Healing and recovery are needed after every ailment that the human body goes through. Despite the stigma, the kind of therapy that recovering individuals most need in today’s time is one rooted in love and empathy. There are many regular treatments for people like these, but most are cookie-cutter treatments that don’t work for everyone. This is why Shirley Wantland, the founder of Recovery Consultants, has introduced a different path of healing and recovery for people who want long-term results.
Shirly has always been a person to walk the path less traveled and considers herself an odd duck. It has been this way since her childhood when her parents came to the United States from Vietnam. She didn’t know how to speak English, and neither did her parents, but they stepped into American society. Her father worked as a janitor for a private school and managed to get Shirley in at discounted tuition. Even at her school, Shirley never fit in and was considered odd.
Shirley is at peace with her image as odd because she uses it now to describe herself and her work. She believes traditional healing and recovery treatments are not working for everyone, and the results aren’t always long-term. This is why Shirley works with out-of-the-box techniques and methods like harm reduction, psychedelic-assisted therapy, and trauma therapies. Shirley believes these methods work best for long-term results and proper treatment without compromising on the lifestyle.
Shirley creates these modules for each patient according to their needs and recovery patterns. Her initiative is focused more on the love-based method and not fear-based ones. Therapies include the patient and their families to help create a well-rounded treatment plan that doesn’t require the patient or the family to change their lifestyles drastically.
With traditional methods and treatments in play, fear-based tactics are used to lure and convince the patients that what they are doing is terrible and should never be done again. Shirley’s treatment plans differ because they are love-based and support the patient and instruct them on the right way to use and not abuse the substances. Shirley believes that the patient’s lifestyle should not be changed but worked with to find the best way to live a healthy life.
Shirley also maintains her lifestyle and uses whatever she wants for her pleasure. This makes her an odd duck, and many people find it strange, but this is exactly what she is promoting to live a healthy and fit life; you don’t have to give up life’s simple pleasures.