Welcome
Reaction Recovery is an SUD counseling and health coaching program that offers individualized strategies to help you thrive. Through weekly consultations, daily goal tracking, and unlimited messaging, we help you establish and maintain a personalized approach consistent with meaningful recovery.
WHAT is recovery coaching?
Why reaction recovery?
Reaction Recovery
Reaction Recovery is a private coaching service designed to help individuals thrive in their life of recovery from substance use disorders. It is a one to one, intensive behavioral approach to help individuals identify areas to make focused and intentional lifestyle modifications.
NOTE: Recovery coaching is NOT a treatment program. It is a professional coaching model that is intended to complement - not replace - treatment, counseling, or 12-step mutual aid groups.
The basic coaching approach will be to help clients function best in a synchronized state of attunement and to notice when we're living in relational balance and how to perpetuate that state.
The purpose is to establish a transformative, on-going relationship between coach-client through establishing and outlining specific solutions to barriers to recovery and provide a solution-focused plan.
Based on what Dr. Simone has called the '12 Daily Habits for Recovery,' our coaching techniques will systematically and methodically help the individual identify specific areas to be adjusted and then develop individually tailored strategies to affect real change.
The 12 Habits focus on building up a support community, developing a healthy and consistent morning/evening routine, ensuring the body is receiving all nutrients necessary to support a strong and optimal brain and body, expanding the mind with helpful books and information, developing a realistic fitness routine, carefully auditing the external distractions in our lives, considering barriers and triggers to a long-term life of sobriety, and more.
WHAT TO EXPECT:
Our role as professional recovery coaches is to help clarify where you are, as well as where you want to be. We'll explore inernal and external barriers that get in the way of your recovery and devise options that can personally work for you. We will outline and help you explore community support systems that can help remove barriers.
When these considerations get repeated across thousands of iterations, and with a little guidance and accountability, they become a foundation upon which the rest of the individual's recovery will be built. Eventually - through repetition - new neural pathways begin to form until eventually this life of abstinence doesn’t feel so difficult and a sustainable, meaningful recovery is able to take shape.
"Recovery happens in the trenches of everyday life. Small adjustments plus ruthless repetition equals lasting change."
WHAT we believe
NOTE: There is a lot of information written into these pages, and we appreciate the time that you are spending unpacking it all. The guidance included on this website is what we deeply believe in after many years of study, experience and observation. The 12 Daily Habits for Recovery as well as any nutritional repair tools described on this site are not intended as substitutes for any needed psychotherapy, medical care, or spiritual guidance. They are intended to provide additional relief, where appropriate.
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Recovery from alcohol and drug addiction must involve every aspect of the individual's mental and physical being. Addiction is a fierce and tenacious condition, insidious in its onset, cunning in its methods, and ruthless in its progression.
Conventional medicine has done well to get a large number of people clean and sober through detoxification facilities and short-term rehabs, but we have made little overall improvement in keeping people sober. Did you know that the long-term success rate of traditional addiction treatment is less than 5%?
This is about the same success rate of people who spontaneously quit on their own.
Through public attention, government-funded treatment, private healthcare and removing the stigma from addiction, many people today have opportunities to safely separate themselves from the addictive chemicals and begin a life of recovery.
Reaction Recovery offers an affordable and accessible way to review an individual's recovery routine if he/she is abstinent from their addiction but still experiencing regular feelings of anxiety, depression, fatigue, or mental fogginess.
It is our experience that often times small, specific and well-directed changes to the daily routine (and then followed up with accountability) are significant enough to begin stabilizing the internal environment, thereby reducing the risk of relapse or failed attempts at sobriety.
People recovering from drug addictions have often lived irregular and unhealthy lives for years if not decades before getting sober, and this irregularity does not simply disappear with abstinence.
The goal of a successful long-term addiction recovery plan must be to stabilize the internal environment. This means that ALL parts of the individual's life need to be considered if long-term recovery is to be expected.
We believe that counseling and talk-therapy, while important for many, will not typically not be enough on their own to maintain sobriety. We believe the primary focus must be on changing the daily, repeatable actions so that these will become the habits and routine that sustain a successful recovery attempt.
Drug addiction is a chronically progressive full-body disorder that will deteriorate the spirit, mind, and body, in that order. When an individual attempts to recover, he typically does so in the reverse direction: body, mind, then spirit. After the individual stops drinking and using drugs, the body requires time to heal. This is where nutritional therapy, in particular, goes to work and is immediately effective. It helps stabilize and strengthen the internal organs.
