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Mindfulness Is Not About Emptying Your Mind
Mindfulness is not about stopping thoughts or creating a perfectly calm mind. This blog explores how mindfulness can support recovery by helping people notice thoughts, emotions, cravings and body signals with greater awareness, creating more space between what is happening and how they choose to respond.
Leigh-Anne Brierley
3 days ago10 min read


Completing the Stress Cycle Instead of Carrying Stress Into Tomorrow
Stress does not always end when the stressful situation is over. Explore what it means to complete the stress cycle, why the body can stay activated, and practical ways to support recovery through movement, breathing, connection, grounding and gentle end-of-day transitions.
Leigh-Anne Brierley
Oct 159 min read


When Calm Feels Uncomfortable: Learning to Feel Safe Without Chaos
When life begins to settle, calm can feel surprisingly uncomfortable. In recovery, learning to feel safe may take time, support and gentle practice. Explore why quiet can leave you restless, how to approach steadiness at your own pace, and what it means to build a meaningful, connected life without constant chaos.
Leigh-Anne Brierley
Oct 129 min read


Understanding Your Window of Tolerance in Recovery
Understanding your window of tolerance in recovery can help you recognise when you are becoming activated, overwhelmed or disconnected. Learn to identify your green, amber and red zones and find practical, compassionate ways to return to greater steadiness, connection and choice.
Leigh-Anne Brierley
Sep 2815 min read


The Recovery Toolbox: What Should Be in Yours Before You Need It?
A strong recovery toolbox is built before you need it. Explore practical tools, coping skills, support systems and relapse-prevention strategies that can help you stay grounded, connected and prepared when recovery feels more difficult.
Leigh-Anne Brierley
Sep 1713 min read


It’s Not Just the Trigger: Understanding What Really Raises Relapse Risk
Triggers matter in recovery, but they are only part of the picture. This post explores the connection between triggers and relapse risk, and how recognising when you are under-resourced can help you respond with greater awareness, choice and support.
Leigh-Anne Brierley
Sep 1510 min read


Urge Surfing: Learning to Ride a Craving Instead of Fighting It
Cravings can feel urgent, but they do not have to make the decision. Learn how urge surfing can help you notice, understand and ride the wave of a craving while creating space for safer, more supportive choices.
Leigh-Anne Brierley
Sep 109 min read


Managing Cravings in Recovery: A Craving Is Information, Not an Instruction
Cravings can feel urgent, convincing and overwhelming — but they are not commands. Learn how mindfulness, curiosity and practical recovery tools can help you understand what a craving is telling you and create more space between urge and action.
Leigh-Anne Brierley
Sep 810 min read


What to Do After a Lapse: Responding With Responsibility Instead of Shame
A lapse does not have to become a full relapse. Learn how to respond with honesty, responsibility and self-compassion, recognise what happened, reconnect with support and strengthen your recovery plan without getting trapped in shame.
Leigh-Anne Brierley
Sep 39 min read


Recovery Capital: What Do You Have to Lean On When Life Gets Difficult?
There are times in recovery when life feels relatively manageable. We are sleeping reasonably well, our routines are working, relationships feel settled and we have enough emotional capacity to deal with the ordinary challenges that come our way. During these periods, recovery can begin to feel more natural. We know what helps us, we are practising it consistently and we may feel increasingly confident in our ability to navigate life without returning to the substances or beh
Leigh-Anne Brierley
Aug 2613 min read


Your Recovery Plan Is a Living Document, Not a Contract
I am a big believer in having a recovery plan. There is something incredibly useful about knowing what supports us, what our warning signs are, who we can reach out to and what we need to pay attention to when life starts becoming a little less manageable. I also believe there is enormous value in taking what is floating around in our heads and actually putting it down on paper, because a written plan can give us clarity, structure and something practical to return to when we
Leigh-Anne Brierley
Aug 209 min read


Caring for Myself While Caring for Others
Working as a substance use professional is deeply meaningful to me. It is not simply a career I chose; it is work that connects closely with my own lived experience of recovery.
Leigh-Anne Brierley
Jul 116 min read


Feeling the Feelings | It's not an unmanaged mood disorder!
Sometimes the distances between myself and the people I love seem truly vast...
Leigh-Anne Brierley
May 29, 20225 min read


Thank You for the Music
It's a funny thing that music can do...laugh, cry, dance, sing-a-long, and invoke so many BIG memories. Tonight I decided to put on my...
Leigh-Anne Brierley
May 1, 20227 min read


Finding Beauty in the Brokenness
It's been a brutal year for so many people and that's on the back of 2020 which most of us remember as one of the more challenging. And...
Leigh-Anne Brierley
Dec 16, 20216 min read
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