Blogs

  • Step work in recovery: Step 3

    Step work in recovery: Step 3

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    In Step 2, people undergoing the 12-Step programme make a decision to turn their will and lives over to the care of God as they understood him, says Karen Griessel, a social worker at SANCA Wedge Gardens. “This week, we take a look at Step 3. “Action is now needed after discovering the power greater… Read more

  • Step work in recovery: Step 2

    Step work in recovery: Step 2

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    This week, SANCA Wedge Gardens rehab centre takes a look at Step 2 in the 12-Step programme. “In Step 2 we come to believe that a power greater than ourselves can restore us to sanity,” says Karen Griessel, a Wedge Gardens social worker. Step 2 gives hope and possibility of recovery as individuals find a… Read more

  • Step work in recovery: Step 1

    Step work in recovery: Step 1

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    Having a framework to tackle recovery is essential and the 12 Steps are very helpful during this process, says Karen Griessel, a social worker at SANCA rehab centre Wedge Gardens. Today we look at Step 1: We have admitted that we were powerless over our addiction, and that our lives had become unmanageable. This is… Read more

  • Wedge Gardens celebrates unity within diversity

    Wedge Gardens celebrates unity within diversity

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    Heritage Day on September 24 recognises and celebrates the cultural wealth of our nation and this year, the day provided the staff at SANCA Wedge Gardens rehab centre a chance to share their traditions with each other. “We all dressed up and brought different dishes from our cultures to enjoy at a staff lunch. There… Read more

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  • Meaning of life in recovery

    Meaning of life in recovery

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    Have you ever found yourself in a spiritual conversation with someone, pondering the meaning of life? “I know I have, a number of times,” says Karen Griessel, a social worker at SANCA rehab centre Wedge Gardens. “It is in finding purpose that we also find comfort in this life because we feel like we are… Read more

  • A new normal

    A new normal

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    Adaptation is a word in psychology that basically describes changing to meet needs within a certain context and situation. It involves two processes, namely ASSIMILATION – applying past knowledge to new situations and ACCOMMODATION – altering past knowledge to fit the new. “We all had to learn how to adapt within the restrictions of the… Read more

  • Cheers to Wedge Gardens’ inspirational nurses

    Cheers to Wedge Gardens’ inspirational nurses

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    SANCA Wedge Gardens toasted its nursing staff recently for the excellent job they did in caring for their substance abuse recovery patients during the worst of the coronavirus pandemic. On September 4, the nurses were all presented with a specially-made coffee cup that reads: Never underestimate a nurse who survived the 2020 coronavirus pandemic. Sister… Read more

  • Bipolar disorder and addiction – An up-and-down swing of moods

    Bipolar disorder and addiction – An up-and-down swing of moods

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    Bipolar is classified as a mental illness characterised by extreme high and low moods. When people with substance abuse problems have a dual diagnosis of both addiction and a mental disorder, their path becomes extra challenging. This is according to Karen Griessel, a social worker at Sanca Wedge Gardens rehab centre in Johannesburg. “With bipolar,… Read more

  • International Overdose Day: 31 August

    International Overdose Day: 31 August

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    “I felt her body next to mine; she was cold. I tried to wake her, felt for a pulse, nothing. I carried her to the shower and tried to revive her. I did CPR but it was too late. Four years later, the scene still replays clearly in my mind. Such a waste of somebody… Read more

  • Be someone’s Piglet today

    Be someone’s Piglet today

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    “There is no bigger joy than when our beloved childhood books continue to teach us about life even in adulthood,” says Estelle Raath, the deputy manager of Sanca Wedge Gardens treatment centre in Johannesburg. “This little excerpt from the famous book by AA Milne offers us a timely reminder of why it is very beneficial… Read more