Straight stuff on addictions

It was in the genes, but it hit hard and fast. A natural mother the fear of losing her kids led grudgingly to rehab. Still not believing she had a problem; angry and unhappy she drank again. After getting sober and working a program again for several years her reaction to health problems led to another relapse. Shortly after that relapse she sobered up again but this time with daily meeting and good sponsorship. Meanwhile she manages to finish a master's degree in counseling and get a job. Diagnosed with cancer in 2020 she drank again but this time she found out about living one day at a time and faced her feeling of valuelessness. She decided that she loved herself more than her old friend alcohol. 

Join us as we talk with our friend Nick about his recovery journey, professional evolution and expereince in the behavioral healthcare industry. Nick runs a treatment facility, has an intimate relationship with recovery and has a real job ahead to imprint his treatment and management style on an existing facility and philosophy. Let's get an inside look at Nick's challenges and successes in this competitive arena.

His story spans decades; his job as an AP photojournalist took him to many places in the country and the world; often gone for weeks. His family missed his presence and his wife and he became increasingly estranged. Her genetics took her to her coping skill of choice; drinking. For years her drinking was hidden until it couldn't be hidden any longer. She had been a closet drinker, convincing the kids that her drinking was her husband's fault. Lee felt horribly guilty which led him to find Al Anon which he says today saved his life.   Thu, 12 April 2018

He grew up in what is now Silicon Valley to a hard working business family. He was always the black sheep but never doubted his strong Catholic roots and excellent parochial education. He would tell you that he was an alcoholic from his first drink but that the disease took a long and winding road. He spent many years running the family business, working 100 hour weeks and trying to raise four kids while doing very little drinking. As the kids grew up and the business learned to run itself Mike took the liberty of reintroducing himself to heavy drinking and within a few years was drinking to stay normal. Whether miracle, good values or God directed coincidence, one momentous night he got on the phone and landed in the lap of Betty Ford. Mike's been around about 8 years and still has a few wrinkles but he's working on them. Sun, 5 November 2017

She grew up conservative and religious in a small Texas town. The good girl to the core She always did the right thing and nevvvvver disappointed her Mom. A good education, some grace and maybe a little luck and she was working a dream job and married a dream man. Years later her son got into drugs and landed in rehab which landed Kay in Al Anon A few years later she and her husband divorced but not before he also found recovery. Al Anon started, for Kay a long and difficult path to find her own spiritual path. She and her son laugh together today that his addiction got HER healthy.

Ann B. shares her story of adventure and recovery!  Fri, 2 June 2017

A second generation Irishman felt the shame from his grandfather's alcoholism through his Mom. A good kid growing up in a religious family he always looked down on alcoholics and alcoholism. He always thought that if he drank “like that” it would kill his Mom. Irish Catholic guilt kept him out of the booze through college, the Navy and into his early career. Coke and weed were somehow OK but it wasn't until his Mom died that the wheels came off. He made a run at sobriety through AA after an intervention and lasted almost exactly a year until he “decided to have a drink”. No more than days later laying in a hospital bed not knowing what happened he decided to get serious about sobriety. He's been “Gung-Ho” ever since. Wed, 20 April 2016

Nicole was a good kid.... She was more concerned about your feelings than her own. She wanted to make everyone else comfortable, but as it turns out... At her own expense.  Her first experience with death was at age two, and although she didn't remember it, the incident changed her family forever.  Her second experience was as the result of giving to others, and the third was a result of physical abuse.  Finally seeing the pattern and knowing that getting things in perspective was a matter of life and death, she found co-dependents anonymous (CODA) and began to change. Tune in to hear her gut wrenching story of recovery.   Tue, 4 August 2015