We have developed twelve daily habits, twelve daily pillars, if you will, that if regularly followed, have been proven through practical experience to rebuild the body, repair the mind, and position the spirit so that it is ready to be healed.
We blend the current research trends, clinical treatment considerations, holistic methodologies and fifteen years of experiencing and witnessing addiction from a practical, professional, social, and personal experience.
Individuals in drug recovery can not afford to wait for physicians to become educated, federal government programs to realign, treatment programs to adjust, and legislative action to protect us. It is the individual's responsibility, no less her duty, to change her behaviors of daily living to align herself with a long-term recovery approach.
We promise you that recovery - not merely temporary abstinence - is possible.
Reaction Recovery is not psychotherapy or about getting to the root cause of your addiction, nor is it a deep introspection into the origins of the addictive pathology. There is a time and place for that in the individual's recovery, but we believe the effectiveness of talk therapy and spiritual work is maximized when the mind and body are stabilized through healthy, repeatable daily habits and addressing and minimizing potential barriers to stable recovery.
The goal throughout this website, through our social media presence, in-person recovery work, and online video consultations is to give the recovering alcohol addicted or drug addicted person the information and knowledge they need to protect themselves against the disease of drug addiction and alcoholism and free themselves from its grip.
[Please note that we are not a detoxification service. If detoxification from a chemical dependency is required, please seek medical attention.]
INTRODUCTION TO THE 12 DAILY Habits
If you do an internet search or speak with someone in your community about addiction recovery, you're likely to get flooded with information and suggestions.
Although some of the content may be misguided, we believe a lot of the information is well-researched, good-intentioned and makes practical sense.
The problem is that it doesn't seem to be working.
Today, more people than ever are beginning a life of sobriety, however increasingly few are maintaining it and transforming this lifestyle into a purposeful life of recovery. The reason might be explained by our current-day approach to health and well-being:
Modern medicine has made incredible advancements over our lifetime. It's almost hard to fully appreciate how fortunate we really are. Nearly every acute disease state has been greatly improved upon if not nearly eliminated over the course of the past century. Because of the many great medical advancements, we've become accustomed to having our ailments alleviated - and alleviated quickly. An infection can be cured with antibiotics in a few days, broken bones are usually healed in a few weeks, even damaged joints or failing kidneys can be replaced in a few weeks or months.
Addiction, unfortunately, is an exception to the rule. Not only have we not figured it out, but by any measurement it seems to be getting worse - both in overall incidence and rate of mortality. Brain damage from years or decades of chemical abuse takes an agonizingly long time to repair. This needs to be acknowledged and accepted right away if long-term treatment is going to be possible.
A̳D̳D̳I̳C̳T̳I̳O̳N̳ ̳A̳S̳ ̳A̳ ̳C̳H̳R̳O̳N̳I̳C̳ ̳I̳L̳L̳N̳E̳S̳S̳
New scientific research from the past twenty years makes it very clear that addiction is not a weakness or a moral failing. Rather, it is a chronic medical disease with a lot of similarities to other chronic disease states like hypertension, diabetes, and asthma. Addiction causes damage to the brain and leads to physical changes that can be verified with MRIs and other imaging tools. The changes lead to altered thoughts, behaviors, and brain function. Alcohol and addictive drugs physically damage and alter the brain, in much the same way too much cholesterol will damage and alter the linings of the arteries. This means it is not enough to talk to people with addictions and threaten or coerce them into maintaining sobriety. It's simply not effective.
A chronic, progressive illness requires chronic, progressive care. We all feel great listening to a knowledgeable speaker talk about addiction, hearing an inspiring story from a recovering drug abuser, looking at inspirational quotes on social media, or reading a well-researched book on addiction recovery. But this will not keep anyone sober. To actively recover, one must first acknowledge that he need and want to be sober, and then actively treat the addiction DAILY like the chronic, progressive disease that it is. If this approach is repeated every day, we can consider the illness to be in remission and the individual to be on the road to recovery.
Years of unhealthy living and unstable daily habits have created grooves in the brain that control the way we live our lives. It's not just the chemicals that are addictive. We've become addicted to undisciplined and unhealthy lifestyles.
The good news is the brain is "plastic", and the neural circuitry can literally be changed. The bad news is it can not be changed simply by reading something or listening to someone else speak about it. It is only changed through regular, repeated actions. Over and over and over and over again. The old recovery slogan applies here:
We can not think ourselves into right action; we need to act ourselves into right thinking.
