Rio Retreat Bunkhouse

The Rio Retreat Bunkhouse is designed to be conducive to the process of healing and recovery. Book your stay at The Bunkhouse when you register for your workshop for added convenience, and more immersive healing environment.

Bunkhouse lodging is available on a first come, first serve basis; early registration is recommended.

Rooms and Accommodations

The rooms at The Bunkhouse are purposely free of the distractions that often accompany hotel lodging such as TVs and phones. Rooms are very simply furnished with two twin beds, storage space, an alarm clock, and luggage stand. All rooms have their own private bathroom.

Bunkhouse occupants will have access to the swimming pool during certain hours. Modest bathing suits are required.

A Sunday evening snack will be provided. Meals will be provided from Monday morning through Noon on Friday.

Breaking Free from Love Addiction

Terrie was a child born from an extramarital affair. Growing up, she felt like she was unwanted by everyone in her family except her mother. As an adult, she found herself reaching a low point in her life, and tried working with several different therapists. Because of her family history, and because of her skill as therapist herself, she was able to mask her true feelings really, really well. So, her attempts at individual therapy failed.

Feeling hopeless and desperate for change, she went to The Meadows. Learn how the program helped her find her power and break free from false beliefs and love addiction.

The Quiet Desperation of Sex Addiction

The ways in which we teach men to “be real men” in our society limits their ability to openly discuss their sexuality and the range of complicated feelings and experiences they have had related to their sexuality. As a consequence, they often carry the burdens of shame, painful memories of unwanted or confusing sexual experiences, overwhelming or conflicted emotions. This can often lead to men seeking relief through compulsive or unhealthy sexual behaviors, drugs, alcohol, and more. 

 

A man in recovery from sex and drug addiction wrote the following essay for The Meadows Alumni newsletter more than 10 years ago, but the experiences he describes are still all too common among men today…

One Man’s Struggle with Sex Addiction

I was scared. I was lonely. I was a little boy. My father was a college professor. My mother was college educated. I have two younger brothers and a younger sister. We had plenty of food and clothes. We got birthday presents. Santa Claus came to see us. We were a very distant family, like ships passing in the night. We rarely hugged. We rarely expressed emotion. We rarely talked about what was going with us as individuals or as a family. I was scared. I was lonely.

I remember that, when I reached puberty, a neighbor boy showed me masturbation. I masturbated a lot. Now I wasn't so scared, and I wasn't so lonely. I found a magazine. It was just an ordinary magazine with a picture of a woman in a bikini. It became my first pornography. I wasn't so scared, and I wasn't so lonely. When I was a sophomore in high school, I started drinking and, from the beginning, I drank alcoholically. I wasn't so scared. I wasn't so lonely.

The workshop is well-suited for men who want to jump-start their recovery process, prevent relapse, or acquire more tools and resources to support their continuing recovery. Our intake specialists would be happy to answers any questions you may have about the workshop or The Meadows sex addiction treatment programs. Give us a call anytime at 866-986-3225.

Eating Disorder Recovery Is a Work in Progress

By Jessica Setnick, MS, RD, CEDRD, Senior Fellow at Remuda Ranch at The Meadows

When my eating was in crisis mode, my life was reduced to meals, hours, minutes. I may have planned my eating and exercise for days in advance, but the reality was that I spent my time worrying about what I would eat, regretting what I had eaten, and wondering if I would stick to the rules I had set for myself the next time.

Once I committed to recovery, I hoped for a brighter future, but all I could see before me were meals, hours, and minutes where I had to fight the urge to use my behaviors and somehow find the strength to get through the day.

Life Beyond Your Eating Disorder Workshop

Now I have combined my professional knowledge with my own experience of recovery to create Life Beyond Your Eating Disorder, an intensive, five-day workshop, held at the Rio Retreat Center at The Meadows. It is a concentrated dose of time that allows for more experiences, creative expression, and peer support in a place where you are safe to be your truest self with a leader to guide your introspection, describe how you got where you are, help you to imagine how you want life to be, and help you to see that others are on this journey as well. You will return to recovery with a renewed sense of possibility, a deeper understanding of yourself, and a recognition of areas that still need work.

Things to You Should Never Say to the Partners of Sex Addicts

When news of former Congressman Anthony Weiner’s latest indiscretions broke, some of the public’s speculation immediately turned to his wife, Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin who was reportedly separating from him. 

 

 

If it’s difficult for some people to understand why Weiner would continue to send semi-nude photos to women on social media after having been caught before, it’s perhaps even more difficult for them to understand why Abedin continued her relationship with him after his first offense.

