LOVING BILLIE EILISH – March 18, 2021 – “I don’t get it,” I yelled into my sister’s ear through throngs of people and piercing screams. “Me neither,” she said, as the crowd suffocating us sang along to the instrumental theme song from The Office, the cue for the shadow of a 17-year-old girl in an oversized sweatsuit to float onstage. Jaded and weary, at the end of my second day at the Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival in 2018, I was unimpressed by Billie Eilish’s shtick. I was even less amused by it five months later, when she was an hour…
Author: Leonard Buschel
EXPERIENCE ESSENTIAL – March 10, 2021 – Andrew’s is passionate about the operational aspects of treatment. He is a visionary that blends creativity with practicality. He has extensive experience developing innovative and compassionate mental health treatment programs while simultaneously cutting facility costs and boosting employee productivity. The unique balance of acute business sense and expansive clinical knowledge makes Andrew an in demand consultant. He helped several agencies commit to a culture of staff development, more effective systems and curriculum, and, most importantly, treating patients with respect, compassion, and dignity during some of the most difficult times of their lives. …
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD? – March 19, 2021 – Most evangelical churches, including Southern Baptist churches, teach that sex is permitted only within heterosexual marriages, similar teaching to the Catholic Church and other Christian traditions. However, several experts have said this week that Long’s ties to evangelicalism shine a light into a subculture called “purity culture,” a belief among some evangelicals that promotes the idea that any sexual desire outside of marriage is lustful, and therefore sinful. Some evangelicals are taught from a young age to control their sexual urges and if they cannot, they are sometimes labeled sex…
WATCH – THAT’S A RELIEF – March 18, 2021 – Carol Juergensen Sheets, a certified sexual addiction therapist, said the proper classification for the behaviors they were accused of was “a disorder of power and control, not sex addiction.” Compulsive sexual behavior – commonly known as sex addiction – is an excessive preoccupation with sexual fantasies, urges or behaviors that is difficult to control, causes distress or negatively affects one’s health, job or relationships. Sex addiction is a progressive disorder that typically begins in the late teens to early 20s, she said. The vast majority of people struggling with sex…
SEE WHERE ALL THE MILLIONS GO – March 10, 2021 – New York has a robust system of addiction care, and with better collaboration and coordination people in need will experience easier access to care, including medication for addiction treatment, as well as more successful transitions between residential and outpatient settings, and better integration of prevention and recovery supports. The funding awarded under this initiative supports efforts to find regional approaches to care, and is designed to help prevention, treatment, and recovery providers increase their collaborative efforts to address the entire continuum of addiction services. Providers who receive funding have…
SERIOUS BRUSH WITH THE LAW – March 13, 2021 – Lane said he cultivated and perfected his art by first creating miniature paintings that he would send from prison to his family. “When you write letters, there’s not much to say after a while,” Lane said. “So I would just make these cards and I tell them ‘I love you’ or whatever.” And then on Easter of 2007, Lane was baptized, which he says was the turning point in his life. “The first seven years were just total awful,” Lane said. “Then I got saved and the last 10 years…
STANDING IN HIS TRUTH – March 14, 2021 – You can sense the trepidation in Poyer’s message. He eventually says, “Can’t lie even writing this, Im embarrassed, it’s shameful but If I can overcome the struggle of alcohol, so can you.” “My first step was realizing I had a drinking problem. Cause I did. I couldn’t drink just to hang. When I drank I had to drink to get F’d up. I used alcohol to avoid all my issues in real life. My family, my job, my friends … when I drank I could forget all of my issues. I…
NOT ALL FOR MAT? – March 16, 2021 – Though the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration will have to more thoroughly detail the list of programs eligible to receive the funds, the legislation states that grants will be given to help control the spread of infectious diseases (like HIV and hepatitis C), distribute overdose reversal medications (like naloxone) and provide overdose education, among other uses. “The money couldn’t come at a more critical time given what we know about the worsening overdose crisis during the pandemic and economic downturn,” Smith said. “Given what we know in terms of…
WATCH – THROWING OFF THE STRAITJACKET – March 17, 2021 – As I lurked on Facebook, chatting with various peer advocates in New York, I saw Issa Ibrahim’s paintings and heard bits of his story of having been hospitalized at Creedmoor Psychiatric Center for almost 20 years. Creedmoor. It’s a state psychiatric facility in Queens, which has long-term psychiatric units and also forensic units. I have worked with people who have lived on its campus, and I know it’s not a pretty place. Yet during this time, Issa created purpose in his life by utilizing Creedmoor’s “Living Museum,” a massive…
