Topic: Real Stories
Stories about real people, real successes and real recovery.
INTERVIEW: Dr. Richard Amerling on the Use of Evidence-Based Medicine in Addiction Recovery
In our interview with Dr. Amerling he expressed concerns about the pharmaceutical industry's dominance over medicine, the limitations of evidence-based medicine, and the use of medication-assisted treatment in addiction medicine. He also criticizes medical schools for compressing basic sciences and promoting arbitrary guidelines over critical thinking. Dr. Amerling advocates for physicians to take back their authority, prioritize patients' lifestyle choices and abstinence in addiction medicine, and to avoid over-reliance on pharmaceuticals.
Training people to become certified recovery peer advocates
LaShondra Jones went through years of mental illness and alcohol addiction, and in her late 40s she was living in a women’s shelter in Brooklyn. Finally stable and sober, she needed work — any type of work — for which her history wouldn’t count against her. Jones Googled “free training in NYC” and learned that several area community colleges offered training for people to become certified recovery peer advocates for those coping with alcohol or drug addiction. Her experience, in this case, would be a big plus.
Success with another road to sobriety: SMART
Dee MacLean first tried SMART Recovery when she was in the provincial addiction treatment centre in Mount Herbert in 2018. After three years of struggling with prescription opiate addiction, MacLean was ready to go to rehab. One of the programs she took part in was Self-Management and Recovery Training (SMART), an alternative to traditional groups like Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and Narcotics Anonymous (NA).
Ahbra Kaye of REEL Recovery Film Festival
Ahbra, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today? On Dec. 21st of this year, by God’s grace, I will have five years clean and sober. Since December 21st of 2015, my life has undergone dramatic changes, both positive and negative – but all ultimately leading me to where I am today, and I like where I am. It’s hard to pinpoint the moment my journey to sobriety began or to identify when it became necessary to get sober at all..."
“As an ex-heroin addict, I know getting off opioids is near impossible.”
I am a married, middle-aged woman, a taxpaying homeowner. As privilege goes, I have it. Because I’m White, I get treated better in medical settings such as hospitals and rehabs. I have health insurance. I have access to credit. My spouse could not be more supportive. But every day for a couple of years I left my house with a river view and drove downtown in South Yonkers to meet my dealer. I know a letter carrier who once worked that neighborhood. He told me there was a time when you could buy an Uzi on his route. I knew the first time I bought heroin at age 48 that doing so probably meant the end of my life. But compared to withdrawal, that was fine by me.
A Former Alcoholic Tells How Running Helped His Recovery
Part of Mike’s story was being a habitual DUI offender. After being placed on county probation due to multiple DUI offenses, Mike finally realized that the consequences of his drinking could negatively affect his son. He got tired of backtracking his life with law issues, financial issues, and everything else he couldn’t juggle or keep straight because of his relationship with alcohol. Knowing that he needed mandated treatment for himself, Mike did a three-year diversion program that changed his life and he has been sober ever since. The diversion program was more of a life management program to him than a non-drinking program because he learned how to live life in a lot of ways. Mike Grant is now a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and a Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor. He currently works as an addiction therapist for Kaiser Permanente and as an adjunct professor in the Alcohol and Drug Counseling Program at Portland Community College.is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and a Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor. Mike currently works as an addiction therapist for Kaiser Permanente and as an adjunct professor in the Alcohol and Drug Counseling Program at Portland Community College.
‘I was scared to get sober’: He dealt heroin, now he’s been clean six years
SUBSCRIBE DONATE NOW Search Posts and/or Pages DONATE NOW Date: | Contributor: Source: ( ) | Category: Summary and Analysis... This is a story in the Courier-Journal chronicling the drug addiction and road to recovery for Erik Gunn. He was helped by a drug rehabilitation program and the support of the community. Mr. Gunn has been drug-free for six years, a success that
Dark Genies, Dark Horizons: The Riddle of Addiction
This is an article by Dr. Sally Satel (bio), practicing psychiatrist and lecturer at the Yale University School of Medicine, published in Culture and Politics Liberties journal. She references the story of the late Anthony Bourdain (celebrity chef and TV host) and his lifetime struggle with addiction. The title for her article was inspired by this story from Bourdain as she recounts in the article: By the time of his (Bourdain’s) visit to Provincetown in 2014, a wave of painkillers had already washed over parts of Massachusetts and a new tide of heroin was rolling in. Bourdain wanted to see it for himself and traveled northwest to Greenfield, a gutted mill town that was a hub of opioid addiction. In a barebones meeting room, he joined a weekly recovery support group. Everyone sat in a circle sharing war stories, and when Bourdain’s turn came he searched for words to describe his attraction to heroin. “It’s like something was missing in me,” he said, “whether it was a self-image situation, whether it was a character flaw. There was some dark genie inside me that I very much hesitate to call a disease that led me to dope.”