21. Melinda Dixon: Being the Child of an Alcoholic Parent and Finding Healing and Recovery Through ACA

The Courage to Change: A Recovery Podcast

#21: Melinda has 9 years experience working in recovery programs. She has been in admissions in both large facility dual diagnosis rehabilitation centers and addiction rehabilitation programs. She recently completed her college courses and earned her certification as an Addictions Counselor. Melinda is currently studying for the state certification test, and will continue her studies to earn her masters and become a LMHC.

Melinda is also one of our esteemed colleagues at Lionrock Recovery, and we were so excited to have her on the podcast! Tune in as she shares about being a child who grew up in an alcoholic household and the effects that it has had on her life, along with ACA and how the program helped her heal from the trauma and take her life back.

Our Sponsor:
Lionrock Recovery (http://www.lionrockrecovery.com)

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Show Notes:

1:41 - Explaining about ACA - “Adult Children of Alcoholics and Dysfunctional Families”

3:02 - Melinda describes her background and childhood

8:55 - Talking about Complex PTSD - how it applies

10:20 - High school, college and entering the work force

11:07 - Melinda talks about coming out

15:49 - The addiction to people (codependency) to fill a void vs. being addicted to substances

19:15 - The blueprint of love and how it affects your relationships

21:50 - Working with a therapist to break codependency

23:32 - Why her relationship went wrong

26:00 - Deciding to get a new therapist and what happened from that

31:42 - Melinda goes into detail what her therapist meant

36:30 - ACA and the effect that it has had on Melinda as an adult

43:45 - More about ACA

46:16 - How to identify if ACA is the right place for you

49:20 - The Laundry List in ACA

56:29 - The aspect of community in a 12 step program

1:06:45 - The focus of ACA - inner child work

1:13:25 - Melinda’s tattoo on her forearm - "invite love, create joy, own courage, release fear, stay present and accept growth”

1:20:00 - Living life in recovery

The Courage to Change: A Recovery Podcast would like to thank our sponsor, Lionrock Recovery, for their support. Lionrock Recovery is an online substance abuse counseling program where you can get help for drinking or drug use from the privacy of your own home. For more information, visit http://www.lionrockrecovery.com.