Services

Services...

Being in bondage to anything makes you a slave. I don't know about you but I do not desire to be a slave to no one or nothing. The bondage of addiction and emotional brokenness can be debilitating, but this debilitation can be restored. The body has an innate ability to restore it self as long as it is given the right things needed for restoration. It will not be easy and it will take (1) will-power, (2) determination and the (3) decision to set your mind on something greater than yourself. With these three things in your arsenal you do have the ability to be set completely FREE of addictive and emotional behaviors. The road is never easy, but it is achievable! The A.V.O.I.D. approach may not be like any approach you have ever experienced, but we do whole heartedly believe this approach gives you the right tools needed to live a productive life; free from these undesirable behaviors. With all that said, lets get started....

The seven areas of wholeness have been incorporated into this program to establish optimal growth and balance within your spirit, soul and body.

These seven areas cultivate a well balanced life.

Nutrition
Spirituality
Physical Activity
Career/Purpose
Relationships
Emotional Stability
Financial Freedom

Nutrition:

Most people typically do not consider nutrition or issues with the digestive system as being the underling root cause to an addiction and/or emotional struggle. However, they are more interconnected than one may possibly think they would be. This is why at the core of what we do nutritionally is to consider what is going on in the digestive region of the individual first. We often hear a person is what they eat, well we believe a person is what he/she is able to absorb. The truth is, if the person does not have a digestive system that is functioning effectively and efficiently I don't care what you consume the bottom line is it's not going to be beneficial. This goes with medicine and supplementation too.

The list below is not an all inclusive list, but it will at least provide you an idea of the types of health and lifestyle concerns we address through our program.

Brain and Emotional Health
Insomnia
Attention Deficit & Hyperactivity Disorder (ADD/ADHD)
Drug Addiction
Stress
Depression & Anxiety
Digestion & Assimilation
Leaky Gut Syndrome
Candida Albicans & Other Yeasts
Chelation Therapy
Fatigue
Headaches
Tourette Syndrome & Tics
Behavioral Syndromes
Environmental Sensitivities
Heavy Metals
Eating Disorders
Bipolar Disorder
Chemical Exposure
Chronic Fatigue
Fibromyalgia
OCD
Schizophrenia
Seizure Disorders
And more...

How do we do this?

Food Sensitivity/Compatibility Testing IgG Food Allergy Test
Amino Acid Testing
Essential Fatty Acid Testing
Comprehensive Stool Analysis
Vitamins/Minerals
OAT Testing (Organic Acid Test)
Gluten/Casein Peptides Test
Elimination Diet
Supplementation Recommendations
Hormone saliva panels for men and women
Heavy Metals Hair Testing
RBC Metals (Red Blood Cell)
Vitamin D Test
Kryptopyrrole Test
Comprehensive Fibromyalgia and CFS Panel
Basic or Comprehensive Wellness Panel
Functional Foods and Medicinal Herbs Panel
Food Additives and Colorings Sensitivity Panel
Mold testing
Environmental Chemical Panel

Spirituality:

You may be asking yourself how does what I believe spiritually have anything to do with how I feel emotionally? Every human being on earth is made up in three parts; spirit, soul and a body. These three parts can not be separated. We were all made in the image of God, therefore mankind is disnticnt from all other creatures. God is a tripartite - Father, Son and Holy Spirit - so man is also three parts = spirit, soul, and body. In 1 Thessalonians 5:23, niv it states, "May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ." We "are" a spirit we "have" a soul; and we "live" in a body. Therefore, these three parts are very much involved in our emotions, decisions, and wellbeing.

Prayer
Meditation
Scriptures that relate to healings, finances, relationships, etc...
Devotionals
Journaling your thoughts
and more...

Physical Activity:

Physical movement is lacking in so many lives these days, with our busy home and work schedules. We are always on the go and even though we are all moving around busily it is not the same as engaging in focused physical exercise. Not only is physical exercise critically important for our physical health, but it also critical for our emotional health and important decision making skills. It helps aid in our learning, thinking and judgment making skills. It keeps these skills sharp and focused as we age. Exercise raises our feel good neurotransmitters which ultimately reduces depression, anxiety, negative mood and stress and helps aid in better and deeper sleep patterns, cognitive function and improved self-esteem. I like to use research when possible and one article I located states the reasons behind these reductions are;

"proposed to be caused by exercise-induced increase in blood circulation to the brain and by an influence on the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, and thus, on the physiologic reactivity to stress. This physiologic influence is probably mediated by the communication of HPA axis with several regions of the brain, including the limbic system, which controls motivation and mood; the amygdala, which generates fear in response to stress; and the hippocampus, which plays an important part in memory formation as well as in mood and motivation. Exercise is especially important in patients with schizophrenia sense these patients are vulnerable to obesity and also because of the additional risk of weight gain associated with antipsychotic treatment, especially with the atypical antipsychotics. Patients who suffer from schizophrenia who participated in a 3- month physical conditioning program showed improvement in weight control and reported increased fitness levels, exercise tolerance, reduced blood pressure levels, increased perceived energy levels, and increase upper body and hand grip strength levels.

