Right Turn Radio Podcast

Filmmaker Bess O'Brien joins us to talk about "All of Me”, a documentary film focused on the lives of women, girls and some boys who are caught in the downward spiral of eating disorders and their struggle to regain a sense of self-compassion and healing. Bree Greenberg-Benjamin, founder and director of the Vermont Center for Integrative Therapy and a featured clinician in the film, joins us as well to talk about eating disorders and the similarities between ED and addiction.

What is an Eating Disorder? Beth Mayer, LICSW and the Executive Director at MEDA (Multi service Eating Disorders Association) joins us to break down the myths and facts surrounding this widespread disorder and the treatments available for recovery.

Award winning children's author Kate Messner joins us to talk about her new book, "The Seventh Wish", a modern day fairy tale about a girl named Charlie who's struggling with typical middle school problems. But there's a bigger problem looming in Charlie's family, and it's creating a great deal of controversy around the book. We spoke with Kate about her book, and the importance of breaking the stigma of addiction at an early age.

Maia Szalavitz, reporter and author, joins us to talk about her new book "Unbroken Brain: A Revolutionary New Way of Understanding Addiction". In addition to arguing that "drug laws are historical accidents", Szalavitz takes the position that more people than ever before see themselves as addicted to, or recovering from, addiction, whether it be alcohol or drugs, prescription meds, sex, gambling, porn, or the internet. But despite the unprecedented attention, our understanding of addiction is trapped in unfounded 20th century ideas, addiction as a crime or as brain disease, and in equally outdated treatment. Join us for our exclusive interview with Maia as she works to break the mold and bring society's understanding of addiction up to date.

"Learn 2 Cope is the family I never wanted to belong to, but it's a damn good family to be a part of." So says biker Bruce Fiene, co-founder of Rally 2 Recovery, a 40-mile charity fundraiser motorcycle ride to benefit Learn 2 Cope. Bruce and his wife Tracy were sidelined when their son developed an opioid addiction as a teenager. They found the supportive recovery community they needed at Learn 2 Cope, and have been raising awareness ever since. Check out Right Turn Radio's exclusive interview with Joanne Peterson of Learn 2 Cope, Bruce Fiene, and Tracy Wheeler from Rally 2 Recovery.

Matthew Quick is the bestselling author of SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK. He joins us to talk about his latest book EVERY EXQUISITE THING, a story about "an unassuming teen who has played the role of dutiful daughter, hardworking student, and star athlete for as long as she can remember. But when a beloved teacher gives her his worn copy of a mysterious, out-of-print cult novel --the rebel within her awakens." In this candid interview, author Matthew Quick shares his experience of "white knuckling it" though his own teen and early adulthood years, and his journey to become someone who didn't need to "fake it" anymore.

Did you know more than a quarter million American children and teens are at risk for sex trafficking every year? We look at the toll of Human Trafficking and what can be done about it. Our guests are Kate Price from the Children's Advocacy group at Wellesley University, Audrey Morrissey from My Life My Choice, and Sergeant Detective Donna Gavin from the Boston Police Human Trafficking Unit.

Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker and Health and Human Services Secretary Marylou Sudders join us to talk about the opioid epidemic in Massachusetts, and what the government is doing to try to address it.

Addicted to technology? Dr. Michael Rich, Pediatrician in Adolescent Medicine at Children's Hospital Boston, and Director of the Center on Media and Child Health, and Matt Richtel, a Pulitzer Prize-winning technology reporter for the New York Times, and the author of "A Deadly Wandering" join us to talk about the effects of technology on our brains, and how to balance screen time for ourselves and our children.

Tonight we mark the beginning of National Eating Disorder Awareness Week with a panel discussion about eating disorders with Terry Halperin-Eaton, Senior Clinical Supervisor at Walden Behavioral Care, Jamie Loud, eating disorders peer advocate, and Roseann Rook, Clinical Addictions Specialist at Timberline Knolls.

