OUR MISSION
The mission of The Gratitude House Institute for Recovery & Behavioral Science is to advance the understanding of addiction, recovery, and human behavior through the integration of neuroscience, psychology, education, and spirituality.
As the research and educational arm of Gratitude House, an elevated sober-living program for women, the Institute provides publications, workshops, retreats, presentations, events, and community outreach. We translate interdisciplinary research into practice to expand what people and organizations are capable of achieving.
OUR PHILOSOPHY
Addiction is both a brain disease and a learning disorder.
Recovery is not just abstinence; it is a learning process.
Learning is fundamentally social; relationships and groups shape how we think, behave, and change.
Environment has a profound impact on the nervous system and our capacity for growth.
High expectations must be balanced with high levels of support.
Human potential is not fixed; under the right conditions, individuals and groups can develop capacities they did not know they possessed.
SIGNATURE TALKS & WORKSHOPS
Addiction & Recovery
We understand addiction as both a brain disease and a learning disorder. Uniting contemporary neuroscience and learning psychology with the wisdom of the Twelve Steps, we offer an approach that is as intellectually rich as it is practical and accessible.
Most of us understand that recovery requires learning how to live sober. But what if we also understood what the brain learned during addiction and how that learning continues to shape behavior long after the substance is removed? This session examines addiction as disordered learning, exploring how repeated associations among substances, emotion, motivation, and reward become deeply conditioned neural and behavioral patterns. Through metacognition, participants learn to examine the architecture of their own learning and consider what it means to deliberately unlearn one pattern while constructing another. Understanding how the brain learns addiction may fundamentally change how we teach the brain to recover.
BEST FOR: Individuals · Families · Recovery organizations · Behavioral health professionals · Educators · Community groups · Schools
What happens to the brain during addiction? This session translates the neuroscience of reward, motivation, craving, and pleasure into language people can understand and use. Participants explore how repeated substance use alters neural pathways, why knowing better does not always translate into doing better, and how understanding neuroplasticity provides a biological foundation for a beautiful life.
BEST FOR: Individuals · Families · Treatment and recovery organizations · Healthcare professionals · Schools · Community education
What happens when the substance disappears but the need for relief remains? This session examines cross-addiction and the ways compulsive behaviors involving food, shopping, spending, relationships, work, sex, and technology can activate familiar patterns of reward, escape, and immediate gratification. Participants learn to recognize when healthy pleasure becomes compulsive coping, and how metacognitive processes can interrupt the cycle.
BEST FOR: Recovery organizations · Individuals · Families · Behavioral health professionals · Community education
When one person develops an addiction, the entire family or organization learns to adapt. Roles shift, communication changes, trust erodes, boundaries move, and behaviors that once helped a group survive can become difficult to relinquish. This session examines what happens to the family or organization during addiction and why the beginning of recovery can sometimes destabilize that system before it heals. Participants gain a clearer understanding of their own patterns and how to support recovery without assuming responsibility for someone else’s.
BEST FOR: Families · Treatment centers · Recovery organizations · Healthcare systems · Schools · Community groups
Financial independence requires more than knowing how to make a budget. This session examines the relationship among addiction, impulsivity, emotional spending, materialism, self-worth, and immediate gratification. Participants explore what our financial behavior can reveal about the way we seek relief, shape our identity, and hope for status. Changing our relationship with money can become part of changing our relationship with ourselves.
BEST FOR: People in recovery · Sober-living and treatment programs · Young adults · Financial-literacy programs · Schools
Leadership & Organizations
What we learn about human behavior through the study of addiction and recovery extends to how individuals change and groups learn. This has profound implications for leadership and organizations. The goal is to help groups attain greater collective achievement.
Put people in a group and something interesting happens. We read the room, find our place, and adapt our behavior, often without realizing it. Drawing from social psychology, learning theory, and emotional intelligence, this session explores how group dynamics shape individual behavior and decision-making. Participants learn to identify their own impact on a group and how groups can create cultures in which the team is more effective in achieving their goals.
BEST FOR: Board retreats · Leadership retreats · Nonprofit boards · Executive and corporate teams · Athletic teams
Talent alone doesn’t create a strong team. High-functioning groups depend on structure, clearly defined roles, trust, accountability, emotional intelligence, and the willingness to put collective purpose ahead of individual ego. Drawing from learning psychology, leadership, athletics, and recovery communities, this session explores why some teams become resilient and cohesive while others become dysfunctional and what leaders and teams can intentionally do about it.
BEST FOR: Corporate teams · Nonprofit organizations · Boards · Leadership teams · Coaches · Professional associations
Emotional intelligence is not fixed; rather, it is a set of skills that can be learned and strengthened through metacognitive processes and then practiced. This session explores how developing self-awareness, emotional regulation, empathy, motivation, and social awareness can improve your mental health and overall quality of your life. Participants learn how to improve relationships and strengthen leadership skills.
BEST FOR: Everybody · Corporate teams · Boards · Nonprofit leaders · Recovery organizations · Families · Educators · Young adults · Schools
Long before modern psychology or leadership became fields of study, human beings were wrestling with the same questions we face today: How do we manage desire and ego? What can we control? How do we endure suffering? What does it mean to surrender? And what do we owe one another? Drawing from the Bhagavad Gita, Stoicism, the Psalms, Catholic classics, and Buddhism, this session explores what ancient wisdom can teach us about being human, and about the responsibility of leading others.
BEST FOR: Everybody · Retreats · Faith communities · Community education · Leadership groups · Recovery communities
Topics, time frames, and in-person or virtual sessions can all be customized.
Contact Dr. Maggie Sullivan at maggies@gratitudehousestl.org for a consultation.
All of the revenue from Institute programs supports the mission and work of Gratitude House, Inc.
Dr. Maggie Sullivan
Founder & Executive Director
With almost 30 years of leadership experience in nonprofits and education, Dr. Sullivan holds a Doctor of Education in Leadership and Learning from Vanderbilt University. She has also completed training with the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence and Stanford Challenge Success, and holds a professional certificate in neuroscience coaching. Her research and practice centers on learning psychology and behavioral science. A former competitive athlete and state championship coach, she draws on decades of experience building and leading high-performing teams. She is passionate about bridging science and spirituality to help others break the cycle of addiction and achieve beyond what they thought was possible.