CAN SCIENCE CLEAN UP THE METH? – April 2021 – A decade ago I traveled on assignment to a Rocky Mountain rehab facility where the rich and famous go to dry out and confront their drug habits. It offered every imaginable therapy to its well-heeled clientele and claimed strong results. But I will never forget what the director of operations told me about the clinic’s biggest failure: “Our results with meth addicts are dismal,” he admitted. But this tragic picture at last may be changing. A recent study found that a regimen of two medications helped some users stay off…
ROCK – POWDER – PRISON – HYPOCRISY – March 19, 2021 – (Though an Asbury Park Press study found that Black usage of crack was only slightly higher than white usage, crack has been stereotypically associated with Black people while powder cocaine is thought of as a richer, whiter drug.) The disparity has been diluted by Congress over the last decade — the 2010 Fair Sentencing Act reformed the disparity to be 18 to 1 instead of 100 to 1, and the 2018 First Step Act made the reform retroactive, allowing people incarcerated for crack offenses to apply for resentencing…
PROOF IT WORKS – March 12, 2021 – According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 130 Americans die every day from an opioid overdose, which highlights the seriousness of the opioid epidemic and how critical it is for patients to receive comprehensive, meaningful care. The Blue Distinction Center for Substance Use Treatment and Recovery program requires designated facilities to deliver coordinated multidisciplinary care to patients and provide timely access to quality medical and psychosocial care in all phases of treatment. Designated facilities must also offer medication-assisted treatment—an approach to treating opioid addiction that includes both medications and evidence-based…
“If your plan is for one year plant rice. If your plan is for ten years plant trees. If your plan is for one hundred years educate children.” ―Confucius
A GOOD CAUSE – March 16, 2021 – The Fund, initiated by his life partner Jill Jordon, and administered by Caron, will provide financial assistance for access to addiction and recovery treatment, with an emphasis on those involved in the music business. In addition, music programs will be established at Caron’s residential sites in Florida and Pennsylvania, including the creation of music studios where those in recovery can create, perform and enjoy music during treatment. A veteran record label and music publishing executive, Lasher was a certified alcoholism and substance-abuse counselor and worked closely with both Caron and MusiCares, the Recording Academy’s…
BOOK REVIEW – March 2021 – This book has special meaning to me: my son is ‘by-choice’ homeless drug addict. This book helped me understand the why of his choices. They build their own families this way. It was a great book about a hard subject. I appreciated the truths told about the lies we believe when a life becomes too hard for our loved one. I wish there would have been photos. I truly wanted to see his face, all of their faces because they represent so many of our children.I can’t imagine going out to find people to…
A “ROYAL” FAMILY MATTER – March 11, 2021 – Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s sit-down interview with Oprah Winfrey first aired on CBS on Sunday, and one area in particular that seems to have resonated is Markle’s struggle with mental health, not least because many people watched Princess Diana outline similar experiences 26 years ago. During the two-hour CBS special, Markle said that she too experienced a decline in mental health, which led to suicidal thoughts for the first time in her life due to mistreatment from “the firm” and British tabloids. Markle and Diana both reported feelings of loneliness after…
A HEALTHY ADDICTION – March 11, 2021 – for giving me the loving nudge that started my journey,” he captioned the side-by-side image that referenced his “Jackass” co-star Johnny Knoxville. Steve-O starred on the MTV reality series between 2000-2002, and went on to appear alongside Knoxville, 50, in the subsequent “Jackass” movies. “Love this. Love u too Steve O. Proud of u. Congrats!” Knoxville commented on the photo. This isn’t the first time Steve-O publicly credited Knoxville with helping him get sober, however. On his 10-year anniversary of sobriety in 2018, he said, “I just can’t put into words…
HAND “HIGH” COORDINATION – March 7, 2021 – In other words, don’t be so quick to get behind the wheel of your car, even if you feel “all the way there” after one glass. You might wonder why NASA is looking into the effects of alcohol. We know what you’re thinking but, no, it’s not because astronauts are constantly throwing parties up in space. (Sigh). “People should not take this paper to mean that NASA is interested in alcohol,” Stone clarifies. “NASA’s interest in this research is in supporting the development of such technologies in support of remote and non-invasive…
SO IS SLOWLY – March 8, 2021 – It wasn’t too long after that last bout of drinking before the cracks in my dependencies started to show themselves. A friend is playing a show at a bar downtown and your friend group will be there, but also you know it’s a room full of strangers. What are you going to be holding in your hand that will help keep all your anxieties in check? You’ve been invited to speak on a panel about mental health in creative industries and the conversation gets difficult. How are you going to calm your…