Tonight we have an open forum on addiction and recovery with Kim C. and Krystin Q, two women in recovery themselves. We'll be talking about different subjects including marijuana legalization and a proposed alcohol tax that could help fund treatment.

Learning to Cope: The impact of addiction on the family and how there is healing and hope in recovery. Our guests are Melissa Weiksnar, editor of the new book "It's Not Gunna Be An Addiction", chronicling her daughter's descent into heroin addiction, and from Learn 2 Cope, Joanne Peterson and Marcy Julian.

Emmy award winning actor Kristen Johnston ("The Exes", "Third Rock from the Sun"), and Joe Schrank (co-founder of Thefix.com) join us to talk about how the media covers addiction and celebrity addiction. And later in the show, Keisha Ormond and Jamie Stein of the Cambridge Prevention Coalition, two ‘boots on the ground’ treatment specialists, tell us how they're dealing with the opiate crisis day to day.

Boston Mayor Marty Walsh and Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey join us to talk about the deadly heroin and prescription opiate abuse epidemic in Massachusetts. Also joining us are Rita Nieves, Bureau Director of Addictions, and Berto Sanchez, Overdose Prevention Manager, at the Boston Public Health Commission.

Parents often have a blind spot when it comes to their children’s substance abuse, yet recent statistics show that over 25% of high school seniors used illicit drugs in the past month and 40% drank alcohol. Brockton Police Officer Nancy Leedberg and Heather Kennedy of the C.O.P.E. Center join us to talk about how we can talk to our kids about drugs.

Kim C. and Michelle M., two moms in recovery, join us to share their story of the challenges they faced while in active addiction, how they got sober, and how they balance recovery and motherhood.

Comedian Tony V., and writer/therapist Joshua Bennett-Johnson, join us to talk about being a dad, how dads talk to their kids about drugs, and being a sober parent.

Nationally acclaimed photojournalist Peter Simon joins us to talk about his art, addiction, and recovery. The brother of Carly Simon, and son of Richard Simon, co-founder of publishing house Simon and Schuster, Peter has led an extraordinary life documenting everything from the free love and protest-filled '60's, to the greatest names in rock 'n' roll and reggae. Peter shares an open and honest account of his role in the drug culture of the 60's and 70's, alcoholism, and ultimately, his recovery. Woody Giessmann and Abby Dean host.

Dr. Sharon Levy, Director of Adolescent Substance Abuse Program at Boston Children’s Hospital, joins us to talk about how, when, and why we need to talk to our teens about drugs and alcohol. Josh Bennett-Johnson fills in for Jon Cohan.

Michael Moss, NYT investigative reporter and Pulizer Prize winning author of "SALT SUGAR FAT", and Lisa Johnson, nationally renowned fitness and health expert, join us to talk about how we get hooked on certain kinds of foods – similar to how we could get hooked on alcohol and drugs – and how the food industry engineers food to make us crave it.

Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin joins us to talk about what he recently described as "a full-blown heroin crisis" in his state. And filmmaker Bess O'Brien talks about her documentary "The Hungry Heart", a film that takes an "intimate look at the often hidden world of prescription drug addiction through the world of Vermont Pediatrician Fred Holmes who works with patients struggling with this disease."

Allison Moore was a young vice cop in Hawaii who became addicted to methamphetamine - the very drug she was working to get off the streets. Allison joins us to share her story, her recovery, and talk about her new book “SHARDS: A Young Vice Cop Investigates Her Darkest Case of Meth Addiction-Her Own”.

Is it time to rethink psychiatry and the way we treat mental health in the U.S.? Author Robert Whitaker ("Mad In America", "Anatomy Of An Epidemic"), writer Laura Delano (RecoveringfromPsychiatry.com), and psychiatrist Dr. Mark Green join us to discuss the state of mental health care in America.