1̳2̳ ̳D̳A̳I̳L̳Y̳ ̳HABITS F̳O̳R̳ ̳R̳E̳C̳O̳V̳E̳R̳Y̳
Enter the 12 Daily Habits for Recovery . The principle behind the twelve rules is action. Sobriety is an action word and recovery is only achieved through DOING- not thinking, or conceptualizing, or talking, or believing, or understanding, or explaining, or theorizing. They're all fine in their own time, and a strong understanding of your own condition is very important if for nothing other than encouraging the willingness needed to start taking the actions in the first place. But by themselves they have absolutely no correlation to long-term recovery.
The twelve habits were designed from careful observation of the disease process, clinical practice, behavioral research study, but most importantly through personal experience witnessing what actually works. It is not theory. People in recovery do well approaching their sobriety in 24-hr segments with a practical list of items to 'check off' each day. It keeps the guess work out of the process so we always know - in real-time - how we are progressing. Often in sobriety, by the time an individual realizes he is headed for a relapse, it is too late. There is no reason for anything to be so abstract.
WHITE-KNUCKLE SOBRIETY
Some people call it "white-knuckle sobriety", others call it "dry sobriety". Whatever the label, it is painful, uncomfortable, and dangerous. It is like a recurrent itch that can't be scratched. The individual usually experiences depression and despair, alternating with intense guilt and shame, that becomes so painful that only self-intoxication or suicide appear as realistic options. This might sound like an extreme description, but we assure you it is not. In fact, if you talk to someone who had a few months or years sober and then went back to using drugs or drinking and ask them why they did it, they usually can't remember. But what typically happens is the discomfort and agony from simply abstaining from the substances that used to be used to anesthesize oneself can become so intense that it completely blocks out the memories of the pain that went along with active use.
Anyone in recovery who is having that much trouble hanging on, might at any time be almost forced to go and seek relief simply to preserve the integrity and sanity of the mind. Alcohol and drugs provide almost instantaneous relief from this so it is no wonder there is what can be described as a gravitational pull back towards the substance if we are feeling this sense of desperation for too long a time.
There is a belief in the recovery world that to tolerate all of this discomfort is simply normal, and we just need to get through it. It is true that the person new to recovery is learning how to safely and maturely tolerate the inevitable ups and downs of responsible living, but there are small and specific changes we can make that can make a huge difference. This is the purpose of the 12 Daily Habits for Recovery. It is to target the preventable daily discomfort that disrupts too many sincere sobriety attempts so that we give ourselves a real chance to recover spiritually and start to heal.
12 habits for recovery
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POST-DETOX CLIENTS
NOT CURRENTLY ENROLLED IN TREATMENT
NOT CURRENTLY ENROLLED IN TREATMENT
Addictions can often lead to chemical dependencies which may result in a serious withdrawal or detoxification syndrome. For this reason, it is always recommended to seek medical attention when a detox is required. It is not safe or appropriate to begin discussing a lifestyle consistent with a successful recovery until the mind is cleared from the acute toxicity.
After the detox is complete, we are available for individualized in-person appointments or online video consultation
NOT CURRENTLY ENROLLED IN TREATMENT
NOT CURRENTLY ENROLLED IN TREATMENT
NOT CURRENTLY ENROLLED IN TREATMENT
Short or long-term treatment is often indicated and can be very helpful to many people. However, for different reasons this is not always an option. For example, an individual may desire treatment but due to a lack of insurance, or insurance restriction, have difficulty affording a pricey rehab facility. Other individuals might complete an in-patient detox but not be ready or so situated to transition to longer-term care. For these individuals, keeping close contact with recovering consulting service can be a perfect way to affordably bridge the difficult transition from in-patient care to regular living.
NEW TO A SOBER LIFESTYLE
NOT CURRENTLY ENROLLED IN TREATMENT
ENROLLED IN 12-STEP GROUPS WHO FEEL LIKE SOMETHING IS MISSING
There are many people who want to live a life free from all drugs and alcohol, have not gotten to the point of considering formalized treatment but who are finding it very difficult to maintain continuous sobriety. These are individuals for whom periodic online consulting could be invaluable. There may simply be a few considerations that are being overlooked that continue to derail otherwise sincere attempts.
ENROLLED IN 12-STEP GROUPS WHO FEEL LIKE SOMETHING IS MISSING
ENROLLED IN 12-STEP GROUPS WHO FEEL LIKE SOMETHING IS MISSING
ENROLLED IN 12-STEP GROUPS WHO FEEL LIKE SOMETHING IS MISSING
The greatest wholesale miracle in the field of addiction treatment was the advent of the twelve-step faith-based fellowships. As a whole they have been able to accomplish what nothing previously could. Although this is the most successful long-term approach to addiction, by itself it is ultimately unsuccessful for the majority of individuals who join these fellowships.
