Managing relapses is a critically important part of the recovery process. This session will cover three essential parts of relapse prevention: 1) Building greater overall strength and resilience by developing healthy ways of living, 2) Becoming an expert on your own recovery by developing the ability to anticipate and manage addiction risks, and 3) Returning rapidly to recovery if relapse does occur.

This session includes a demonstration of how relapse analysis and prevention tools can be used to turn a relapse into a useful learning experience.

Thomas Wadleigh is a licensed Clinical  Mental Health Counselor. He specializes in the treatment of pornography and sexual addiction for individuals and couples. Since the early 1980s, Tom has counseled individuals struggling with alcoholism, drug addiction, eating disorders and sexual addiction. This experience includes working in a variety of settings including inpatient psychiatric hospital units, intensive day treatment for mental disorders and addiction, community mental health agencies, and private practice.

His specializations include advanced training and certification as a Certified Sexual Addiction Therapist (CSAT), certification as an Emotionally Focused Couples (EFT) therapist, and certification as an EMDR therapist for treating trauma and other disorders including addiction.

Alex Blankenstein is a graduate student in the Masters of Clinical Mental Health Counseling program at the University of Phoenix.  He has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Utah as well specialized training in sexual addiction recovery and Life Span Integration trauma therapy.  Alex is a member of the American Mental Health Counseling Association.

Alex has over 10 years helping individuals and couples deal with the problems associated with sexual addiction.  He joined LifeSTAR as a graduate student intern early in 2016.

Alex also counsels adults who are experiencing life transitions, mood disorders, grief and loss, trauma, or psychological and spiritual problems. His clients include those who wish to improve their marriages, parenting, communication, and/or life skills.  He especially enjoys using experiential learning interventions and adventure therapy in his practice.

Alex is the happily married father of three little boys.  He is an avid rock climber, canyoneer, backpacker, snowboarder, paddle-boarder, and yogi.  He especially loves using these activities as a platform for healthy living practice.