Vicki Tidwell Palmer, LCSW, has written a great article for the Huffington Post that points out how humiliating and gut-wrenching certain questions and comments can be for the sexually compulsive person’s partner. She offers a list of five well-intentioned but wrong-headed comments people often make to the betrayed partner and explains why you should never make them.
Number one on her list: “You should have left him a long time ago.”
Read the rest of the list on HuffingtonPost.com.

Help for Betrayed Spouses and Partners

The Healing Intimate Treason workshop at the Rio Retreat Center at The Meadows gives partners of sex addicts a voice as they travel on their own journey in recovery. The workshop was developed in collaboration with Meadows Senior Fellow Claudia Black, Ph.D. and author of Deceived: Facing Sexual Betrayal, Lies, and Secrets and Intimate Treason.

During the 5-day workshop, people affected by their partners’ sexual compulsions begin the process of healing from the pain and humiliation of betrayal. Workshop participants learn how to move through their grief and sense of loss, break free from their attachment to fantasy, and enhance their emotional self-regulation.

The Rio Retreat Center also offers the Strengthening Coupleship and Discovery to Recovery workshops for those who are interested in repairing their relationships or learning how to split up amicably.
For more information, give us a call at 866-331-3368. Our specialists would be happy to answer any questions you have. Be sure to ask about our special 25 percent discount offer that lasts until Sept 30!

Source Link : Addiction

Before you Leave, Look Into Your Trauma

It has been said that there are four stages of a marriage, or a long-term committed relationship: romance, disillusionment, misery, and awakening.

Most of us declare life-long commitments to our partners after a whirlwind romance, convinced that “this time everything is different” and that you’re both sure to live in the same state of mutual bliss forever. 

Then comes the disillusionment. We often reach this stage in a relationship when we can no longer help but notice all the ways in which our partner pushes our buttons:

“He/She never listens to a word I say!”
“He/She doesn’t care about my feelings.”
“He/She always leaves the empty milk container on the kitchen counter!”
The degree to which you and your partner have acknowledged and resolved your childhood trauma may determine the level of intensity that arises in either of you when these common relationship issues come up. If you find that you are having major blow-ups over even the most trivial things, your reaction may be more of a learned response to a perceived emotional threat based on what you experienced as a child, rather than an indication of your partner’s inadequacy.
Maintaining a healthy relationship in the long-term requires a high level of emotional maturity. Both people in the relationship need to have the ability to express their thoughts and feelings appropriately, accept life’s many ups and downs, and take full responsibility for their decisions and actions.

Unfortunately, emotional trauma from a person’s past can interfere with their ability to grow on an emotional level and function well in an intimate relationship. Those with unresolved trauma tend to experience super-charged emotions, escalate seemingly trivial issues, and make effective communication seem impossible. They may also struggle with depression, addiction, and a whole host of additional mental health issues.

There are signs you can look for in your partner and in yourself that may indicate that some emotional growth—and possibly therapy or treatment—are needed in order to build a strong and satisfying long-term commitment.

Trouble Signs in Your Relationship

In a truly committed relationship, the effects of unaddressed emotional trauma are not one person’s problem to solve. What affects one partner affects the other and has an overall impact on the relationship. Unresolved emotional trauma can commonly turn up in a relationship in these ways:

• Very strong emotional reactions to common relationship issues.
• All disagreements, no matter how minor, tend to be fueled by intense emotion.
• Tendency to withdrawal, or behave in a distant, unresponsive manner.
• Avoidance of conflict and inability to discuss issues.
• Assumptions that the partner is acting against them when they are not.
• Constant doubt about the partner’s love and commitment.
• Difficulty accepting love, in spite of constant reassurance.

Pia Mellody’s Model (a.k.a. The Meadows’ Model) of Developmental Immaturity provides a framework for recognizing and understanding the impact of childhood trauma on a person’s ability to connect with others. The model looks at whether the person experiences appropriate levels of self-esteem, sets healthy boundaries with others, owns their own reality, understands their needs and wants, and expresses themselves appropriately.
Take a look at the chart below and ask yourself:

• Which areas does my partner do well in?
• Which areas does my partner struggle in?
• Which areas do I do well in?
• Which areas do I struggle in?

Once it becomes clear that your relationship is being negatively impacted by emotional trauma—yours, your partner’s, or both—reach out for help. Progress can be made through a combination of individual therapy sessions and couple’s therapy sessions. An inpatient or outpatient treatment program may even be necessary for one or both of you depending on the severity of your issues and behaviors.