Nurse Jack has been a guest on the show in the past and as a result of some recent listener questions we decided to ask him back to finish the story.  Nursing and narcotics addiction do not go well together and “Jack” got in big trouble both legally and professionally.  “Jack” talks about not only his downward spiral and ultimate crash but his tangled and bureaucratic way back to nursing and an unencumbered license.  Although eight years past the events that led to his nursing board requirements and nearly as many years of sobriety he's finding himself still having to “prove up”.  Join us to hear how “Jack” is handling the medical peer assistance maze.  Also, go to "Nurse Jack" in the archives to hear his first show.   Tue, 21 April 2015

He was the second youngest of five, born unexpectedly at home.  After the first two kids Mom didn't have much left and Eric was the favored one raised mostly by his oldest sister. He did what he wanted and ran the streets of Queens from an early age.  He quickly graduated to what he called a “hoodlum”; drinking, using drugs and stealing.  His family's dysfunction and his “bad” behavior bought him shame and shame bought him more drug use.  A drug treatment, a marriage of convenience and a life of lies bought him multiple relapses and a life on the street.  A number of tries at recovery including an attempted geographical cure resulted in relapse after relapse.  Finally when he was able to repair his shameful past he was able to get clean and sober.  Join us to hear Eric's story. Wed, 15 April 2015

Patrick grew up on the near West side in a good Italian neighborhood; Dad a cop and part time jewel thief and Mom a hard working patronage employee.  By sixth grade he stopped caring about school and by high school his uncle bribed him into graduation with a ½ oz. of coke to the guidance counselor.  He got a no-show job like lots of kids in the neighborhood but quickly moved up to driving for some much older and criminally serious people.  Drugs ended his gangster career and he started a new career selling and using meth.  Medical issues interfered with the meth but other drugs and drinking replaced it until rehab in 2013.  A relapse, several battery charges and 104 days in jail convinced him to clean up.  He'll tell you how he found out that redemption can take place while you're still above ground and breathing.   Wed, 15 April 2015

Two DUI's was a good starter for Tom S.  That and a few other drug and alcohol fueled calamities got him to call one of his old grade school buddies who had found some happiness and sobriety some while back.  The first year was fine but the second year he started to think he had it managed and by the end of that year was smoking weed and before long back to drinking, hiding and lying.  After a period of misery, his wife had enough and he decided to try again, this time without the weed.  This lasted a couple years before his final crash and burn.  Tom has eight (+) years now, has a good support team and a bag full of sobriety tools.   Listen in to “Three Time's a Charm (by the Grace of God). Mon, 16 February 2015

Rob R. started young in the drug world and subsequently started young in the recovery world.  It wasn't an easy road or even a straight line to success. He was always a man with a dream…a goal for himself.  Ten years and an MBA later Rob is building a career owning, managing and consulting to rehab facilities across the country.  Join us this week to hear about Rob's travels.

Believe what and how you want…skip organized religion entirely if you like (even though they might just know some things) but find what's personal to you.  Bob D. did just that.  White knuckling for 18 months a beer looked pretty good.  Nine years later, looking down the barrel of a lonely (read divorce) life Bob tried AA.  With some AA sobriety on both sides of the families previous generation it wasn't such a stretch.  A few miracles later and Bob will have 15 years of solid AA sobriety.  You'll want to tune in to find out how Bob found and kept sobriety and a personal God. Mon, 19 January 2015

She's been determined to make a difference in the lives of her kids and the kids of the community.  She knew that it wasn't easy for kids to grow up in today's world and she knew it wasn't easy for her kids so she decided to do something positive about it.  Brenda and a group of teens got together and started a place called “The Break”, a place for teens to gather, socialize and do positive things.  Join us this week to talk to Brenda. (AKA Mama Naps). Check out their website for more information at: clbreak.com   Fri, 21 November 2014

