Teachability

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My name is Bryan Hullihen and today I’d like to talk about staying teachable. I have worked in the field of substance abuse treatment since 2008 and have facilitated countless intakes into varying degrees of treatment. One of the primary indicators of how successful one’s stay will be is compliance to the treatment plan while the other is the therapeutic alliance. A client is ultimately given an entire team of professionals to assist them in their road to recovery; however, in many cases those seeking treatment set out to tell their team what they need in order to recover. I compare this type of behavior to a below average golfer taking lessons from Tiger Woods while telling Mr. Woods he doesn’t know what he is talking about. The more an individual in early recovery can get out of their own way and allow those tasked with guiding them do what they do, the better off one will be. Letting go of the tiller or getting out of the driver’s seat is not an easy thing to do for someone in early recovery; however, it is possible. If you are in early recovery and you are lucky enough to have a personal support group/team, do yourself a favor and let them drive for a little while; Try it for six months and if your life does not improve you can always go back to doing it your way. When we stop learning we stop growing and we cannot learn anything without teachability.

Thank you,
Bryan Hullihen

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