"Life Back Program"

I completed the program at Lives Lived Well in Cairns being run by Mandy and Steve.

Mandy and Steve are the counsellors. It was a small group that completed the course.

I was suffering isolation from my alcoholism in Melbourne struggling with a vicious circle of homelessness and joblessness. I changed my environment going to Cairns to abstain from alcohol and drugs and begin the course.

During this course, I developed my thinking processes from books I've read when I've been recovering from DV (domestic violence) issues. These thoughts developed into concepts that have shaped my attitude daily. I have way more patience and I'm a lot more rational, even as my struggles are pretty much the same. However my struggles don't feel futile, hence I feel I will be able to achieve some life goals of mine. I also have a better attitude about the unknown where all my setbacks can crop up in. I can see that my mistakes and my mishaps provide me more information about a situation I'm struggling with. It's ok to feel bad at times, I have choices in my behaviour I don't have to act on my emotions. I can rationalise with myself about my emotions so they don't intensify. 

Steve and Mandy provided visual concepts for us with diagrams in the sheets we filled out weekly and the diagrams Steve drew up on the whiteboard. Lots and lots of information was provided to us in little packages, that I have built into my thought process - Way too much to keep writing here :)