The first time he drank it was magic…he fit in…he thought he found the answer.  A car lover to the bone he found a way to wreck five Mustangs…yeh…five different Mustangs and every crash was alcohol related and somehow none resulted in a DUI.  He thought he might need some hobbies to stay out of trouble so he took up fishing and drinking, then soccer…and drinking and pretty soon, drinking…and drinking.   He decided to put a picture of his wife and kids in his truck to remind him to go home instead of the bar; it didn't work. With a good job and money in his pocket cocaine became an issue. Two overdoses and a divorce later he found the need for a treatment center and subsequently long term sobriety.  Join us this week to talk to Bob M. about how that bad day turned out to be a good one.   Mon, 8 December 2014

Most people wouldn't consider an alcoholic or drug addict a good candidate for enlightenment.  How is it then that recovering alcoholics and addicts find a “spiritual program”, a “power greater than themselves and are able, with the guidance of that new found power to recover.  It seems nothing short of miraculous that people with this devastating disease are able to swim up from the depths of despair to a life not only alcohol and drug free but compassionate and meaningful.  Join us this week to hear Chuck O and Chris S as they share their personal stories of spiritual growth. Fri, 14 November 2014

CJ Harmer and Trish Justis are two of Pioneer Center's youth program superstars. Their philosophy and that of the whole youth services team is one of respect for the kids they work with and support of each other.  They ask for kids to examine their thinking, take responsibility for their actions and they celebrate even the smallest of successes.  CJ works as a prevention specialist in schools and Trish works with court referred kids in the Daily Reporting Center program.  Listen in as they discuss the way they work, trends in behavior and the substance abuse connection.   August 2014

Ryan joined us tonight to talk about his travels in recovery.  Sat, 25 October 2014.

Most of the big industrial cities particularly Boston, Chicago, New York and Seattle have dealt with the heroin problem for years.  The problem however, seems to have metastasized into the surrounding suburbs where younger more affluent kids are getting into opiates.  These developments in our area have forced local departments to make changes in the way things are done.  With heroin comes overdose problems and overdose deaths.  Our local PD has stepped into the changing environment in many ways one of which is preparing to use an anti-overdose drug called Narcan.  Join us to talk to Sgt. Tom Kotlowski and Sgt. Rick Neuman to explore these topics. Fri, 7 November 2014

Coming from a background of addiction and neglect, Annabel pretty much made up her own rules.  She and her brother did their best to survive, sacrificing "normal" in the process.  A longing for love and approval led down a path of pills, booze and empty relationships.  Living in a downscale Hollywood apartment trying to manage her pill supply led to the gift of desperation.  Hoping to drink herself to death before she left for rehab she failed at that and the story of recovery from booze, pills and sexual trauma began.

He came out of the gate angry and drinking heavily.  The environmental and genetic ingredients were all certainly present.  Fending largely for himself he was out-drinking his buddies at age 12.  Drinking, drugging and “supplementing his income” he managed to buy a house just after high school shortly after his Mom notified him she was moving to Florida and he should find a place.  He married a bartender with three kids in an attempt to have a “normal” family but it ended in an ugly divorce.  He decided that she needed to get sober and went to a treatment center to investigate and found that he needed to stay.  He’s been sober since.  Early sobriety wasn’t a bed of roses but the anger is gone.  Join us this week to talk to Phil J. 

Pete was a kid torn from one parent and then torn again.  He was moved from place to place with little supervision.  Angry and hurt he acted out and was seemingly arbitrarily institutionalized at an early age.  He would tell you that the youth homes and jails were “gladiator schools” where he learned the rules of the street and animal survival.  Leaning on his survival instincts and increasingly on booze and drugs Pete ended up in a California treatment center.  He will tell you that he has learned about humility, peeling away the layers and has a deeper understanding of what it means to have character defects.  He’ll tell you that he’s on his way back to innocence. 

