional Sociogram · Drama Triangle · Portrait of Recovery · Codependency First Step 
This book is intended for use by clinicians, addiction counselors, and mental health care practitioners who are already skilled in understanding addictive disorders and their impact on families, and those who work with a family member or members in a relationship with someone actively in addiction or in recovery. It is used quite effectively with spouses, partners, parents, and adolescent or adult age children. In many sessions it is appropriate to include the addicted person, but that is at the facilitator's discretion. 
In many of the strategies sections, ideas and formats are presented for structured interventions. The use of handouts in the form of written exercises, checklists, sentence stems, structured dialogues and/or art activities is an integral part of this therapeutic technique. All handouts are designed for clinicians to reproduce and use without restriction as to copyright permission. 
The audio CD, Letting Go Imageries, offers meditations on healing and recovery for anyone involved in a troubled family system and it can be used in a group or individual setting.

Family Strategies: Practical Tools for Professionals Treating Families Impacted by Addiction

This book is a valuable aid to counselors, mental health practitioners and health care providers who are working with clients whose anger is causing difficulties in significant areas of their lives. These difficulties may range from how they view and feel about themselves, to parenting skills, partner relationships, job performance, legal issues and overall health. With the foundation of good client assessment and intervention, Anger Strategies will be of great assistance in working with these clients. Some clients may be participating in an anger management group as a consequence of domestic violence or other illegal behaviors that have arisen from their inappropriate expression of anger. Others may be in individual, couples, or family therapy and their anger becomes identified as a crucial clinical issue. Irrespective of the manner in which clients have come to you, their anger has become distorted and twisted and is conveyed in ways that create shame and blame. While some clients are more motivated to change than others, the strategies in this book will assist in both motivation and change. This workbook is composed of seven sections with 42 sessions containing didactic information, reproducible handouts and audio CD. Section titles are: Anger History Strategies Cognitive Strategies Behavioral Strategies Addiction Strategies Affective Strategies Spiritual Strategies Closing Strategies A sampling of the sessions included are: Anger's Many Faces - Roles of Anger - Family Gift- Distorted Thinking Styles - Respecting Others - Triggers - Outside Influences - Substances &amp; Anger - Relapse Connection - Hidden Feelings - Practicing Spirituality - Healing &amp; Recovery Tools - Moving On with New Skills. In many of the strategies sections, ideas and formats are presented for structured interventions. The use of handouts in the form of written exercises, checklists, sentence stems, structured dialogues and/or art activities is an integral part of this therapeutic technique. All handouts are designed for clinicians to reproduce and use without restriction as to copyright permission. The audio CD, Imageries, offers structured meditations for recovery. The disc contains four imageries: Relaxation Exercise, Inner Child Affirmation, Inner Source of Wisdom, and Letting Go and Receiving. It can be used in a group or individual setting.

Anger Strategies: Practical Tools for Professionals Treating Anger

Book by David W. Rowden, Ellen R. Morehouse, Jerry Moe, Jeannette L. Johnson, Lew Eigen, Cathleen Brooks, Stephanie Brown, Claudia Black, Hoover Adger, Robert J. Ackerman, Robert A. Zucker, Steven Wolin, Sybil Wolin, Emmy Werner

Children of Alcoholics : Selected Readings, Volume II

Robert J. Ackerman

Sybil Wolin

David W. Rowden

Ellen R. Morehouse

Jerry Moe

Jeannette L. Johnson

Lew Eigen

Cathleen Brooks, Stephanie Brown

Hoover Adger

Robert A. Zucker

Steven Wolin

Emmy Werner

National Association for Child

Pornography, cybersex, prostitutes, voyeurism, multiple affairs. No matter the 'drug' of choice, men who act out sexually leave their partners reeling in fear, rage, incredible shame, and isolation. Deceived was written expressly to help these women better understand what is happening in their lives, garner validation for their experiences, and find a path that offers clarity, direction, and voice. Bestselling author Claudia Black guides readers to understand aspects of their personal histories that have lead them to be in relationships plagued by sexual betrayal, and reveals how their partner's behavior can be as addictive as a drug. Black then outlines proactive steps that readers can take to build healthier relationships and take care of themselves, illustrated by accounts of real women who have done so successfully. She teaches women how to set nonnegotiable boundaries in order to heighten their security during this vulnerable period. She reveals ways they can avoid preoccupation with their problems and make positive changes for themselves and their partners. With Deceived, women will learn to honor themselves by making choices derived from esteem and integrity. In the end, they will have the ability to proactively emerge from emotional isolation, shed secrets and shame, and discover their power.

Deceived: Facing Sexual Betrayal Lies and Secrets

Parenting & Relationships

Hazelden

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Books by Claudia Black