Home Groupies II : $ 10.00   

By Ken Montrose
A continuation of Home Groupies, Home Groupies II draws daily lessons from the life of recurring characters.  This meditation book finds wisdom in tasks as mundane as cleaning gutters, as well as pivotal moments such as the death of friends.   

My Plan to Ruin Your Life: The first recovery book written by your addiction:
$ 4.00

Addiction himself tells you how he plans to hook you, and challenges you to defeat him.
by Ken Montrose

Ever wonder why there are so many addicts? Ever wonder why so many alcoholics relapse? Addiction himself, in an effort to make the game more interesting, explains why he is so successful in getting people to use alcohol and other drugs. He will show you all his tricks, explain why you fall for them, and challenge you to stay clean and sober despite his efforts.

Color cover, Center Stapled: $4.00, bulk discounts or a license for unlimited copying are available.

"I love the irony of you hastening your death as you get high to avoid thinking about dying." Addiction speaking in My Plan to Ruin Your Life: The first recovery book written by your addiction, p. 10.

Hauling it to the Curb: $ 15.00

Cleaning up your life in early recovery
by Ken Montrose

This 170 page workbook helps newcomers explore their denial, deal with early recovery, and work the first five steps of AA/NA. In addition to practical advice and thought-provoking exercises, this book tells the story of Matt and Rachel, a young couple in early recovery.

Color Cover,Comb Bound: $15 each, bulk discounts or a license for unlimited copying are available.

“You may be one of us (an addict) if you wrap your car around a tree and blame it on a landscaping error.” Hauling it to the Curb: Cleaning up your life in early recovery p.32.

"If we expect God to change events, we are often disappointed. If we expect a belief in God to change hearts, we are often elated, but sometimes disappointed. If we work to change events, and we have a little faith in our hearts, we will most often be overjoyed." Hauling it to the Curb: Cleaning up your life in early recovery p.75

The Care & Feeding of Your Higher Power:$4.00

Starting your spiritual journey in early recovery
by Ken Montrose

This eighteen page workbook urges the reader to chase spirituality with the same vigor he or she chased chemicals. Topics covered include: barriers to spirituality, guilt, and the idea that spirituality includes at least as much action as it does thought and feeling.

Color cover, Center Stapled: $4.00, bulk discounts or a license to make unlimited copies are availablee.

"The heroin addict may love God, but until he ges clean he can serve only one master." The Care & Feeding of Your Higher Power, p.4.

Choosing A Higher Purpose: $ 4.00

Early recovery for agnostics and atheists
by Ken Montrose

Many people who try Twelve Step programs struggle with the spiritual aspects of recovery. This fourteen page workbook assures them they can believe in whomever or whatever they want and stay in recovery. On the other hand, this workbook challenges them to ask why they believe or disbelieve as they do. Choosing a Higher Purpose offers guidance for finding a purpose that includes other people and strengthens recovery.

Color cover, Center Stapled: $4.00, bulk discounts and a license to make unlimited copies are available.

"Second, if you cannot accept the idea of a Higher Power, find a higher purpose. Find one that involves other people, helps you change, and steers you in the direction of recovery. Do not drift through recovery until you crash into relapse, 'jails, institutions, and death.'"Choosing a Higher Purpose, p.1.

Staying Clean, Taking Medications: $ 4.00

A guide & workbook for people in recovery
by Ken Montrose

Too many people in recovery relapse because of prescription medications. This workbook outlines a five step plan for taking medications and holding onto recovery. The reader is encouraged to see prescriptions as a contract, where she has the responsibility to do everything in her power to need as little of the medication as possible. Being rigorously honest with prescribing professionals and taking a daily inventory are also emphasized. Written exercises help the reader explore his use of prescribed medications.

"No amount of [Twelve Step]meetings, diet, exercise, meditation, or alternative treatments will cure some ailments. In these instances, and following strict guidelines, medications . . . may be an integral part of recovery." Staying Clean, Taking Medications, p.21.

Celebrating Small Victories: $ 20.00

A counselor's manual for treating mental illness & addiction
by Ken Montrose and Dennis Daley

Published by Hazelden, this book provides a nuts and bolts plan for helping clients coping with both mental illness and substance abuse. There is no jargon in this book. Concrete treatment strategies such as using time lines and contingency cards are explained in detail. Celebrating Small Victories uses humor to encourage clinicians not to give up on the dually diagnosed client.