As much as we support these groups (so much so it is our first daily rule!), one drawback is the tendency for members who have been sober for a little while to feel unable to express the internal instability that he/she is experiencing in sobriety. Occasionally, this hesitancy to speak up will slowly lead to the dissolution of one's overall quality of life and lead to relapse or worse.
We have worked with many individuals in these organizations who are staying sober but continuously feel unstable or that something is missing. Most of these people report considerable improvement from the addition of a personalized nutritional supplement regimen.
Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT)
ENROLLED IN 12-STEP GROUPS WHO FEEL LIKE SOMETHING IS MISSING
Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT)
The use of MEDICATION-ASSISTED TREATMENT (MAT) including buprenorphine (e.g. Suboxone) or Methadone treatment continues to be a popular method of treating recurring opioid dependency. Despite its frequent use, this method of treatment continues to be the most contentious and hotly-debated topic in the treatment of substance-use disorder. For this reason, many individuals engaged in this therapy feel put off and unaccepted by twelve-step groups where a lot of the members might not consider this individual a "sober" member of its community. For this reason these individuals often take on the huge task of establishing an effective recovery routine without the invaluable guidance and support from a fellowship of other people.
Whether you plan on using the medication assistance for a predetermined length of time with the ultimate goal of complete abstinence or it is being used as a long-term harm reduction plan, creating a disciplined recovery routine and adding nutritional supplement where appropriate can be extremely helpful.
Why reaction recovery?
Experience
Experience
Experience
With years of extensive and relevant education, ten years professional experience in the clinical pharmacy setting counseling patients through the peak years of the prescription opioid epidemic, as well as himself living the life of active recovery from opioid addiction, Dr. Simone is a uniquely qualified advocate for and healthcare provider to the recovery community. We believe that the integration of these three areas - education, professional experience, personal history - separate Dr. Simone as one of few individuals uniquely positioned and qualified to help.
We believe everything an individual consumes in his or her sobriety is significant. As a doctor of pharmacy and an advanced nutritional supplements adviser, Dr. Simone is qualified to speak to an individual about everything he or she is consuming - prescription medication, over-the-counter items, vitamin and mineral supplements, herbal products, as well as a general diet and nutrition assessment.
Physiology
Experience
Experience
Education in human physiology has provided the educational groundwork necessary to build a competent career in healthcare. Mainstream understanding of addiction recovery has moved sharply away from the antiquated view that addictions are purely psychological disorders. Modern scientific research agrees conclusively with the physical disease model of addiction, rooted in the genes and activated by the effect drugs and alcohol have upon the biochemistry of the brain and body. Chemical abuse undermines the physical health and mental stability of the individual by destroying and destabilizing the vital neuro-chemistry responsible for their maintenance.
Nutrition
Experience
Nutritional Supplementation
A "chemical dependent" is an individual with a sick body who seeks to find comfort and relief by consuming the very substance that guarantees the body will remain sick. For many reasons the nutritional life of the individual becomes dangerously unhealthy and depleted across many aspects of nutritional health. Alcoholics and drug abusers are without exception nutritionally deficient, to one degree or another. These nutritional needs are only partially corrected with a balanced diet; they also typically require vitamin and mineral supplementation to correct the deficiencies and maintain a nutritional balance.
Any approach that completely ignores the nutritional component of the disease is almost certain to fail in the long-term.
Nutritional Supplementation
Nutritional Supplementation
Nutritional Supplementation
When malnutrition or nutrient starvation is present, it is nearly impossible for one to respond effectively to a medical protocol. It is our belief that it is very difficult for a addiction recovery to be successful without a structured and patient-specific nutritional supplement regimen in place.
Because there is such an over-abundance of information and suggestion available on-line, it is more critical today than ever before to follow the recommendations of a qualified source. Administration of an inappropriate supplement regimen is a wasteful use of money at best and potentially harmful at worst. Align oneself with experienced, knowledgeable, and credible sources.
A Nutritional Supplements Adviser can:
- Assess a client's general health and design a personalized supplement plan
- Educate and appraise your client
- Provide guidelines for safe intake
- Inform about bad combinations and contraindications
- Check on the intake of supplements through questions and client journals
- Encourage your client to follow a balanced diet and healthier lifestyle
- Work with your client to implement strategies for new healthy habits to stick
- Follow up on health improvements
- Adjust a supplementary plan where necessary
Pharmacy
Nutritional Supplementation
Pharmacy
It would be incomplete and irresponsible to have a meaningful discussion about the roots and causes of the opioid epidemic without discussing the impact of the pharmacy world and the pharmaceutical community.