WATCH – NEW LIFE OF GIVING – March 5, 2021 – “I would appear in court and beg the judge to please don’t let her leave the courtroom because there were days that I felt like if she did that, I wouldn’t see her again,” said Metheney. Lissy’s struggle came to an end on April 26, 2020. “My youngest son’s 13th birthday,” said Metheney. “She made a very costly mistake.” Despite being clean during the pregnancy with her son, Lissy returned to the drug and overdosed when he was just 2 months old. “Lissy’s still here. Lissy is with us.…
…AND PLEASURABLE – March 8, 2021 – The road to recovery McCallum said he’s hopeful that his story can help people better understand the reality of overcoming substance addiction, and what they can do to help. “My addiction started while in high school, changing the trajectory of my life,” McCallum said in an email. “I was a ‘straight A’ student in ninth grade and was very anti-drugs. I was raised as a Jehovah’s witness, and I was educated in school to the dangers of alcohol and other substances.” He said it was around that time that many of his close…
BOOK REVIEW – MARCH 11, 2021 – “I wouldn’t have written ‘Model Citizen’ if I hadn’t had the fourth stroke,” Mohr recalls in a phone conversation from his home in Seattle. In 2015, Mohr learned that he has an 8-millimeter hole in his heart, which dramatically increases the odds that a blood clot will travel to his brain. Adding irony to injury: Following surgery to repair his heart, he is prescribed fentanyl. It’s not for nothing that the second part of “Model Citizen” is called “The Freelapse.” After moving with his family from San Francisco to Seattle, Mohr suffers a…
STRENGTH AND BEAUTY – March 10, 2021 – Talking about her struggles with addiction isn’t new for Kristen Johnston, but the “3rd Rock from the Sun” actor is now approaching 14 years of sobriety and is sharing some of the hard lessons she’s learned along the way. In a new interview with journalist Elizabeth Vargas on her “Heart of the Matter” podcast, the 53-year-old reflected on what it was like to be a “functioning alcoholic/addict” early on in her career. “Just thinking about that time in my life, it gives me chills,” she said.The actor described her addiction as an “off-and-on…
NO NAMES or PET NAMES? – Feb. 18, 2021 – A quote I like by Dr. Pat Allen is, “Anyone can have sex. Not everyone can make love. Some people only have sex, but those who can make love can do both.” https://www.communicatewithjoi.com/blog/do-it-sober-sex-and-making-love So, however long you are sober, are you up for some great sex and making love? If yes, get ready for some juicy experiences. Some of you, I realize, may be abstaining for awhile, or don’t have a partner at the moment. That’s okay. This information will serve to desensitize you for when the time comes. For…
MEN SUFFER TOO – March 11, 2021 – I have a great partner. We’ve been together two years. We’re talking about marriage. He’s kind and empathetic with a strong moral compass. We get each other. We communicate well. Our relationship is a priority in both our lives. He’s not perfect and neither am I, but we’re good together. Why am I reaching out to you? He has poor body image. He talks about being fat. He’s not fat at all. He is a big guy – played football and wrestled in high school and undergrad. If he doesn’t lift in…
FROM THE MURKIEST POND, LILIES BLOOM – March 12, 2021 – On that tough February day, I knew it was time to seriously pursue sobriety. I had a business, but what could it look like if I found clarity, focus, and purpose? I had wonderful friends, but what might those relationships become if I could actually remember our conversations? I was making huge strides in therapy, but what version of myself was waiting for me without alcohol dependence in the way of my progress? more@Well+Good
QUITTING TIME ONLY COMES TO THE LIVING – March 12, 2021 – I was partying a lot and it was the ecstasy era and it was late Eighties, early Nineties – summer of love. “Everybody hugging each other, and stroking each other, and telling everybody that they loved them. So I remember that as being a really crazy, fun time.” However, Davina was rocked when a friend told her “everybody talks about you” and insisted they couldn’t be friends anymore. She added: “That was like a dagger, I thought, ‘Oh my god, I am the topic of discussion at dinner…
WATCH – NO MORE MIX TAPES – March 12, 2021 – This week, Lou Ottens, the inventor of the audio cassette died at the age of 94. That brought back memories of a skill known only by a certain generation. Creating the “ultimate mixed tape” for friends, loved ones and yourself! more@YouTube & WashingtonPost
DRIVING HOME SOBER – March 12, 2021 – My father was an alcoholic and he, too, appeared to anyone outside of our home as one of the friendliest, happiest guys around. The people on the outside didn’t see how the demons of alcohol affected him and our family before he got sober and saved his life and our family. These were the things Kirk, who’s married with three boys ages 3, 7 and 9 years old, faced. So, on April 29, 2019, in a hotel room in, of all places, New Orleans — the party capital of America — Kirk…
LISTEN – WHAT’S UP DOC? PROFITS? – March 8, 2021 – At one time, 73 percent of the prescriptions from two Tennessee drug-treatment clinics involved in the case were filled in Kentucky, a federal agent said. The company named in the indictment is EHC Medical Offices, PLLC, which had clinics in Harriman and Jacksboro. Robert Taylor, a Tennessee doctor, owned the clinics during the time covered in the charges but sold them in 2018, according to court documents. Taylor faces the most charges in the case, including conspiracy to illegally distribute buprenorphine and anti-anxiety drugs; conspiracy to falsify medical records,…