With 1 in 5 American teenagers meeting the medical criteria for addiction, we may need to rethink our approach to educating kids struggling with drugs and alcohol. Three guests join us in the studio: Michelle Lipinski, Director of the North Shore Recovery High School in Beverly, MA, Eli, a student at North Shore Recovery High School, and Jumaane Kendrick, Community Outreach Specialist at ABCD's William J. Ostiguy High School in Boston. Josh Bennett-Johnson fills in for Abby Dean.

We're talking about managing pain, preventing addiction to pain killers, and the risks and challenges facing people in pain every day. Judy Foreman, author of “A Nation in Pain”, and Janice Kauffmann, Vice-President of Addiction Treatment Services for North Charles Foundation, Inc., and Director of Addictions Consultation for the Dept. of Psychiatry at Cambridge Health Alliance, join us. Joshua Bennett-Johnson fills in for Jon Cohan.

Award winning ABC News correspondent Dan Harris, co-anchor of“Nightline” and a weekend anchor on”Good Morning America” has covered wars and presidential campaigns, but it was a panic attack live on the air in front of 5 million viewers that forced him to face his biggest challenge yet: taming the voice in his head. Dan is the author of a new book: “10% Happier: How I Tamed The Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge, and Found Self-Help that Actually Works – A True Story”. He'll talk to us about his journey to reduce stress and anxiety, first by self-medicating with drugs and then ultimately finding the solution in mindfulness and meditation. We're also joined by Dr. Mark Albanese, the Medical Director of Addictions at Cambridge Health Alliance and faculty member at Harvard Medical School’s Division on Addictions.

We've all heard of it, but what exactly is trauma? How does it impact the brain? What the signs and symptoms? And, how it can be treated? Our guests are Megan Ross, the Director of Program Development and Trauma Awareness at Timberline Knolls Residential Treatment Center, and Gayle Jaffe from the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center.

Tonight we're looking at treating addiction in women. We'll find out how to find the proper treatment, what specific challenges recovering women face, and what strengths they bring into recovery. Our guests are Holly and Krystin, two women in recovery who've gone through women's residential treatment programs, and Mary Anne Roy and Lori Martin from Crossroads in Maine.

When is the right time for an intervention? What happens during an intervention? And what does recovery looks like for both the person going through it, and their family? Woody Giessmann, a board registered interventionist, and Ann and Jim, parents who held an intervention for their son, join us on the air.

It's Holiday time on Right Turn Radio! Tune in to hear great holiday music live in the studio along with our special guest, comedian Tony V, and musical guests Erica Rodney and Mike Pyle! We're talking about celebrating the holiday season sober.

After the birth of her son, Jowita Bydlowska found herself celebrating with a glass of champagne. Just like that, her three years of sobriety were a distant memory and she began the rapid slide back to full-blown alcoholism. Jowita joins us to talk about her new book DRUNK MOM, the brutally honest story of her fight to stop drinking while facing the daunting reality of becoming a mom.

Experts are preparing for a "tidal wave" of baby boomers who will need help fighting addiction. Guest Dr. Barbara Krantz, Medical Director of the Hanley Center, joins us to talk about the addiction issues facing boomers today, and the treatment programs being created specifically for them.

How will “Big Marijuana” affect you on a local level? Tonight we're talking about the parallels between Big Tobacco and Big Marijuana, local marijuana legislation, and what it means to have a dispensary in your neighborhood. Guests Heidi Heilman, a founding member of the Massachusetts Prevention Alliance and the CEO of Edventi, and Bryan Cadogan, COO of Edventi, join us in studio.

Noah Levine, founder of the Against The Stream Buddhist Meditation Society, joins us to talk about Refuge Recovery, a systematic method of addiction recovery based on Buddhist principles. He is the author of “Dharma Punx”, “Against the Stream”, “Heart of the Revolution” and “Refuge Recovery”.

