Robert Hilliker's guest appearances

Robert Hilliker

The Sacred Speaks

Hope Pieced Together

Pod Have Mercy

The Illuminate Recovery Podcast 

Rudy Rasmus

Cleve Tinsley

Barbara Brown Taylor

Jill Bolte Taylor

Thomas Moore

Mark Labberton

David Cross

Mark Ryan

Dennis McKenna

John Horgan

Bernardo Kastrup

Jennifer Morgan

Mark Plotkin

Kate Manser

Bob Roth

OwlTail

There is often so much shame around substance abuse relapse. We have framed it as a failure, but what if we looked at it as an experience that those who have slipped back into addiction can use when beginning their journey of sobriety again? This is just one of the valuable lessons that today’s guest, Robert Hilliker, LCSW-S, LCDC, shares with us. Robert has 17 years of experience in the field of addiction and mental health. His work spans private practice, clinical supervision, and the creation and management of clinical programming. Additionally, he also co-founded The Lovett Center in 2014 and Ethos Wellness in 2018. In this episode, Robert shares how his personal and familial struggles with addiction led him to this line of work. We talk about why it is important to think about addiction through a disease model lens rather than villainizing it. So often, people think about addiction as bad behavior but as something that requires treatment. We also touch on the need to reframe addiction and why it is necessary to remove the shame around it. Our conversation also delves into how the pandemic has impacted people with substance abuse problems, how families and friends of those who have relapsed can deal with it, and we end with a story of hope from Robert.Key Points From This Episode:Get to know Robert and how he came to work in substance abuse. What Ethos Wellness Center and Prairie Recovery Center offer and how they differ from similar centers. Moving past the pejorative understandings of relapse. Insights into the disease model behind substance abuse and addiction. Five key areas of brain activity that are influenced by addiction. One of the biggest challenges when it comes to treating addiction. Rethinking addiction as an attachment disorder; what we can learn from this. It really is very difficult to stay sober if you started using substances early in life. When people look at addiction from the outside, they want to make it seem logical, but it’s very much an emotional issue. We cannot criminalize people who struggle with addiction; it’s a disease. What Robert has seen about reframing relapse as recurrence. Talking about recurrence openly removed the stigma around it. Yellow flags that are common when it comes to recurrence.  It is important for practice and treatment theories to evolve and be exciting. How the pandemic has affected people’s relapsing or others turning to substance abuse. Why hopelessness is what is most worrying to Robert. The pandemic has taken away those in recovery’s role models. There are so many new scenarios that are happening in the pandemic. It is so important for families to be vulnerable and feel the fear, not only the anger. A story of hope from Robert to end the show.Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:Robert HillikerRobert Hilliker on LinkedInRobert Hilliker Email — rhilliker@ethosvhg.comEthos WellnessThe Lovett Center

There is often so much shame around substance abuse relapse. We have framed it as a failure, but what if we looked at it as an experience that those who have slipped back into addiction can use when beginning their journey of sobriety again? This is just one of the valuable lessons that today’s guest, Robert Hilliker, LCSW-S, LCDC, shares with us. Robert has 17 years of experience in the field of addiction and mental health. His work spans private practice, clinical supervision, and the creation and management of clinical programming. Additionally, he also co-founded The Lovett Center in 2014 and Ethos Wellness in 2018. In this episode, Robert shares how his personal and familial struggles with addiction led him to this line of work. We talk about why it is important to think about addiction through a disease model lens rather than villainizing it. So often, people think about addiction as bad behavior but as something that requires treatment. We also touch on the need to reframe addiction and why it is necessary to remove the shame around it. Our conversation also delves into how the pandemic has impacted people with substance abuse problems, how families and friends of those who have relapsed can deal with it, and we end with a story of hope from Robert. Key Points From This Episode:<ul><li>Get to know Robert and how he came to work in substance abuse. </li><li>What Ethos Wellness Center and Prairie Recovery Center offer and how they differ from similar centers. </li><li>Moving past the pejorative understandings of relapse. </li><li>Insights into the disease model behind substance abuse and addiction. </li><li>Five key areas of brain activity that are influenced by addiction. </li><li>One of the biggest challenges when it comes to treating addiction. </li><li>Rethinking addiction as an attachment disorder; what we can learn from this. </li><li>It really is very difficult to stay sober if you started using substances early in life. </li><li>When people look at addiction from the outside, they want to make it seem logical, but it’s very much an emotional issue. </li><li>We cannot criminalize people who struggle with addiction; it’s a disease. </li><li>What Robert has seen about reframing relapse as recurrence. </li><li>Talking about recurrence openly removed the stigma around it. </li><li>Yellow flags that are common when it comes to recurrence.  </li><li>It is important for practice and treatment theories to evolve and be exciting. </li><li>How the pandemic has affected people’s relapsing or others turning to substance abuse. </li><li>Why hopelessness is what is most worrying to Robert. </li><li>The pandemic has taken away those in recovery’s role models. </li><li>There are so many new scenarios that are happening in the pandemic. </li><li>It is so important for families to be vulnerable and feel the fear, not only the anger. </li><li>A story of hope from Robert to end the show.</li></ul> Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:<a href="https://www.roberthilliker.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Robert Hilliker</a><a href="https://ethoswellness.com/robert-hilliker-lcsw-s-lcdc/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Robert Hilliker on LinkedIn</a>Robert Hilliker Email — rhilliker@ethosvhg.com<a href="https://ethoswellness.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Ethos Wellness</a><a href="https://thelovettcenter.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Lovett Center</a>