Can Your Relationship Be Saved?

Many people don’t even realize they’ve had traumatic experiences or recognize painful events from their pasts as “trauma.” Trauma-informed therapy and trauma-informed treatment programs can help individuals and couples begin to identify their hidden pain and see how it still affects them and their relationships. Trauma-focused therapy also helps couples to better understand one another by sharing their individual personal histories and teaching them how to process and express their thoughts and emotions in healthier and more productive ways.
But, trauma work isn’t just for couples. If you’re currently single, now is the perfect time to focus on yourself and develop the communication skills and self-knowledge that will help you start any relationship—whether it’s with a spouse or partner, friend, family member, or employer—on the right foot. You can build a better future for yourself and those you love.

The Rio Retreat Center at The Meadows can help you get started. Our acclaimed Survivors Workshop can help you find and change the self-defeating beliefs that lie at the heart of addiction, mood disorders and troubling relationships. Strengthening Coupleship can help you and your partner learn new methods of communicating and build on the existing strengths in your relationship. Call us for more information at 800-244-4949, or send us an email.

Source Link :  Rio Retreat Center

Start Your Comeback

In one way or another, to the outside world, you are a picture of success. Chances are you have several things in your life to be grateful for. Maybe you are a leader at your company or in your industry. Maybe you have a great spouse and great kids who you are sending to the best schools. Maybe you have the nice car, and the nice house and the vacations and all of the other spoils that make up the American Dream.

But, in spite of all of this, something doesn’t seem right. You keep making the same mistakes in your life and relationships over and over again. You’ve noticed that you often can’t concentrate, are highly irritable, or are inexplicably sad. You’re starting to wonder if you eat too much (or too little), drink too much, rely too heavily on sleeping pills at night, or watch too much pornography. You’re starting to worry about people finding out your “secret,” and about losing your spouse or partner, your friends, your job, or your livelihood.

Or maybe you’re in recovery, but feel like you’re starting to slip. You know you need to do a little more therapeutic work to get to where you want to be in life.
“What is going on with me?” you wonder. “And, what can I do about it?”

Book Your Stay at The Rio Retreat Center

The Rio Retreat Center at The Meadows offers intensive workshops that can help you through either of the above scenarios and much
more. The workshops are designed and led by some of the nation’s top behavioral health experts. In a relaxing and restorative setting, you will explore the root causes of your troubles and begin to resolve the negative thoughts and feelings from which unwanted and self-defeating behaviors arise.
If you are struggling to achieve your goals and enjoy your life in the same one you once did, we want to help you stage a comeback. So, from now until September 30, we’ll give you 25 percent off the price of a Rio Retreat Center workshop when you book overnight accommodations at the Rio Retreat Center Bunkhouse.

Bunkhouse Benefits

The Rio Retreat Center is about an hour away from the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. Those who stay at the on-site Bunkhouse have the added benefit of free transportation to and from the airport—no need to worry about the hassle of renting a car!
The rooms at the Bunkhouse are purposely free of the distractions that often accompany hotel lodgings such as TVs and phones. This helps makes your stay more conducive to the process of healing and recovery. Bunkhouse occupants also have access to the swimming pool during certain hours.

Make Your Reservations Today!

Space in the Bunkhouse is limited, so don’t hesitate to book your workshop and your room. Call 800.244.4949 today. You must mention this blog post when booking your stay in order to take advantage of the special offer.

Special Offer Details

Book a room at the Rio Retreat Center Bunkhouse and receive 25% off the price of your workshop.

• Workshop participant must book single or double occupancy in our bunkhouse at normal rate
• Rio Retreat Bunkhouse accommodations include round-trip transportation from Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport, Sunday evening snack and all meals through noon on Friday and all complimentary activities
• Workshop registration must be completed and payment made by September 30, 2016
• Workshop attendance can occur anytime before December 31, 2016
• Offer applies to most workshops offered at the Rio Retreat Center (see note)
• Workshop registration is subject to availability
• Participant must be clinically appropriate for the workshop
• Travel expenses are the responsibility of the participant

NOTE

• Discount does not apply to these workshops: Discovery to Recovery, Family Workshops and Couples Workshop.
• Rio Retreat Bunkhouse has lodging available on a first come, first served basis.
• This blog post must be mentioned when registering to receive the discount.
  
  Source Link : Rio Retreat Center