Jerry, his brother and Mom spent a good deal of their life on the run from a violent Father; moving from city to city, changing names, schools, friends and keeping secrets.  He desperately needed a sense of belonging and found drugs, alcohol and instant friends at age 14.  His use was way short of normal right out of the gate.  By age 16 he had gone to his first AA meetings.  He left in a hurry and didn’t get back for close to twenty years.  In between were numerous disastrous relationships, experimentation with just about everything, crushing depression and a never ending search for that elusive sense of belonging.  After a number of attempts at sobriety he finally found his real home.  Join us this week to hear Jerry’s story.

Jeff started his journey after his parents’ divorce at age 13 with alcohol, weed and of all things, screwdrivers.  By high school he was living a double life, bi-sexual but hanging with the gangbangers.  Unable to manage high school behaviorally, heavy into pills and booze he disappeared to Nashville with an older lover.  He returned, confused and drug addicted with HIV.  He launched into a six year period of mental illness, delusions, hospitalizations and stints of 12 step sobriety. After multiple tries he has found a stable sense of self, some supportive friends and contented sobriety.  His Buddhist practice has helped him to understand the nature of his miraculous transformation.

She never felt like she belonged.  Gawky, pale and thin she never felt like she could compete with the “popular” girls.  By the end of high school she was a tall, shapely blonde with big blue eyes…the boys couldn’t get enough but underneath she still felt small, unlikeable and unloved.  Her quest for love started a long string of lies to herself which began to require more and more alcohol to assuage.  By the end of college the alcohol and drugs had overtaken the insecurity as problem number one.  Join us this week to hear Hilary’s story. 

He was a lost child…on his own in many respects. He felt alienated and not a part of anything.  It was a perfect set-up for addiction.  He was always searching for meaning…for something bigger but the bottle became his higher power. Even before recovery started he'd had a spiritual experience, in fact he'd had several and thought seriously about the ministry but once again, the bottle stepped in and short-circuited the process.  Needing to shed his “judgmental God” and sick of his own alcohol fueled negativity and judgmental attitude he found AA.  Join us tonight to hear Jeff's story.

Within months of his first go around with Vikes he knew he needed more.  Later a shady Doc gave him a prescription for 240 Norco a month and he managed to use that in two weeks.  He knew he was out of control and it went on for another seven years.  He graduated to oxy somewhere in that time span and had to hustle to manage enough of it to avoid getting sick at $80 a pill.  Stealing, “borrowing” from friends and hocking valuables became a way of life.  He needed to get off the merry-go-round and promised himself every day for the last three years he used that the pills he took that day would be his last.   Join us this Sunday to talk to Dan about how he finally got to his last pill.

She finally got sober in her home area of South Bay.  She went to somewhere around 700 meetings in the two years that she slipped, slid and hid her drinking before she found solid ground.  Weathering the shame and embarrassment she continued to “keep coming back”.  After a beautiful sober retreat weekend with her sponsor she went home and got loaded.  Scared and unable to stand her husband's disgust she asked a treatment doc for Antabuse.  She came to realize that she had lost the power of choice and had no control over her drinking.  Join us this Sunday to hear Cathy tell her story of perseverance and recovery. 

We've had a couple years now to allow the drug court process to mature.  We've had several “graduating classes” and a very good track record.  We talked to the initial sitting drug court judge to get the framework of the court's operations so now, let's talk to several recent drug court participants and hear their stories from the inside.  Join us this Sunday evening as we speak to Dan and Kurt and one of their biggest supporters, Blu.

More than a few years ago a small group of parents began to meet in a therapists office.  They talked about their struggles to stay sane while living with the insanity of their behaviorally or addictively challenged kids.  They shared their fears, their shame, their struggles with difficult decisions and their small victories over staying out of the destructive vortex.  Some of these folks started their own self-directed support group for parents and it has grown exponentially.  Meet Marcia, Jeff and Beth to talk about the desperate need for parent support and recovery.

