Sobriety is a major pathway to good mental health, but it does not secure it. Instead, having your brain and body free and clear of addictive substances allows you to make the best choices necessary for mental health, and gives you the strength to do the necessary work. The trauma resulting from the pandemic and a year of social isolation have brought these issues into sharp focus, and this opens up important conversations by releasing the stigma around mental illness as a whole.

God calls each one of us to love sacrificially (Eph 5:2). Loving this way is hard. In our home, this call meant becoming foster parents. Being a foster parent is not easy or simple, and sometimes it is not even fulfilling (as you and I are tempted to define it). It is hard, it is costly, and it is often thankless, but we do it nonetheless. Here are three reasons why we, as a couple and now as a family, choose to do what is hard.

Women experience a wealth of unique health challenges, many of which remain under-treated or poorly addressed. Addiction is no exception, according to Dr. Lipi Roy, a physician specializing in addiction.

In a recent Forbes article, Dr. Roy points out the main gender differences between men and women as they apply to substance use disorder treatment. She also says a lot of the research into addiction was historically male-centered until the 1990s, when agencies finally required studies to include women in their research.