Contributed by Sara Koenig, MD, Founder, and Zena Chase, Clinical Director — Triangle Wellness & Recovery
They came to me on a Tuesday — a successful Cary professional with a job they liked, two great kids, and a family that looks perfect on every holiday greeting card. They weren’t in trouble. They hadn’t lost anything. But somewhere along the way, the glass of wine they poured at 5 p.m. to “take the edge off” had become two, then three, then a quiet count they stopped keeping. They weren’t an alcoholic, they told me. They just couldn’t remember the last time they had fallen asleep without a drink.
High-functioning drinking is one of the most common things I see in my practice, and one of the least talked about in our community. It rarely looks like the picture most of us were raised with. It looks like a capable person who is holding it together — and quietly worried about what would happen if they stopped.
If you have ever promised yourself you would take a few nights off and didn’t, felt a flicker of relief when a dinner host opened a second bottle, or noticed that the thought of an alcohol-free vacation makes you tense, you are not alone, and you are not a failure. You are a person whose nervous system has learned a coping skill that has stopped paying off the way it used to.
Here is what I want Cary to know: Getting help does not mean disappearing for 30 days, ending your career, or sitting in a circle being labeled. At Triangle Wellness & Recovery we use the Triangle Recovery Model, a patient-centered approach that begins with what you actually value (your family, your work, the kind of life you are trying to build) and moves forward from there, together. We do not hand you a script. We meet you where you are, at the pace your life can sustain.
Most of the people I treat never set foot in a residential program. My job is not to label you or decide what your recovery should look like. My job is to honor your goals and your values, and to help you make your own decisions again. Every recovery is unique, because every person is.
If something in this article made your stomach drop a little, that is information — not a verdict.
Call us when you are ready. Or visit twrnc.com to learn more about how we work.