You could call our show this week a love story of sorts.  Mary and her husband adopted a beautiful baby girl they named Kellen at 8 days and although her childhood was in some ways idyllic she started “cutting” by 6th grade.  By college there were serious alcohol and relationship problems that resulted in the early termination of her college career and a stint in rehab.  A medical evaluation revealed that Kellen had been a a crack baby before there was such a designation.  A relapse and a near-fatal car accident resulted in her sobriety since 06.   Her Mom would say she been from elation to hell and back.

Ibogaine is an extract from an African plant.  It produces a number of effects that we'll find out about tonight but among them is the elimination, for most clients, of cravings and even desire for addictive substances.  Ibogaine came into mainstream view in the last decade  through its use as an alternative to largely unsuccessful attempts to help heroin addicts.  The drug and its use are banned in the US but unscheduled in other countries including Mexico and Canada.  We'll talk tonight to Dr. Martin Polanco the founder of Crossroads Clinic Treatment Center and colleague, Recovery Coach, Deanne Adamson.

Meet one of the most alive and articulate guys around.  Father Jerome is a well-known and well-loved Catholic Priest.  He's full of contradictions; gregarious, gentle, caring, opinionated, humble and strong.  Join us as we cover his own struggle with addiction; his recovery process and how he blends his religion with his recovery.

She went to church, got good grades, was popular and funny but…her Mom was a “full blown alcoholic” and her Dad had an anger management problem.  Ann would say her family lived lives of “quiet desperation”.  She was always the first to start drinking and the last to stop.  She had her first “honest” drunk at 14.  Her management of her drinking during her first pregnancy brought up feelings that funneled her into Adult Children of Alcoholics groups.  They helped her but the drinking caught up some years later and she found AA.  After a lengthy AA vacation and an emotional nosedive she found her way back to serenity. 

Tonight's show is an unusual opportunity to look inside the world of young people; a glimpse into how kids experience life.  Our panel will be composed of high school aged people who are not actively involved with the drug culture.  They may be able to give us some perspective on what parents should be concerned with and what is hype.  They may be able to give us some perspective on today's “normal.  Our goal is to confront the “everybody does it” myth with a real view of teen life and to honor those kids who value healthy, “normal” living.

He grew up in the City.  It wasn't easy.  His first run at sobriety was at the Northwest Edge Alano club but between not being ready and the “marijuana maintenance program” it didn't last long.  His second run was after the fateful “three point turn DUI” in Champaign Illinois.  With tragic losses in and out of sobriety Johnny is a miracle.  Join us this week for a story of tragedy and transformation.

The U.S. has been a leader in medicine, the humane treatment of mental health and more recently addiction however we approach treatment from the perspective of our own particular needs.  Other countries approach their mental health and addiction issues with their own needs and cultural parameters.  Join us this week as we speak to Dr. Elizabeth Nyang  Ed.D LCPC about her practice here in the U.S. and her recent experiences with mental health and addiction treatment in India.

Rachael was drinking shots at thirteen.  In high school she could drink most of the boys under the table and was proud to be a party girl…it was her identity.  Empty and scared inside but able to tell no one her secrets she marched off to therapy for years but skipped the alcohol part.  After some years of hard drinking she met a sober friend and the journey to recovery began.  Rachael's happiness and gratitude is infectious.  Join us this week to catch it.

Pot wasn't much of an issue; neither were pills. Boyfriends were largely to blame, she thought.  When he started selling and later using heroin she joined him blaming him for her use.  Later when he started using heroin IV she angrily felt like he was leaving her out and joined him….for years.  He died of an overdose and she began the journey to get well.  Multiple treatments and many bumps in the road later she's sober and happy.

He was the youngest of eleven so that was the reason he drank?  Nahhhh…he drank because he didn't know a better way to deal with life.  He used because he was an alcoholic and a drug addict.  It's just the way it was done where he came from.  He drank because he suffered through a number of family deaths?  Nahhh…he drank because it was all he knew and by the time he wanted to stop he couldn't.  He wasn't foolin' around; crack and whiskey were his DOC.  Listen in this week to Duane M., as he talks about his transformation from a rough street guy to a better man.

