ASCENT Approach Workshop

The ASCENT Approach Workshop is specifically intended for couples who want to grow and improve their relationship in recovery. If you are both looking to change the dynamics with the person you love, this workshop will provide you with practical tools to help you navigate day-to-day life together. You will also explore six practices that will help you rebuild your connection to each other.

Through guided individual, couple, and group exercises, you will explore ways to tackle the challenges you face in your relationship, rebuild trust, and foster intimacy. In addition, you will learn about ways to grow self-awareness and develop habits to make lasting changes to grow as a couple in your recovery.

The workshop also provides an opportunity to discuss topics of particular interest to you and your partner. For example, are you interested to know how other couples in recovery travel, socialize, address physical intimacy, handle their finances or deal with delicate matters such as a medical power of attorney? During the workshop, you will have the opportunity to talk about the unique challenges couples face as they embrace a life of recovery together. The weekend will conclude with “The Relationship Talk.” Participants will be introduced to this technique and given the opportunity to apply the skills they have learned. The couples will take home new skills, a Relationship Talk “cheat sheet,” and a copy of “Love Without Martinis – How Couples Build a Healthy Relationship in Recovery, Based on Real Stories” to support their recovery.

The workshop is facilitated by a professional couple, a retired CEO and a former General Counsel with over 12 years of recovery and a clinical therapist from the Philadelphia area. With their support, you have the opportunity to step out of your comfort zone and develop new skills to build a healthy relationship in recovery. The ASCENT Approach Workshop’s experiential modalities include:

• Couple and group exercises
• Roleplaying
• Self-awareness reflection
• Sound and visual crafting activities

Chantal Jauvin, LLB, MBA

Chantal is an attorney, writer, and adventurer. While she knew how to negotiate from Argentina to Russia, handle herself as General Counsel of a global company, and close a $300 Million deal in Mexico, she did not know how to save the man she loved from addiction. A storyteller at heart, she wrote Love Without Martinis – How Couples Build Healthy Relationships in Recovery, Based on Real Stories published by Selectbooks (2021), to give voice to the couples who have navigated the road from addiction to a healthy relationship. Chantal’s first book, The Boy With a Bamboo Heart: The Story of a Street Orphan Who Built a Charity, was published by Maverick House (2015) and translated into two languages.

William Thomas, MBA

William is a retired executive who has held various international positions such as President International for Bristol- Myers Squibb and president of Western Union. He currently serves on the Advisory Board and Investment Committee of Caron Treatment Centers. Both a former chairman of the Rotary Foundation (Philadelphia) and former adjunct professor for Webster University in Thailand, he supports philanthropic and mentoring endeavors. William is an alumnus of Caron and celebrated 12 years of recovery last February. He is an advocate for destigmatizing substance use disorder and celebrating the joys and benefits of long-term recovery.

Dr. Jeremy Frank, Ph.D, CADC

Dr. Jeremy Frank is a licensed clinical addiction psychologist and director of Jeremy Frank Associates (Bala Cynwyd, PA), which specializes in treating substance use disorders for individuals, couples, and families. Their focus is on both harm reduction, long-term recovery and abstinence, and evidence-based techniques. He is a credentialed provider with The Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers Provider Network for Pennsylvania. He is also an approved provider of clinical services to the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA). He is proud of being 30 years sober himself. Jeremy believes there is nothing more important than social support in recovery, whether it is received from friends, treatment providers, family, or significant others.

Important Details:

Participants will not be staying on Caron PA Campus. Morning and afternoon snacks will be provided as well as lunch.

In order to attend this event, certain requirements must be met.

• Minimum 6 months of recovery for each individual and in a romantic relationship with the individual attending the workshop.
• Explanation of Caron’s COVID protocols and procedures which will require a negative COVID test 5 days prior to the workshop.

If you have any questions or concerns with the requirements, please reach out to Breakthrough Events .

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