Recurrence in Substance Use Recovery Robert Hilliker, LCSW-S, LCDC

Robert Hilliker, LCSW-S, LCDC received his Master’s degree from the University of Houston’s Graduate College of Social Work. Following graduation Robert pursued additional training working as a Post-Graduate Social Work Fellow at The Menninger Clinic. He then completed a two-year fellowship at the Center for Psychoanalytic Studies. Currently, Robert is a doctoral candidate at the Institute for Clinical Social Work in Chicago, IL. In April 2014, Robert co-founded and became the Managing Partner for The Lovett Center LLC with his business partner, Will Davis. At The Lovett Center, Robert works with patients in private practice and serves as the Clinical Director for Pathos. Pathos offers intensive outpatient, supportive outpatient, and aftercare programming for people struggling with addiction and co-occurring mental health issues. Robert’s private practice focuses on work with professionals, addictive disorders, shame resiliency, and behavioral health issues. He provides individual, couples, family, and group psychotherapy. Matt and Robert discuss post-pandemic mental health and some of the current work that Robert is pursuing around men and emotional issues. 

Robert Hilliker, LCSW-S, LCDC received his Master’s degree from the University of Houston’s Graduate College of Social Work. Following graduation Robert pursued additional training working as a Post-Graduate Social Work Fellow at The Menninger Clinic. He then completed a two-year fellowship at the Center for Psychoanalytic Studies. Currently, Robert is a doctoral candidate at the Institute for Clinical Social Work in Chicago, IL. In April 2014, Robert co-founded and became the Managing Partner for The Lovett Center LLC with his business partner, Will Davis. At The Lovett Center, Robert works with patients in private practice and serves as the Clinical Director for Pathos. Pathos offers intensive outpatient, supportive outpatient, and aftercare programming for people struggling with addiction and co-occurring mental health issues. Robert’s private practice focuses on work with professionals, addictive disorders, shame resiliency, and behavioral health issues. He provides individual, couples, family, and group psychotherapy. Matt and Robert discuss post-pandemic mental health and some of the current work that Robert is pursuing around men and emotional issues.

