Ocean Hills blogs & resources

Your drinking is making you feel dark, depressed and hopeless. There seems no way out. You've reached what is known as a rock bottom.

Ocean Hills has a podcast! Addicted to Recovery, featuring Ocean Hills founder Elaine Atkinson and Clinical Manager Stephanie Van Waas, drop

A sober Christmas can bring back the magic to a wonderful day spent with loved ones.

More than just a trendy wellness concept, self-care is a critical component of living sober.

Admitting to yourself that you have a drinking problem is hard. Telling others is harder. Should you tell them you're struggling?

In a culture that’s saturated with alcohol and where drug-taking is often seen as normal, socialising without substances can be a challenge.

So, you think you have a problem with alcohol, and want to know how to stop for good? Here are 5 top tips from the experts at Ocean Hills.

If you think you've got a problem with alcohol, it's worth checking out further.

Here are 10 tips on how you can get stop drinking, and stay sober.

Sober story: The first shaky days of sobriety from alcohol

Tools for staying sober brought to you by the team of clinicians at Ocean Hills.

Just wanting and needing to quit drinking alcoholisn't enough. At Ocean Hills , we know that when New Year celebrations are over and summer days stretch out before us with plenty of hours in the day to reflect on what you want more of and what you need to leave behind. For many people, quitting alcohol is on the resolution list as the excesses of the festive season take a toll. Some people will attempt a Dry January but for those who struggle with alcohol dependency, resoluti

Studies show that yoga is effective in helping to alleviate some effects of addiction, such as depression & anxiety.

Art as a therapeutic medium has long been used for people living with addiction and mental health issues.

When you're abusing alcohol, it can feel like you're living a double life when you're pretending to be something you're not.

Jenny's drinking went from social to sneaky in a matter of months. *Jenny has always liked a drink. Like a lot of Kiwis, she loved a few beers and wines on a Friday and was partial to an espresso martini or Manhattan on a girls' night out. Her drinking never greatly impacted her life or health until she hit her 30s. As her her lifestyle changed – through parenting and greater responsibility in her career – she drank more at home. Sometimes, she drank alone to relieve the pres

"I knew that my drinking was dangerous and out of control but I wasn't quite ready to say goodbye to my beloved alcohol." When I was slipping and sliding in and out of recovery, I tried going 'California sober' dozens of times, although I didn't call it that. Instead, I called it 'cutting down', 'taking a break', 'easing up' and 'slowing down'. My alcohol and drug counsellor called it 'harm reduction'. There's nothing wrong with any of these approaches, if they work. They did

There were a lot of good times – I’ll be honest about that – but there were also a lot of bad times, sloppy times and dangerous times.

As one addict helps another through the raw and challenging days of early recovery, a bond forms, leading to a lifetime connection.

When we're sober, the lights are on and the filters are off.