Dan Griffin
M.A.
Free
Addiction Recovery Expert
Dan Griffin Quick Facts
Dan Griffin, M.A., has worked in the mental health and addictions field for over a decade. His graduate work was centered on the social construction of masculinity in the culture of Alcoholics Anonymous. Griffin lives in Minnesota and has been in recovery for fifteen years. He is author of A Man’s Way Through the Twelve Steps and co-author of the groundbreaking curriculum, Helping Men Recover. It is the first addiction curriculum to look comprehensively and holistically at men’s needs and issues in recovery.
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Article
Now You Can Have Your Life with Less Fear
From the time I was a child I felt like I experienced an abnormal amount of fear. What the cause of it is I will never know. Perhaps a genetic anomaly, neurons misfiring, or a spiritual malady. What I do know is for most of my life I have wanted to be fearless. I wanted desperately to be rid of my fear. Growing up I felt quite alone, especially among men. I assumed that they would not understand or share my experiences. I know now I was wrong. And I have an idea why.
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Childhood Trauma, How to Help the Men in Your Life
This article will be important to remember as you gather this holiday season with the men you know and love. It is not a festive topic, which I would prefer, but it is a topic that has been filling my thoughts as of late. The Penn State scandal weighs heavy on my heart and my being having effects on those around you, or yourself.
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Four Steps to Help Put an End to Domestic Violence in Honor of National Domestic Violence Awareness Month
Did you know that October is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month? Did you know that the ribbon for preventing domestic violence is purple? Did you see any purple ribbons this October? You probably saw a lot of pink ribbons. While breast cancer is a very serious issue that deserves the amount of attention it gets, we shouldn’t forget that domestic violence is just as serious and effects even more people. Unfortunately, domestic violence is a rarely discussed topic on our culture. It is often misunderstood, and it’s hard for most people to admit that they are in an abusive relationship.
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Why Everyone in Recovery Must Be Trauma-Informed—For Women and Children's Sake (Part 3)
My passion in looking at men and trauma comes primarily from my personal experience as a young boy, first growing up in a violent alcoholic home and then having to deal with the impact of that trauma long into my thirties — and long into my sobriety. I still have vivid memories sitting on the top stair outside of my parents’ bedroom, hearing my mother screaming and crying as I was trying to get up the nerve to open the door or bang on it, once they/he had finally gotten smart enough to lock it.
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Why Everyone in Recovery Must Be Trauma-Informed—For Men’s Sake (Part 2)
I was recently invited to speak at an event in the same small Virginia town where I started my recovery journey and had the chance to be with some of the people with whom I first got sober 17 years ago. There were the guys I called the Fantastic Four: my first sponsor, my first best friend in sobriety, the man who taught me how to say “Hi” to other people, and the man who had what I wanted. And there were the incredible women—especially Mama T and all the adopted grandmas.
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How Trauma Informs Men’s Identity, Addiction and Recovery
Most of the men I’ve talked to over the years in the journey through recovery can identify some point in their lives when they realized it was not okay to express certain feelings or behaviors, especially if those feelings showed weakness, vulnerability or sensitivity. Crying above all was strictly discouraged. They also learned—sometimes through everyday interactions with other men but frequently because of abuse or traumatic experiences—that the only appropriate way to express things like fear, hurt, rejection or sadness was through the conduit of anger and violence.
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Two Essential Questions for Men in Recovery
It goes without saying that choosing to enter treatment or a Twelve Step program presents a unique set of challenges. One that many people do not anticipate is the experience of entering a culture in which people communicate. For men especially, this can be an unfamiliar and uncomfortable experience. But this is also the beginning of the most rewarding journey they will ever take: a man’s journey through the Twelve Steps.
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Therapy and the Real Man
It doesn’t take much to figure out why many men are so resistant to therapy. We come by it naturally. From the time we are boys and all through adulthood, we are literally trained not to do anything that remotely resembles therapy. Think about the expectations for therapy or any form of personal growth: Ask for help? Uh, no – not even directions. Talk about feelings? Feelings, what are those? The thought of it just makes me mad! Be vulnerable? No thanks, that doesn’t help me; that is for women and girly-men. Talk about the past? Get over it.
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3 Ways Trauma-Informed Curricula Help With Addiction Recovery
It is well-known that trauma and addiction are closely linked. Years of clinical research have demonstrated that many individuals who struggle with addiction report exposure to trauma during the course of their lives. It is not uncommon for those dealing with addictions to have experienced any of the following: prolonged physical, emotional or sexual abuse during childhood, adolescence and/or adulthood; profound neglect; long-term exposure to violence, war or terrorism; and the chronic long-term health problems associated with these things.
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Gender Roles in Recovery from Addiction
As I have been studying men and recovery from addiction off and on for more than 15 years, I have arrived at some nascent ideas that I am sure are not unique to me, but are compelling nonetheless. In essence, something happens to us as men and women during the process of recovery from addiction that changes how we express ourselves at the foundation of our very identity, our gender.
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