Episode 55: A CONVERSATION WITH ROBERT HILLIKER

Robert speaks with eloquence as he grounds his research (me-search) in his personal story, a story that has a sobering way of articulating both the academic and the particular dynamic between, hope and despair, his subject of study. Robert has emerged from the depth and is now able to support others as they make a similar journey into their own experiences of the ups of life and also the downs. About the time when many of us were working on how to write and understand basic math, Robert was becoming more and more immersed in the world of alcohol and drugs. Many people struggle to separate themselves from the pull of these addictions, but for Robert, this aspect of his early life has served to provide him with the experiential knowledge that often only within the depths of personal darkness may we come to know the light of hope. After researching these phenomena, Robert does not believe hope to be intellectual, but relational – we “do” hope - meaning that no matter how hopeless we may feel at any time, we can cultivate a deeper relationship to hope and imagine ourselves to brighter and broader life experience.     Biography: Robert Hilliker, LCSW, LCDC received his Master’s degree from the University of Houston’s Graduate College of Social Work. Following graduation Robert pursued additional training working as a Post-Graduate Social Work Fellow at The Menninger Clinic. He then completed a two-year fellowship at the Center for Psychoanalytic Studies. Currently, Robert is a doctoral student at the Institute for Clinical Social Work in Chicago, IL.He worked for three years at The Council on Alcohol and Drugs Houston where he served as the Manager of Executive and Treatment Services.  As a therapist in the adult intensive outpatient program he provided clinical treatment services to individuals, couples, families, and groups.Robert worked at The Daring Way LLC with Dr. Brené Brown where he served as the Chief Clinical Officer for over three years. He has facilitated this methodology across diverse settings including Baylor Psychiatry Clinic, The Menninger Clinic, and The Council on Alcohol and Drugs Houston.In April 2014, Robert co-founded and became the Managing Partner for The Lovett Center LLC with his business partner, Will Davis. The Lovett Center is a community of helping professionals that offers traditional lease space, part-time office space, as well as opportunities for collaboration and continued learning for therapists.Robert works with patients in private practice at The Lovett Center and serves as the Clinical Director for the Pathos Program at The Lovett Center. Pathos offers intensive outpatient, supportive outpatient, and aftercare programming for people struggling with addiction and co-occurring mental health issues. Robert’s private practice focuses on work with professionals, addictive disorders, shame resiliency, and behavioral health issues. He provides individual, couples, family, and group psychotherapy.https://thelovettcenter.comTheme music provided by:http://www.modernnationsmusic.com Song of the week: Holy Moly   http://www.holymolytexas.comLearn more about this project at: http://www.thesacredspeaks.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesacredspeaks/    Twitter: https://twitter.com/thesacredspeaks

Robert speaks with eloquence as he grounds his research (me-search) in his personal story, a story that has a sobering way of articulating both the academic and the particular dynamic between, hope and despair, his subject of study. Robert has emerged from the depth and is now able to support others as they make a similar journey into their own experiences of the ups of life and also the downs. About the time when many of us were working on how to write and understand basic math, Robert was becoming more and more immersed in the world of alcohol and drugs. Many people struggle to separate themselves from the pull of these addictions, but for Robert, this aspect of his early life has served to provide him with the experiential knowledge that often only within the depths of personal darkness may we come to know the light of hope. After researching these phenomena, Robert does not believe hope to be intellectual, but relational – we “do” hope - meaning that no matter how hopeless we may feel at any time, we can cultivate a deeper relationship to hope and imagine ourselves to brighter and broader life experience. Biography: Robert Hilliker, LCSW, LCDC received his Master’s degree from the University of Houston’s Graduate College of Social Work. Following graduation Robert pursued additional training working as a Post-Graduate Social Work Fellow at The Menninger Clinic. He then completed a two-year fellowship at the Center for Psychoanalytic Studies. Currently, Robert is a doctoral student at the Institute for Clinical Social Work in Chicago, IL. He worked for three years at The Council on Alcohol and Drugs Houston where he served as the Manager of Executive and Treatment Services. As a therapist in the adult intensive outpatient program he provided clinical treatment services to individuals, couples, families, and groups. Robert worked at The Daring Way LLC with Dr. Brené Brown where he served as the Chief Clinical Officer for over three years. He has facilitated this methodology across diverse settings including Baylor Psychiatry Clinic, The Menninger Clinic, and The Council on Alcohol and Drugs Houston. In April 2014, Robert co-founded and became the Managing Partner for The Lovett Center LLC with his business partner, Will Davis. The Lovett Center is a community of helping professionals that offers traditional lease space, part-time office space, as well as opportunities for collaboration and continued learning for therapists. Robert works with patients in private practice at The Lovett Center and serves as the Clinical Director for the Pathos Program at The Lovett Center. Pathos offers intensive outpatient, supportive outpatient, and aftercare programming for people struggling with addiction and co-occurring mental health issues. Robert’s private practice focuses on work with professionals, addictive disorders, shame resiliency, and behavioral health issues. He provides individual, couples, family, and group psychotherapy. <a href="https://thelovettcenter.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://thelovettcenter.com</a> Theme music provided by: <a href="http://www.modernnationsmusic.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.modernnationsmusic.com</a> Song of the week: Holy Moly <a href="http://www.holymolytexas.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.holymolytexas.com</a> Learn more about this project at: <a href="http://www.thesacredspeaks.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.thesacredspeaks.com</a> Instagram: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/thesacredspeaks/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.instagram.com/thesacredspeaks/</a> Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/thesacredspeaks" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://twitter.com/thesacredspeaks</a>

13: Hope and Despair. A conversation with Robert Hilliker.