Understanding Schizophrenia & Addiction: $ 4.00

By Dennis Daley, MSW, PhD and Ken Montrose, MA, CAC

This 26 page pamphlet is similar to the workbook, but does not have written exercises. Written with families in mind, this text focuses on explaining mental illness and addiction. Understanding Schizophrenia and Addiction is an informative handout for both families and clients.

Home Groupies: $ 10.00

Home Groupies By Ken Montrose

This daily meditation book has characters and a story line, as well as lessons for daily living. The characters encounter the problems unique to people in recovery and the challenges life throws at everyone. $10

Just a big kid Saturday, 3/7

David was standing with the smokers in front of St. Anne’s when I pulled up.

"How’s it going?" I asked him.

He held his hand out in the rain. "The kids whined all day about having nothing to do because of the rain."

"It did rain all day," I said.

"They have TV, toys, the internet, DVDs, arts and crafts kits, and stuff we never heard of when I was a kid. How can they be bored?"

Last week he was complaining that he has nothing to do since he quit drinking, five years ago.

Today I will have fun without using alcohol or other drugs.
Home Groupies, p. 51

The Road Way Less Traveled: Starting recovery young:

$ 4.00

By Ken Montrose, MA, CAC

This workbook addresses questions frequently asked by young people new to recovery:
-What will I do?
-Who will I spend time with?
-How will I get through life without drugs?
-Why are drugs so hard to quit?

The text underscores how the resilience of youth is eventually overwhelmed by the progressive nature of addiction.

Color Cover, Center Stapled: $4.00, bulk discounts or a license for unlimited copying are available.

"Some of us hated the people we got high with, even if we got high alone." The Road Way Less Traveled, p.6.

Meditations for the First Thirty Days: $ 4.00

How not to become roadkill on the highway to recovery
by Ken Montrose

Many meditation books lift us above the din of our daily existence. This isn’t one of them. This workbook focuses on continuing the journey of a thousand miles even if the first step was into a pile of “it.” Topics covered include learning from people you don’t like, squeezing the joy out of life, not judging people by their appearances, finding peace in noisy places, and never picking up the first drink or drug, no matter what. Each of the thirty lessons comes with a page for writing a daily inventory and a gratitude list.

Color Cover, Center Stapled: $4.00, bulk discounts or a license for unlimited copying are available.

"Today I will remember that the world owes me nothing, does not respond to my will, and goes merrily on with or without my consent. On the other hand, I am free to change myself as I see fit." Meditations for the First Thirty Days: How not to become roadkill on the highway to recovery, p.57

"From the first day of my recovery I felt caught in the middle. On one side sat the twelve-step traditionalists. Whenever I spoke they told me to “sit down, shut up, take the cotton out of ‘yer ears and put it in your mouth!” Should I need an opinion, they promised to supply one.

"On the other side floated people who saw angels everywhere. They explained all experiences in metaphysical terms. They hated the notion that anything might be coincidental and not preordained by the Almighty. Having a summer cold was part of God’s grand plan to help me survive the garbage collectors’ strike.

"Between these two extremes, I trudged my own road from alcoholism to sobriety. Along the way I met many people walking a similar path. We held and expressed opinions. Our relationships with God tended to be deep but informal. We were the kind of heretics who believed in coincidences. I have added my own thoughts to their wisdom. With luck the combination will help you find comfort as you take the middle road." from the Foreword to Meditations for the First Thirty Days" by Ken Montrose

Heroin, Oxycontin, and Other Opioids: $ 4.00

This workbook explains how the carrot and stick of addiction, rush and withdrawal, keep people addicted. It also looks at ways to get and stay clean. Includes exercises to help the reader explore addiction and further his or her recovery.

My Favorite Character Defeckts: $ 4.00

Another recovery workbook written by your addiction

This workbook looks at common character defects and how Addiction turns them against people in recovery. The workbook looks at character defects from Addiction's point of view. "If you have wrecked five Fords, it's not time to go to rehab. It's time to by a Chevy." p.5.