Join us for a lively discussion with Ray Chlebicki, the former national sales manager for Roxand Labs, one of the three largest manufacturers of methadone.  Methadone, originally a drug developed by the Germans during the Second World War as a synthetic opiate pain reliever, has been used in this country both as a pain reliever and as a substitution therapy for heroin addiction.  Many have found successful recovery and others vehemently disagree with its use for this purpose.  Ray will offer us some history, some facts and debunk some myths.

 Some people can travel quite a few miles before the “ism” catches up with them.  Taking all things into consideration I would have to say our guest ran about as fast and as far in front of the tsunami as anyone I know. But as Mark will tell you, you can't run fast enough or far enough to outrun alcoholism.  Having bopped around the US, joining the military and “seeing the world” marrying a Brit and living abroad, Mark did his share of “dodging the bullet” but eventually the wave caught up.  Join us this week to hear from, “the travelin' man”.

Our guest this week is Chris Gleason.  Chris is a nationally recognized substance abuse treatment professional who specializes in working with adolescents.  He'll tell us how treatment works and the things parents can do.  We'll talk about the developing adolescent brain, the disease concept and how adolescent development and addiction interact.  This is a must hear show for families dealing with questions about how to handle a substance abusing teen and want the inside story on how treatment can work.

Some say that addiction is an attempt to fill an emptiness inside. Many with addictive disease say that they never felt like they were enough; that they never fit in or belonged even if, to all appearances they were popular, successful and happy.  Our guest is one such person who despite outward success always felt he had “a hole to fill”.   “Good” was not enough and “best” was only a temporary fix.  Steve had to have “More”.

If sustaining a relationship isn't hard enough these days throw in the need to recover from both sides of the addictive disease.  Our guests are John and Lori, a "recovering couple" who've been together many years and have been in recovery a long time as well.  They'll share how they have come to terms not only with their own addictions but each other, how they've faced individual growth, adversities and changes.  They'll share how they've "worked the program" in their marriage. 

News Flash: Big disagreement over Legality of Marijuana.  Join us this Sunday for a lively discussion about the relative merits or lack thereof of our friend cannabis sativa.  Chris and I will take opposing sides of an argument that spans subjects from medical benefits to long term physical and emotional effects, from legality and decriminalization to morality; from social norms to addiction treatment implications.

He came in kicking and screaming.  He wasn't anywhere close to an easy convert, in fact, it might have been a gaggle of ferocious resentments at people in the program that kept him coming back if only to prove them wrong.  He describes himself as “off the charts” in the area of analytical thinking and control and admits it's a miracle that he stayed sober.  He'll tell you that he's “learned to trust the process” and that self-knowledge got him nowhere.  Join us this week as we talk to Ed H.

 In his world drinking wasn't a problem it was a way of life.  The question was never whether or not to drink but only how well you managed the drinking. Traumatic events in his teens led to withdrawal from relationships, more drinking and an early visit to AA.  Later further drinking helped to end a marriage which led to another more serious visit to AA. Shortly after the visit began, however, he started the “marijuana maintenance program”, hiding it from everyone.  After nearly four years of duckin' and dodgin' he'd had enough and got clean.  Join us this week to welcome David C.

Our guest this week has the personal experience to know the power of recovery.  His own time in the barrel gave him the sensitivity, the knowledge and the skills to intervene in the disease process largely in the lives of young opiate and benzo addicts. Brian J. has learned and has much to offer about the “science of addiction” and the importance of neuroscience in the recovery process.  He travels widely providing intervention services to select families and has extensive experience in developing and operating recovery homes.  Join us this week in welcoming Brian J.

Welcome to our second annual Holiday Show.  Join us to talk to Scott D. about Christmases past in the "not so good old days" and how he manages a joyful and sober Christmas present.  We'll also feature some live music and conversation with our old friend Russell T.