Dr. Lawrence Peltz, author of “The Mindful Path to Addiction Recovery”, talks with us about how 'living in the moment' can aid in the recovery from addiction. Dr. Peltz is the medical director of the Bournewood Caulfield Center, a drug and alcohol treatment facility in Woburn, MA. He has worked with more than ten thousand recovering addicts over the course of his career. He is also a trained teacher of MBSR, and he speaks regularly to mental health professionals about mindfulness and recovery.

David Sheff (author of "Clean" and "Beautiful Boy") and Gabrielle Glaser (journalist and author of "Her Best Kept Secret") join us to talk about different treatment paths to addiction recovery, and how to “treat” the treatment industry when it’s not working.

Tonight we’re talking about substance abuse, addiction, and recovery in the American Indian community in our on-going series “Minorities and Addiction: How addiction affects specific communities across the country, and how those communities find treatment and recovery.” We’re joined by David A. Patterson, Silver Wolf, assistant professor at the Brown School of Social Work at Washington University, Lacina Onco, Site Manager at Native American Lifelines Boston and a member of the Shinnecock Indian Nation, and Janelle Pocowatchit, Outreach Coordinator at Native American Lifelines Boston and member of Mik’Maw First Nations and Comanche Nation of Oklahoma.

What's the connection between creativity and mental illness? And how do you treat creative people with addiction and mental health disorders? Tonight's guests are Debbie Costello Smith and Glenn Smith of the Sean Costello Fund Memorial Fund for Bipolar Research, and Professor Greg Murray, a clinical psychologist and professor at Swinburne University in Melbourne, Australia.

Addiction is a family disease. In this episode we're talking about strategies families can use to cope with a loved one in active addiction, and how they can heal throughout the recovery process. Guests include Diana Clark, a specialist in addiction and family systems and the author of “Addiction Recovery: A Family's Journey”, and Ann and Jim, parents of a child in recovery who will share their story addiction in their family.

The United States has more people behind bars – 2.3 million – than any other country in the world, and nearly half of all federal prisoners are serving prison sentences for drugs. Barbara Dougan, MA Project Director, FAMM (Families Against Mandatory Minimums), joins us to explain mandatory minimum sentencing for drug crimes, and the controversies surrounding them.

Boston-based comedians Joey Carroll, Jack Lynch, and Bob Carney share stories of their journey from addiction to recovery though all the laughter, and the tears, and then back to the laughter.

Tonight we’re talking about the importance of good after care following treatment: how to make a long term plan to stay clean, and how to create a long term plan for the family of addicts in recovery. Guests include Peter C. Johnson, a Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor and Relapse Prevention Specialist, and Terry Cronin, a board licensed interventionist and Certified Alcohol and Addiction Counselor at Advanced Health and Education.

The LGBT community is struggling with equality in more ways than one. Did you know that substance abuse occurs at a higher rate among gay and transgender people than in the general population? We're talking about addiction, recovery, and treatment in LGBT community, with guest Frank Busconi, MPH LISCW of Fenway Health.

Murray Carpenter, author of the new book “Caffeinated: How our Daily Habit Helps, Hurts, and Hooks Us.” His new book reveals the little-known truth about this addictive, largely unregulated drug found in coffee, energy drinks, teas, colas, chocolate, and even pain relievers. We’ll learn about why caffeine has such a powerful effect on everything from boosting our mood to improving our athletic performance as well as how—and why—brands such as Coca-Cola have ducked regulatory efforts for decades. We learn the differences in the various ways caffeine is delivered to the body, how it is quietly used to reinforce our buying patterns, and how it can play a role in promoting surprising health problems like obesity and anxiety. And later in the show we’ll be joined by Dr. Himal Mitra, a psychiatrist who will broaden this discussion to include other kinds of stimulants (including ADHD medication), and the effect they have on the body.

