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Many a parent or spouse have faced this dilemma. They realized that a family member has become addicted to drugs or alcohol, causing serious health problems for themselves, generating a tornado of stress and anxiety that is disrupting the entire family dynamic.

Fathers, mothers, husbands, wives, siblings want their loved one to stop misusing substances but they don’t know what to do. Simply demanding they stop or reprimanding them rarely works. Often, a more structured approach is required. You may need a formal intervention.

For most people the holiday season is a time for joy and celebration, but it can be stressful. And stress is a key risk factor in substance use disorders. While stress during the holidays can happen to anyone, for people with addiction issues such as financial problems, family conflict and general stress are easily amplified, and intense stress frequently triggers substance use in addicts or relapse in people in recovery.

Branden Connelley always thought he had a fairly normal childhood, but unknown to him risk factors for a substance use disorder were in place. He remembers his father drinking too much, and his parents getting a divorce when Branden was in high school. As a teenager, he struggled emotionally, and often felt out of place.

As an experienced improvisation instructor and coach, Lisa Kays knows that the skills that make an excellent improviser are in many ways the same that make an excellent partner, friend, and colleague: listening, mutual support and trust, willingness to take risks, ability to collaborate, capacity to both lead and to follow, and a sense of spontaneity and fun.