Years of standing on the front lines in the area of community practice pharmacy, across the full stretch of the United States, has provided Dr. Simone with an understanding of the problem - inside and out - such as few possess. He has practiced in the poorest sections of Philadelphia to the wealthiest communities in Los Angeles and many areas in between - he has seen first hand that the drug epidemic has cut fairly evenly across all cross-sections of American life and has been the respecter of none.
More importantly, however, is the benefit of an educated and experienced expert in the field of prescription medicine. The contentious areas of debate surrounding appropriate use of pharmaceuticals during and after a drug detoxification protocol require the careful knowledge and experience of one who is trained, experienced, and well-researched in this area. In fact, this topic is so touchy and wrought with heated argument, that most people will stay completely silent on the topic (at least publicly).
We believe that everything an individual in recovery puts into his body is significant, therefore prescription medication must be discussed. It is no exaggeration to say that this is the most controversial topic in recovery today. Most people hold very strong and stubborn opinions about the use of pharmaceuticals. Despite this many individuals attempting to get sober are prescribed prescription medications, therefore how they integrate into the full clinical picture must be considered. As much as we would like to stay out of this controversy entirely, we feel there is none more qualified to speak on it than a pharmacy professional in recovery. For this reason, we believe there is no area of recovery that we need shy away from discussing.
The decision to start, continue, or discontinue a pharmaceutical medication is between the patient and the prescriber. This is why we recommend working only with those who are fully aware of your medical history and have an established understanding of addiction medicine. However, because prescription medications - like anything else that is consumed on a regular basis - will affect the daily life and the recovery process, these medications should be discussed openly and freely if an honest assessment and effective recovery consultation is to be made.
Exercise
Nutritional Supplementation
Pharmacy
It has been said that the body is our temple; it is our home. As any active or recovering substance abuser knows too well, when it is neglected and left in ruin, the ability to successfully do anything else becomes much more difficult. It is our belief that if the body is not honored and restored to a degree of high condition and health, recovery likely will not happen.
Although building the body with exercise and strength training is an absolute must, it must be implemented with caution, particularly in the early months. Years of substance abuse often can have a severe negative impact on the body's functioning, therefore the individual must first be cleared by a physician as healthy enough to begin exercise.
Mission
STATEMENT
MISSION STATEMENT:
To be the most trusted, accessible, practical, and effective individualized approach to long-term sustainable recovery.
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Reaction Recovery was created as a service for individuals recovering from drug and alcohol addiction that they may improve the quality of their sobriety, thereby increasing the likelihood of a successful and thriving recovery.
Reaction Recovery is a platform that offers accessible, affordable and confidential consultation in the privacy of your own home without disruption to your current life.
Consultations assess actual or potential limitations to the daily recovery routine, which includes consideration of safe nutritional and dietary approaches that integrate with any current medication treatment strategy already in progress.
We serve people who do not have access to formalized long-term treatment, do not wish to enroll in long-term treatment, or have completed a treatment program and are looking for ongoing guidance and accountability to improve the likelihood of a smooth transition from treatment back into everyday life.
Our online video consultations are conducted by Dr. Simone - an experienced certified professional coach, clinical pharmacist, recovery peer, respected thought leader within the addiction recovery community, and creator of the highly acclaimed "12 Daily Habits for Recovery."
How It Works
There is no up-front payment required for Reaction Recovery initial discovery call.
You can schedule a free 15-minute consultation to determine if an ongoing accountability and lifestyle coaching service is right for you.
Once on-board, clients subscribe to a package that best fits their lifestyle needs. Regular, face-to-face consultations are used to create an individualized, tailor-fit strategy that will maximize the likelihood of successful and sustainable lifestyle modification. An unlimited daily messaging service ensures that you're never alone as situations arise.
The text messaging accessibility is a distinguishing feature of the Reaction Recovery platform. You do not need to wait until the next scheduled appointment to ask a question. If something comes up, shoot a text!
Billing: Reaction Recovery is a private coaching service that is not currently contracted with insurance providers. Payments are requested in full prior to the start of coaching.
VISION
FOCUS
Mental, emotional, intellectual, and physiological
well-being and development.
VISION
Increasing the quality of extended-care addiction treatment by helping stabilize the internal and external environment, thereby decreasing the risk of relapse.