Healing Trauma Through Self-Parenting: The Codependency Connection
Patricia O'Gorman, Ph.D., a psychologist in private practice in East Chatham and Albany, New York, is noted for her work in trauma, families, children of alcoholics, child welfare, mental health, and substance abuse. She was one of the first researchers on children of alcoholics in the early 1970s, documenting the impact of alcoholism and sobriety on adolescent development, and went on to create the Department of Prevention and Education for the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (NCADD). She has served as an international consultant to organizations in preventive and clinical strategic planning. Dr. O'Gorman is a cofounder of the National Association for Children of Alcoholics, and she has held positions that include clinical director of a child welfare agency, executive director of an agency serving survivors of crime and abuse, and director of prevention for NIAAA. She is a veteran of numerous television appearances, includingGood Morning America, Today,andAM Sunday. She is the author ofDancing Backwards in High Heels: How Women Master the Art of Resilience, coauthor (with Phil Diaz) ofThe Lowdown on Families Who Get High,12 Steps to Self-Parenting for Adult Children, 12 Steps to Self-Parenting Workbook, andBreaking the Cycle of Addiction, and coauthor (with Peter Finn) ofTeaching About Alcohol, as well as numerous articles in magazines includingAddiction Today,Counselor, andRecovery. She brings the same type of seminal thinking to the topic of trauma and codependency that she used to help create the Children of Alcoholics movement.Phil Diaz, M.S.W., is the director of community development and education for Behavioral Health of the Palm Beaches in Palm Beach, Florida, and has a private practice specializing in the treatment of addiction and trauma at Lifescape Solutions in Delray Beach, Florida. He is the former executive director of the Harrigan Foundation, where he specialized in Gestalt family therapy, and the former CEO of Gateway Community Services, a 300-bed drug treatment facility for adolescents and adults in Jacksonville, Florida, where he pioneered PTSD treatment using EMDR and motivational therapy. He was the founding director of Project Rainbow, the first center for young children of alcoholics, and was the deputy director for substance abuse at the largest community mental health center in New York State, where he pioneered work with the dually diagnosed, drug-addicted person. He is also the former assistant deputy director for prevention in the Office of Demand Reduction with the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy; in this capacity, Diaz was the lead federal official in the development of national and international drug prevention policy.Diaz is a social worker with more than thirty-five years of experience in the addiction field, child abuse, and trauma. He is also a founding board member of the National Association for Children of Alcoholics, the National Association for Native American Children of Alcoholics, and the founding chairperson of the National Drug Prevention League. His work has appeared inWomen's Day, USA Today, and Focus on the Family. Diaz is the coauthor ofThe Lowdown on Families Who Get High, 12 Steps to Self-Parenting, 12 Steps to Self-Parenting Workbook, andBreaking the Cycle of Addictionas well as numerous articles in magazines, includingParents, Addiction Today, Counselor, andRecovery. He has received numerous awards for his work including an honorary doctorate in law from Mercy College in New York.