After 11 years of bringing you local reporting, the team behind the Vancouver Observer has moved on to Canada's National Observer. You can follow Vancouver culture reporting over there from now on. Thank you for all your support over the years!

Candace Plattor

Candace Plattor graduated from the Adler School of Professional Psychology with a Masters degree (M.A.) in Counseling Psychology, in 2001. For over 20 years in her private practice, she’s been helping clients and their loved ones understand their addictive behaviors and make healthier life choices.

Ms. Plattor’s award winning book Loving an Addict, Loving Yourself: The Top 10 Survival Tips for Loving Someone with an Addiction is available through her website.

Please visit www.candaceplattor.com for more information.

AA Agnostica: alternative steps for recovery from addiction

Is it possible to have an effective addiction recovery plan that isn't faith-based?

Rob Ford and Jimmy Kimmel: Appalling and odd

Oh no, not again—Rob Ford continues to crave ever more publicity, and this time it was on Jimmy Kimmel Live. And last night Ford shared this less-than-prestigious distinction with none other than...

The sad story of Alex Radita

Sometimes I really don’t understand this crazy world we live in—or the rules we implement that make it even crazier. I am simply appalled that a 15-year-old boy who was starved, abused, and deprived...

Philip Seymour Hoffman: How many more do we have to lose?

Why was Philip Seymour Hoffman not able to break his habit?

Justin Bieber's sad enablers

Most of us knew it was only a matter of time. Not only were we hearing story after story about Justin’s “antics”—a media description that only served to minimize the severity of his actions—but those...

The secret of self-respect

Well-known TV icon Dr. Phil is revered by many, and repelled by others. Personally, I find that his down-home country “charm” is often marred by a disturbing arrogance that he, at times, spews onto...

Sometimes love looks like "No": When to set and maintain healthy boundaries

Is it possible to have a healthy relationship with someone who is in active addiction? What needs to happen for that to occur? If you are in that situation, you have probably wondered about this many...

Clean and sober in Vancouver: 2nd annual Recovery Day coming soon

Sobriety is something to celebrate...

Cory Monteith's Death: What Was He Thinking?

Cory Monteith is dead, and what I hate even worse is that he died, apparently accidentally, from a lethal combination of alcohol and heroin.  As the TV commercials say—preventable. For me, his...