News and Insights

When you hide away from others to avoid ridicule, whether it is from suffering from mental illness or having problems with addiction it is important to take the proper action and quickly to come out of the shadows. The majority of the people entering our program reported experiencing a lot of shame and hid their behavior so they didn’t have to defend themselves. When something is drastically...

How Do We Care For Our Emotions? This is a common topic at our monthly FREE workshops. We want to take this moment to thank everybody who attended our recent training and those who have attended in the past. Their honesty, effort, and compassion make every even memorable and life-changing. Who taught you how to address anxiety, sadness, and overwhelm? For many, it isn’t taught at school, by...

How do you help people who seek your counsel? Beyond all the tools and techniques, there is one element that you may be overlooking – your attitude. When your attitude is one of compassion, healing takes place. I recall a conversation I had with my father regarding sales. He told me to find something about them you have in common. As you meet a client, find something about them you like. If...

My grandmother used to say the real relationship begins when warts show up. Then what? Do we run and hide, or do we use the situation as an opportunity to grow as a person? Relationship Dynamics There are many dynamics taking place simultaneously in relationships. The foremost is basically one family system is bucking up against another. Both partners bring with them the rule system of their...

A Return to My Roots In the late 1980s, I began my personal growth journey by attending a 2 1/2 day workshop presented by Insight Seminars. This training opened my eyes to not only to Psychology but realizing emotions can be healed. Up to that point, I played make believe that I was “fine”. I attended training for all the wrong reasons, however, what I found instead scared and wounded me....

The American Heritage® Dictionary defines addiction (ə-dĭkˈshən) as: The compulsive physiological and psychological need for a habit-forming substance: a drug used in the treatment of heroin addiction. An instance of this: a person with multiple chemical addictions. The condition of being habitually or compulsively occupied with or involved in something. Habitual Patterns When a habit is...

As the clinical director of Basic Steps Mental Health, I have the honor of meeting with an incredible staff daily and talk about the clients we treat. We are a bunch of people who have gone through treatment in the past, dealt with our mental illness and tend to see things from the client’s perspective. This type of staff has some great advantages because we have been there, have gotten...

Obligations, bills, work, family, health, financial concerns, can I pay that bill – life has its challenges but how we handle the problems can lead to stress or success. For many, life can be challenging. In a nutshell, we have the ability to remain calm and in control, if we handle ourselves properly. Learning the basic steps to do so can be more simple than you think. Try this exercise: List...

How long do you want to tolerate your problems? How long do you want to hide from life? Even if you have tried the treatment in the past – you’ve never been through treatment quite like this. We Get to the Root of the Problem I am Dr. Scott Alpert from Basic Steps Mental Health. Our Outpatient program is the most unique in the country because we treat problems at their root....

Five years ago, I opened a Residential Treatment Program in Washington State. It had good success but being a perfectionist I wanted to have 100% success and some people struggled after discharge. This industry has relapse rates in the first year at roughly 60%! Relapse is something I have had a difficult time with, from my early days in Residential Treatment in 1994.  Residential Treatment is...