Benefits for those with mental health is:

Improved Sleep
Increased interest in sex
Better Endurance
Stress Relief
Improved mood
Increased energy and stamina
Reduced tiredness that can increase mental alterness
Weight reduction
Reduced cholesterol and important cardiovascular fitness."[1]

By doing aerobic and muscle-strengthening activities only 3 to 5 times a week for at least 30 minutes can help with mental clarity. Exerices also builds confidence, are better able to take your mind off of cravings and withdrawal symptoms, will be more flexible, and less tense. Raising the endorphins in your brain by physical activity results in great benefits to the overall person; spirit, soul and body!

Career/Purpose:

We believe your career and purpose in life should be something you enjoy. It should bring you happiness in your heart and soul. When you experience happiness and peace you have found your true calling in life. We are hear to guide you in discovering what that ideal career and/or purpose may look like to you. Should you like to engage in our third part software to assist in discovering that dream career we can arrange that for you. However as part of our program we will assist you in pulling it all together and making it work effectively and efficiently for you. Your purpose is something you already have inside of you and through our coaching skills we can help you better define what that purpose may look like for you.

Here are a few things we offer:

Career direction
Sounding board
Helping you locate a resume writer
Define career and purpose goals

Relationships:

Relationships are one area that is sure to get you out of balance in those three areas that makes us who we are; spirit, soul, and body. Love is a funny thing; it can bring healing to our soul, but it can also bring the most debilitating pain we've ever experienced. We believe in the five love language principles. We not only believe in them, but we have used the techniques in our own life. Relationships go beyond our family and close friends, they extend to our work family and people we met in social gatherings. It's imperative to be able to express who you are in a relationship and being able to do this effectively and efficiently isn't so easy at times. Learning your love language as well as others will help in the process. We also enjoy utilizing other techniques in our program too. In addition, here are a few things to get your mind thinking about how it may all work for you in our program:

Effective communication from the heart (Heart focus)
Effective Heart Breathing Exercise
Effective Heart feelings
Nurture your heart connections

As you can see the "heart" is a very important organ when it comes to our relationships. Keeping it healthy and strong is vital to optimal health. It has been found when people are able and willing to communicate effectively, to agree to initiate a give and take relationship, and realize the importance of forgiveness they live happier, healthier and more productive lives. Life is crazy and can be a vicious cycle at times, if our relationships are out of control, so are our eating habits which ultimately leads to an unbalanced body chemistry, resulting in sickness and disease, both physically and mentally.

Emotional Stability:

This area of life may have been the very concern that brought you to A.V.O.I.D., to begin with . When we are not feeling well emotionally it takes a toll on the entire person as a whole. It can have devastating consequences in all of the other six areas of our life - to include our family unit. This is why our center focus is in the area of emotional healing with each client as an individual. All of the other steps to wholeness are critical little pieces to this one huge puzzle leading to emotional stability and ultimately a goal of achieving a healthy and balanced spirit, soul, and body.

Mental health has been shown to be strongly correlated by lifestyle factors such as chronic stress, sedentary lifestyle, poor nutrition, substance abuse, and social isolation. However, it has also been shown exercise, healthy diet, effective stress management, social support, and spirituality is increasingly relevant to those who struggle. The WHO (World Health Organization) conducted a mental health survey in 2004 and found that mood and anxiety disorders are more prevalent than any other chronic condition. Our goal is to help you find ways to alleviate symptoms through our less invasive products and services. Our purpose is not to "fix you," because we believe you already have inside of you every thing you need to accomplish this goal. However, we realize sometimes we all need guidance in setting and living out our goals in discovering emotional stability in our life again. AVOID is here to help support you in every way we can.