Kristen Johnston, actor (“3rd Rock from the Sun”, “The Exes”), New York Times best selling author of GUTS and founder of SLAM, an organization to create the first sober high school in New York City, and Michelle Lipinski, Director of the Northshore Recovery High School in MA, join us to talk about the importance of creating – and maintaining – a sober lifestyle for teens at schools across the country.

Dr. Staci Gruber, the Director of the Cognitive and Clinical Neuroimaging Core at McLean Hospital's Brain Imaging Center and an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, joins us to talk about how marijuana works in the body, and how variations in use affect the brains of adults and teens.

Our exclusive "Speaker Series" interview with Judy Crane, Founder and Executive Director of The Refuge - A Healing Place, on the role of trauma and moral injury in addiction. Judy has over two decades of experience working in both residential and out-patient settings. In 2003 she brought her years of specialized training and her distinctive insights on treating trauma and addiction to create The Refuge-A Healing Place. Under her leadership, The Refuge has grown to become one of the foremost leaders in treating Trauma/PTSD and Addiction. Right Turn Radio's "Speaker Series" is a collection of exclusive interviews with the nation’s leading specialists in the addiction and recovery fields, recorded at the top addiction conferences across the country.

Former House Representative Patrick Kennedy sat down with us to discuss the state of addiction and mental health in America. Rep. Kennedy was the author and chief House sponsor of the Wellstone-Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008, an act that expanded access to mental health services to over 100 million Americans. We spoke with him about raising awareness for research and treatment, and about the brain as the ‘last medical frontier’. Right Turn Radio's "Speaker Series" is a collection of exclusive interviews with the nation’s leading specialists in the addiction and recovery fields, recorded at the top addiction conferences across the country.

Right Turn's exclusive "Speaker Series" interview with Brian Cuban, lawyer, activist and author of "Shatter Image: My Triumph Over Body Dysmorphic Disorder". Through a series of very personal, witty and poignant anecdotes, the younger brother of Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban opens up about his personal battle with a mental disorder known as Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) in which the sufferer is preoccupied with a distorted sense of self-image and is often afflicted with eating disorders, depression and addiction. Right Turn Radio's "Speaker Series" is a collection of exclusive interviews with the nation’s leading specialists in the addiction and recovery fields, recorded at the top addiction conferences across the country.

Our exclusive interview with Ann Dowsett Johnston, author of "Drink: The Intimate Relationship Between Women and Alcohol". From her book: "Over the past few decades, the feminist revolution has had enormous ramifications. Women outnumber their male counterparts in postsecondary education in most of the developed world, and they are about to match that accomplishment in the workplace. But what has not been fully documented or explored is that while women gained equality in many arenas, they also began to close the gender gap in terms of alcohol abuse. In the U.S. alone, more than 23,000 girls and women die from heavy drinking each year. Binge drinking and so-called "drunkorexia" are on the rise, contributing exponentially to a wide variety of health conditions and cancers. Combining in-depth research with her own personal story of recovery, Ann Dowsett Johnston delivers a groundbreaking examination of a shocking yet little recognized epidemic threatening society today, what pre-eminent researcher Sharon Wilsnack believes is a "global epidemic" in women's drinking."

Substance abuse among Veterans is a growing problem in our country, but help is available. We'll be joined by Dave Dyer, an Army veteran, infantry scout from the 10th Mountain Division who served in Afghanistan from 2006 to 2007 and who's currently with the SHARP Team of the Dept. of Veteran's Services (a peer specialist focused on chronically homeless veterans and providing all aspects of crisis intervention), and Matthew McKenna, Director of Communications & Intergovernmental Relations, Department of Veterans' Services. We're also joined by Justin Enggasser, Ph.D., an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Boston University School of Medicine, Lecturer in Psychology at Harvard Medical School, and Section Chief for Substance Abuse Treatment Services at VA Boston Healthcare System. Dr. Enggasser has published research in the areas of substance abuse, depression, and PTSD. He is currently involved in projects developing and testing new treatment models and treatment delivery methods for co-occurring substance abuse and PTSD.