We use various modalities to help bring together this piece of the puzzle:

Nutrition
Breathing Techniques
Relaxation Techniques
Supplementation
Christ centered meditation
Journaling
Biomedical testing plays a key role in this area of healing
and much more

Nutrition and Addictions:

It is worthy to note something here regarding addictions. Addictive drugs stimulate the same neural pathways involved in learning normal behaviors. The neurological sense of reward and the emotional sense of pleasure are also stimulated by addictive drugs. Drugs cause a much higher degree of neuronal pathway stimulation and neurotransmitter release. Due to this higher than normal level of neurotransmitter release, the strength of the behaviors learned and extent of neural adaptation associated with drug rewards are much higher than those of normal biological rewards. This flood of neurotransmitters causes prolonged changes in the brains' neurocircuitry responsible for sensing satisfaction and reward, and appears to play a key role in causing addictions.

Just as family dynamics and poor life choices contribute to the development of addictive behaviors; so does nutrition, particularly as it is involved in supplying precursors for neurotransmitters - chemicals which facilitate activity within the central nervous system such as tyrosine and tryptophan.
Talk alone can do NOTHING to Stop Cravings!!! Nor can talk change faulty biochemical imbalances.
The fact is many people have chased addictive chemicals to get the biochemical changes that brought momentarily relief to their brains - only to learn NO DRUG (neither street or pharmaceutical) can sustain a feeling of wellbeing.
A critical piece to achieving "real" recovery is unfortunately too often missed and neglected, such as the valuable role nutrition plays in the healing process of recovery.

Here is a very short but ever so sweet interview of Dr. Charles Gant by Dr. Richard and Cindy Becker of Your Health TV. Love the Becker's program. Dr. Gant is an addiction specialist, physician as well as a psychiatrist. He is the author of "End Your Addiction Now" which you can purchase through our book store. End your addiction now comes highly recommended. Watch the video by clicking(4.12 mins): End Your Addiction Now with Dr. Charles Gant, MD.

Financial Freedom:

I don't know one person that has a full grip in this area. Even Donald Trump filled bankruptcy several times. Financial struggles is one of the most debilitating experiences to have to go through. For this reason we have incorporated this area of wholeness into our program. Our founder Debbie spent a seventeen year career in the mortgage industry. Nine of those years as the CEO of a mortgage company. She has had the privilege to set down with thousands of individual's and families in the mortgage buying and refinancing process. If you can imagine, being that purchasing or refinancing a home is the largest transaction anyone will make in their lifetime - it relies strongly on ones ability to handle their finances. However, so does a lot of other decisions we make in life. We have to know finances in order to budget for a home, auto, insurance, education, social gatherings, family vacations and other daily family activities, what and how we plan our nutrition, how much we give to charities, it dictates our career choices and either progresses or hinders our ability to fund our passions and desires to live out our purpose and to include what way we will chose to incorporate physical activity into our lifestyle. Finances can make or break a relationship, it has been known to tear families and friends a part. This is why we realized it was a must to include into the seven areas of healing and not ignore this valuable piece to the puzzle.

Financially Fit Home:

Basic Finance 101 (budgeting, opening and balancing a check book, credit report, etc).
Tips in managing finances (how to pay off balances, Emergency fund, health and life insurance, retirement savings plan)
Worksheets, connect you with financial advisor's who have your best interest, help assist you regain control again.
Much more.

Balancing the budget and having a plan are the first steps to securing a stress free financial future. It is easy to accomplish these tasks when you have the physical stamina and mental clarity to do so.

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Our video series throughout our site is here to help you understand what we do for our clients through A.V.O.I.D. We have selected what we feel are the best videos to help in uncovering root causes to addiction and mental/emotional struggles. These doctors are experts in their field of medicine and we hold the highest respect for them and their work in functional medicine and mental health. Many have been doing this work for decades, they are respected in their field as well as through our eyes. They have all been a valuable piece of us implementing the program and services we have created for our clients.

Our next video is a talk given by Dr. Liz Lipski. She holds a doctorate in nutrition and her wealth of knowledge is second to none. She is the author of many books, has her own practice which you can visit by clicking on her name above. In the video below Dr. Liz discusses the importance of gut health and it's connection with mental health. Which this theory is at the core of everything we do through A.V.O.I.D.

"Digestive Wellness: The Brain-Gut Connection"

Nutritional Wisdom...

"If you use a low-powered lens to look at mental illness, you look at communities and culture. If you use a medium-powered lens, you look at family systems. If you use a high-powered lens, you look at molecules."

~ Dr. Robert Hedaya, MD, ABPN, DFAPA, founder of the National Center for Whole Psychiatry.

# of signatures for the Green Box Label Project™:35

"Astounding Victory Over Intoxicating Drugs